2 Introduction

2.1 Integrated, ecosystem-based marine management

The purpose of this management plan is to provide a framework for the sustainable use of natural resources and ecosystem services derived from the Barents Sea–Lofoten area and at the same time maintain the structure, functioning, productivity and diversity of the area’s ecosystems. The management plan is thus a tool for both facilitating value creation and maintaining the high environmental value of the area. This means that the overall framework for activities in these waters must be clarified in order to pave the way for the coexistence of different industries, particularly the fisheries industry, maritime transport and the petroleum industry. The management plan is also intended to be instrumental in ensuring that business interests, local, regional and central authorities, environmental organisations and other interest groups all have a common understanding of the goals for the management of the Barents Sea–Lofoten area.

The management plan for the Barents Sea–Lofoten area was the first management plan developed for a Norwegian sea area. The Government’s proposal was presented in the white paper Integrated Management of the Marine Environment of the Barents Sea and the Sea Areas off the Lofoten Islands (Report No. 8 (2005–2006) to the Storting), and was debated in the Storting in spring 2006. Both the development process and the plan itself were later used as a model for the white paper Integrated Management of the Marine Environment of the Norwegian Sea (Report No. 37 (2008–2009) to the Storting), which was debated by the Storting in autumn 2009. The Government intends to present a similar management plan for the North Sea–Skagerrak area in 2013.

Norway is a maritime nation. The Government’s goal is for Norway to be a pioneer in developing an integrated, ecosystem-based management regime for marine areas. Our work on management plans for Norwegian sea areas has attracted considerable international attention.

Source Photo: Cecilie von Quillfeldt.

2.2 Background and basis for this update of the management plan

The 2006 white paper states that the management plan will be a rolling plan and will be updated at regular intervals. In the white paper, the Government announced that it would:

• regularly assess the need to follow up and update the management plan;

• assess the overall need for new measures to achieve the goals of the plan, based on the status reports to be submitted from 2010 onwards.

This updated management plan does not include a full review of all the measures that were presented in 2006, but focuses on specific questions that were raised then and how these have been followed up. On the basis of the overall needs that are identified through assessments, a process will be started well before 2020 with a view to an overall revision of the management plan in 2020, with a time frame up to 2040.

In the 2006 management plan, the Government emphasised the importance of a cautious approach to the expansion of petroleum activities in the Barents Sea–Lofoten area. A framework for petroleum activities in the area was established taking into account the areas identified as particularly valuable and vulnerable and an assessment of the risk of acute oil pollution. The Government also announced that the framework would be re-evaluated on the basis of the information available each time the management plan was updated, from 2010 onwards. The management plan identified specific areas where there was a need to strengthen the knowledge base, particularly mapping of the seabed, seabirds and geology.

The coalition government’s policy platform made it clear that it did not intend to open the waters off the Lofoten and Vesterålen Islands (Nordland VI and VII and Troms II) during the parliamentary term 2009–13, but that it would decide whether an impact assessment of petroleum activities should be carried out in connection with the review of the management plan in 2010. Furthermore, the 2006 white paper stated that the question of petroleum activities in the zone 35–50 km from the baseline off Troms and Finnmark would be considered in connection with the present update of the management plan.

Moreover, in the 2009 management plan for the Norwegian Sea, the Government announced that in connection with the update of the Barents Sea–Lofoten management plan, it would consider whether to initiate opening of the northern part of the coastal zone for petroleum activities; this process would also include an environmental impact assessment.

The present update of the management plan is based on both existing and new knowledge about ecosystems, ecological goods and services and resources that are important as a basis for value creation in the management plan area, and about trends in environmental status, pressures and impacts on the environment, and environmental risk. The scientific basis has been supplemented with studies assessing commercial activities and social conditions and ecological goods and services, with a particular focus on the waters off the Lofoten and Vesterålen Islands and Senja.

Certain thematic and policy areas, such as issues relating to international law and climate, security and business policy, are briefly discussed here but not considered in depth.

