Disturbance of the seabed caused by dredging, dumping, land reclamation or production facili
ties, pipelines, cables and other installations on the seabed, may destroy environmental assets and remove or destroy underwater cultural heri
tage. Surveys of the seabed are among the require
ments attached to licences for petroleum activi
ties. Marine cultural heritage in the Barents Sea–
Lofoten area has not been adequately surveyed or registered by the cultural heritage authorities, knowledge of shipwrecks in the area is piecemeal and random, and there is a need for better sur
veys. The marine archaeological investigation of certain areas has been given priority in the efforts to meet the challenges to sound management, but these areas do not have protected status; they have been selected as tools for cultural heritage management.
The methodology of ecosystem-based man
agement needs to be further developed, including models for the overall pressure on the ecosystem exerted by activities in the various sectors. There is also a need for a system of environmental qual
ity objectives and for coordinating monitoring and reporting. It would be an advantage to cooperate with other countries on this, for example in OSPAR, the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Arctic Council, and within the framework of Nor
way’s bilateral cooperation with Russia.
Efforts should be made to improve our know
ledge of the socio-economic issues relating to the various industries, such as the spillover effects of fisheries, maritime transport and petroleum activi
ties. This is necessary in order to provide the best possible basis for decision-making.
8.9 Summary
Current knowledge of the ecosystem of the Barents Sea and the pressures on it is spread be
tween a number of different institutions, and neither data collection nor reporting are ade
quately coordinated. The Institute of Marine Re
search, the Norwegian Polar Institute and the rele
vant administrative bodies are today the main institutions involved in monitoring and know
ledge-building. Our cooperation with Russia is extensive, but should be strengthened and tar
geted more specifically at acquiring the necessary knowledge for ecosystem-based management.
Among the most important areas for cooperation are fisheries statistics, surveys, environmental monitoring and knowledge of developments and activities on the Russian side that could put pres
sure on the environment and that will influence what action needs to be taken during the period up to 2020.
We already know a considerable amount about the ecosystem and commercial fish stocks.
However, we need to find out more about interac
tion between organisms and the energy flow in the food chain, especially for non-commercial spe
cies. There are serious gaps in our knowledge about seabirds and conditions on the seabed, partly because these resources are not commer
cially exploited. However, the SEAPOP and MARE
ANO programmes should considerably improve our knowledge in the next few years. We need to know more about weather conditions in the area so that the data can be entered in the hindcast data archive, since the existing rules for the dimen
sioning of response measures make it necessary to take account of weather conditions.
Our knowledge of pollution levels in seawater and in the organisms in the Barents Sea–Lofoten
area is relatively good, even though it does not cover all substances. Documentation in this field is very important for documenting that fish and other seafood from the Barents Sea is not pollu
ted. However, we do not know enough about trends in the levels of environmentally hazardous substances or their impacts, particularly in marine mammals and seabirds. This makes it difficult for the authorities to assess the impacts of implement
ed measures and to decide on where new mea
sures are needed.
Very little is known about the risks associated with the introduction of alien species, which makes it difficult to establish a robust manage
ment regime that can deal effectively with new introductions. A cross-sectoral national strategy for alien species is being developed and will be completed in the course of 2006. It will set out goals, principles and action plans for preventing the introduction of alien species and containing the spread of those already introduced, and will contain proposals for joint and specific measures for the individual sector and problem organism.
Dealing with alien marine organisms will be a cen
tral element, and management of the red king crab will be the subject of a separate white paper.
These initiatives will make a considerable contri
bution to improving our knowledge in the field.
Our current knowledge is insufficient for us to use analytical tools and models to estimate the overall environmental pressure on the Barents Sea–Lofoten area. This will make it difficult to establish an integrated management regime for the area and to select the most cost-effective mea
sures.
9 A new approach: integrated, ecosystem-based management
9.1 Introduction
expertise in the various sectors, and if necessary from other institutions involved in research and Responsibility for the management of the BarentsSea–Lofoten area is currently divided between several different sectors, and implementing an inte
monitoring activities in the area, like the Director
ate for Nature Management, the Directorate of Fisheries, the Institute of Marine Research, the grated, ecosystem-based management regime
based on the characteristic features of the different areas will require coordination between these sec
tors. Furthermore, gaps have been identified in our knowledge of a number of aspects of marine eco
systems, and there is also a need for better coordi
nation of environmental monitoring programmes and for performance monitoring across sectors.
The Government considers that meeting these requirements will call for new measures. The further implementation of the measures outlined in the present management plan will be considered in the annual budget propositions, in the light of the budget situation.