Main geographical focus

The scientific basis, descriptions and assessments in this white paper deal with the entire management plan area. However, there is a special emphasis on descriptions and assessments of the waters off the Lofoten and Vesterålen Islands and Senja. This is because special efforts have been made to build up knowledge of these areas, and the framework for petroleum activities is being reconsidered.

The boundary between the management plan areas for the Barents Sea–Lofoten area and the Norwegian Sea was adjusted in the Norwegian Sea management plan so that it follows a natural boundary between ecosystems. The present white paper is based on the new boundary.

Source Depth data: IBCAO

Treaty on Maritime Delimitation and Cooperation in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean

Norway and Russia signed the Treaty on Maritime Delimitation and Cooperation in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean in Murmansk on 15 September 2010. The treaty clarifies the exact boundary of the Norwegian and Russian zones and continental shelves in the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean, and creates clarity, predictability and stability as regards the exercise of authority, control and jurisdiction over resources in this area. It also contains provisions on the continuation of the extensive and fruitful Norwegian-Russian fisheries cooperation, as well as provisions concerning cooperation on the exploitation of any petroleum deposits in these waters that extend across the delimitation line.

The Storting gave its consent to ratification of the treaty on 8 February 2011. In mid-February, the Russian President submitted the treaty to the Duma for approval. At the time of publication of this white paper, it was not known when the Duma would consider the question of ratification, but it was hoped that this would take place in the near future so that the treaty could be ratified and enter into force.1

Under the treaty, the previously disputed area of about 175 000 km² is divided into two parts of approximately the same size. Chapter 3.2 gives an account of the state of the environment and current activity in the previously disputed area.

2.3 Overall framework and key processes

The management regime for the marine environment is constantly being developed, and progress in the past two years is briefly discussed here. For further details, the reader is referred to the 2006 management plan for the Barents Sea–Lofoten area and the 2009 management plan for the Norwegian Sea.

International developments

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea constitutes the basic international legal framework for all maritime activity, and thus also provides the overall legal framework for activity in and management of the Barents Sea–Lofoten area. It establishes rights and duties that apply to Norway as a coastal state regarding jurisdiction over maritime transport, utilisation of living resources and petroleum resources, and environmental protection. The Convention also provides the international legal basis for the establishment of Norway’s 12-nautical-mile territorial limit and the 200-nautical-mile zones off the mainland and around Svalbard and Jan Mayen, and for determining the extent of the Norwegian continental shelf.

In November 2006, Norway submitted documentation on the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles in the Barents Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Arctic Ocean to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. In its recommendations for these areas in March 2009, the Commission agreed in all essential points with the Norwegian documentation. The recommendations cover a total area of continental shelf outside the 200-nautical-mile limit of about 235 000 km², which corresponds to almost three-quarters of the area of the Norwegian mainland.

The 1995 Agreement on implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (Fish Stocks Agreement) implements and further specifies the provisions of the convention. The 2006 UN resolution on sustainable fisheries (A/RES/61/105) calls upon states and regional fisheries management organisations to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems from destructive fishing practices, including bottom fishing, in accordance with the precautionary principle and within the framework of ecosystem-based management. This was reiterated in a new resolution in 2009 (A/RES/64/72), which reviewed states’ implementation of the 2006 resolution. In 2008, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) adopted guidelines for the management of deep-sea fisheries in the high seas, and these have provided a tool for the development of legislation by regional fisheries management organisations.

The Convention on Biological Diversity is a framework convention whose objectives include both the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and the equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources. In October 2010, the Conference of the Parties under the Convention in Nagoya, Japan, adopted a number of goals, and agreed among other things:

• to take action to halt the loss of biodiversity in order to ensure that by 2020 ecosystems are resilient;

• to conserve 10 % of coastal and marine areas by 2020 through effective management;

• to minimise anthropogenic pressures on coral reefs and other ecosystems that are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change by 2015;

• to manage living marine resources sustainably.

The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment in the North-East Atlantic (the OSPAR Convention) provides a comprehensive framework for protection of the marine environment against pollution and other environmental pressures. The convention sets out obligations for the parties to apply the precautionary and polluter pays principles, and the best available techniques and environmental practice. The September 2010 Ministerial Meeting in Bergen, Norway, adopted decisions and recommendations in a number of fields. For the first time, decisions were adopted to establish marine protected areas in areas beyond national jurisdiction. Six such areas were included in the OSPAR network of marine protected areas, which also includes about 160 areas within the parties’ national jurisdiction. Recommendations were also adopted on the reduction of marine litter, and, in response to the Deepwater Horizon accident, on the prevention of oil pollution.

The North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) has promoted the development of good regional control and enforcement schemes and a more ecosystem-based approach to management of sea areas beyond the 200-nautical-mile limit, in line with what the UN General Assembly has called for. In 2009, the NEAFC closed several areas, covering a total of 355 000 km², to bottom fisheries, including bottom trawling, and banned discards of many of the most important commercial species in the NEAFC area (the EU entered an objection, and is not bound by this decision). OSPAR and the NEAFC have signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation, including on the protection of marine areas.

The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) has also, like the NEAFC and in line with the UN General Assembly resolutions, adopted wide-ranging procedures and rules for protection against damaging bottom fishing activities.

The longest-running fisheries cooperation arrangement in which Norway is involved is the Joint Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission, which details with the Barents Sea and is important focal point for institutional cooperation between Norway and Russia. The most important fish stocks in the Barents Sea range through both Norwegian and Russian waters, and quotas are set in accordance with scientific recommendations and well within sustainable limits. The fisheries cooperation also includes extensive long-term research cooperation between the parties. As a result of cooperation on resource control and management strategies, the state of the Barents Sea fish stocks is now very good by international standards. In addition, the Norwegian-Russian fisheries cooperation includes steps to harmonise technical control measures for the fisheries, including agreement on the same mesh sizes and the same minimum sizes for certain species, and on criteria for opening and closing fishing grounds.

Cooperation under the Joint Norwegian-Russian Commission on Environmental Protection involves extensive cooperation on the marine environment. This is intended to develop the knowledge base needed for sound management of the Barents Sea, and an integrated and as far as possible joint approach to its management. A milestone was reached in 2009, when a joint Norwegian-Russian environmental status report for the Barents Sea was published. The report was based partly on the annual ecosystem status reports drawn up by Norway’s Institute of Marine Research and the Russian marine research institute PINRO under the Joint Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission. The plan is to follow up the environmental status report with the development of a joint environmental monitoring system for the Barents Sea. This will also be valuable for Russia in its efforts to develop an integrated management plan for its part of the Barents Sea. Moreover, the expanding economic activity in the High North, especially oil and gas activities, fisheries and maritime transport, make it even more important to establish a joint environmental monitoring system and management plans based on the same principles. Issues related to oil and gas are altracting growing attention in the cooperation on the marine environment. These include a comparison of Norwegian and Russian legislation on oil and gas activities in the High North, exchange of experience on inspection and enforcement, and harmonisation of environmental monitoring methods.

Extensive international cooperation is organised within the framework of the Arctic Council. The main focus of the Ministerial Meeting in Tromsø in April 2009 was climate change in the Arctic. The Working Group on Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) has published the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2009 Report, which reviews Arctic shipping activity and what action needs to be taken. The report is being followed up within the framework of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which has decided to develop a mandatory code, known as the «Polar Code», to improve maritime safety and safeguard the marine environment in polar waters. IMO started work on the code in spring 2010, and aims to complete it in 2012 so that it can enter into force in 2015.

The 2009 Ministerial Meeting of the Arctic Council also established a task force to develop a binding international instrument on cooperation on search and rescue operations in the Arctic. The aim is to improve regional organisation of search and rescue services in the Arctic, and to divide the region into national search and rescue areas in order to clarify the responsibility of the individual Arctic states.

In autumn 2010, the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) established the Arctic Regional Hydrographic Commission. So far, less than 10 % of Arctic waters have been surveyed using modern technology, and given the retreat of the sea ice, it is considered extremely important to develop maritime infrastructure and reliable nautical charts to ensure safe navigation and sustainable management of these areas.