Coastal Administration, the Norwegian Meteoro
logical Institute, the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, the Norwegian Polar Institute, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the Nor
wegian Pollution Control Authority, the Norwe
gian Radiation Protection Authority, the Governor of Svalbard, the Petroleum Safety Authority Nor
way and the Norwegian Maritime Directorate.
The Advisory Group will be responsible for coor
dinating the implementation of the monitoring system for the Barents Sea–Lofoten area under the management plan, and will produce annual reports systematising and interpreting the results on the basis of the indicators, reference values The Government also wishes to strengthen our
cooperation with Russia. Taken together, these measures will form a sound basis for the integrat
and action thresholds to be used in the system (see section 9.5).
The Government will:
ed, ecosystem-based management of the Barents – establish a forum on environmental risk man-Sea–Lofoten area. They will also be supplemented
by the Government’s overall measures for address
ing the main challenges relating to pollution and
agement focusing on acute pollution in the area, which will provide valuable input to environ
mental risk assessments.
the maintenance of biodiversity discussed in Chap
ter 10. The question of co-existence between indus
tries discussed in Chapter 6 is also relevant here.
9.2 A sounder foundation for the
The forum will be headed by the Coastal Adminis
tration and have a broad membership, including representatives from the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the Maritime Directorate, the Direc
management regime
The Government will:
– establish an advisory group on monitoring of the Barents Sea to assist in the coordination of the system proposed by the Government for monitoring the state of the environment.
The group will be headed by the Institute of Marine Research and its activities will be con
ducted in line with the current division of exper
tise between sectors. It will have a broad mem
bership, with representatives from the relevant public institutions with responsibility for and
torate for Nature Management and other appro
priate public institutions. The forum will also draw on expertise from other sources as necessary.
The purpose of the forum is to provide better information on risk trends in the area, especially as regards acute oil pollution. This will improve risk management both across and within sectors and enable sectors to exchange information, parti
cularly about risk factors. Other tasks will be to further develop the monitoring of risk trends and to coordinate monitoring activities applicable to risk management, especially in relation to mari
time transport. Interest groups will be involved in the process as appropriate. The forum will com
Reference Group
Source: Norwegian Pollution Control Authority
*FM = Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, PEM = Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, LIM = Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion, MFA = Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Figure 9.1
The Norwegian Polar Institute will be responsible for ensuring that status reports are compiled on the results obtained through research, monitoring, surveys and other scientific activities relevant to the goals of the management plan. The first report
the scientific aspects of ecosystem-based and international bodies. The reports will be sub-management of the Barents Sea–Lofoten area. mitted to the Ministries of the Environment, Fish-The forum will be established and headed by eries and Coastal Affairs, Petroleum and Energy, the Norwegian Polar Institute. Trade and Industry, Labour and Social Inclusion, the coordination and overall implementation of
establish a management forum responsible for The Government will:
pile a report on its activities, for the first time in 2010 and after this at regular intervals. Among the recipients of the report will be the forum des
cribed in the next paragraph, which will be responsible for the scientific aspects of the man
agement plan, so that the information can be used in the overall follow-up to the plan.
International contact
Steering Committee headed by Ministry of the Environment (includes FM, PEM, LIM, MFA*)
Activities
Research Surveys
Management Forum Advisory
Group on Monitoring of the Barents Sea
Forum on Environmental Risk
Management
Measures Measures
Overview of the elements of the system for implementing the management plan
is to be submitted in 2010 and after this at regular intervals. The reports are to be compiled in close cooperation with the Institute of Marine Research, as head of the Advisory Group on Monitoring of the Barents Sea, and the Coastal Administration, as head of the Forum on Environmental Risk Man
agement. The Management Forum will work in –
consultation with the administrative bodies involved and will draw on the work of the Advisory Group, the Forum on Environmental Risk Management
and Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of the Environ
ment will be responsible for coordinating govern
ment control of the work and administrative follow-up of the reports, while the appropriate ministries and their subordinate agencies will be responsible for implementing the measures.
Figure 9.2 Satellite image showing bloom of the alga Emiliana huxleyi in July 2003
Source: NASA
9.3 Closer integration of interest groups
The Government will:
– establish a reference group for the work on the ecosystem-based management regime that represents the various interests involved, including business and industry, environmen
tal organisations and Sami interest groups.
The Reference Group will be given the opportu
nity, through meetings with the bodies responsi
ble for implementing the management plan and in other appropriate ways, to express its views on the implementation of the plan.