One of the agreements concluded under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (the Bonn Convention) is the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds. This agreement entered into force in 1999, and Norway ratified it in 2008. It applies to a total of 255 species of birds that are ecologically dependent on wetlands, including many of Norway’s seabirds. These include various species found in the Barents Sea–Lofoten area – great cormorant, common gull, glaucous gull, herring gull, lesser black-backed gull, black-legged kittiwake, little auk, common guillemot, Brünnich’s guillemot, razorbill, black guillemot and Atlantic puffin. The purpose of the agreement is to maintain migratory waterbird species in a favourable conservation status or to restore them to such a status, giving special attention to endangered species and those with an unfavourable conservation status.

The EU

In the last few years, the EU has adopted policy instruments to promote an integrated marine environmental policy in EU member states. Norway is cooperating closely with the EU in this field, and the 2008 EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive is largely based on the same model as the integrated management plans for Norwegian sea areas. Most of the EU member states have now transposed the directive into national law, which has entailed extensive new legislation in a number of countries. There is at present extensive cooperation, both within the EU system and in the regional marine environment conventions (including OSPAR) on the implementation of the directive. The directive has not been incorporated into the EEA Agreement, but Norwegian experts are sharing experience and providing expert input to the process.

The Nature Diversity Act

Norway’s Nature Diversity Act entered into force in 2009, and applies to all decisions that will have an impact on biological, geological or landscape diversity.

The Act generally applies to Norwegian land territory and territorial waters (to a distance of 12 nautical miles from the baselines). However, the objects clause and certain of the general provisions on sustainable use in Chapter II have also been made applicable in the Economic Zone of Norway and on the continental shelf. The objects clause (section 1) states that the purpose of the Act is to protect nature through conservation and sustainable use. Sustainability has three main pillars: economic, social and environmental. The Act’s provisions on management objectives for habitat types, ecosystems and species (sections 4 and 5) and some key principles for official decision-making – on the knowledge base (section 8), the precautionary principle (section 9), the ecosystem approach and cumulative environmental effects (section 10) – also apply in the Economic Zone and on the continental shelf to the extent they are appropriate.

Together with relevant sectoral legislation, the Nature Diversity Act is intended to ensure that Norway uses its resources sustainably and that the natural environment and ecological processes are protected through conservation and sustainable use.

According to the Act, the general provisions on sustainable use must be used as guidelines when exercising public authority, and decisions must make it clear how these principles have been taken into account and applied (section 7). The Act does not transfer any authority to the environmental authorities from administrative agencies that have responsibilities under other legislation. Instead, authorities in other sectors will apply the principles, objectives and guidelines for sustainable use set out in the Nature Diversity Act when making decisions under their sectoral legislation. As regards sea areas, this means that the principles set out in the Nature Diversity Act will supplement requirements of other legislation regulating the activities of various sectors, such as the Marine Resources Act, the Pollution Control Act, the Petroleum Act and the Marine Energy Act. When the relevant sectoral authorities make decisions under such legislation, they will also make use of the principles set out in the Nature Diversity Act during preparatory work and when exercising discretionary powers. In other words, when decisions will have an impact on biological, geological or landscape diversity, the Nature Diversity Act will together with sectoral legislation determine the framework for activities and protection of the marine environment.

The Nature Diversity Act also states that measures under the Act (for example relating to marine protected areas, see section 39, priority species, see section 23, and selected habitat types, see section 52) must be weighed against other important public interests and Sami interests.

Rights to harvest or otherwise utilise wild living marine resources follow from the Marine Resources Act, which entered into force in 2009. A key element of this Act is the principle for management of wild living marine resources (section 7, first paragraph), according to which the management authorities must evaluate which types of management measures are necessary to ensure sustainable management of these resources. This requires a sound knowledge base. Further efforts to gather knowledge about resources that are harvested and their environment will be important for their management. Furthermore, a precautionary approach together with an ecosystem approach that takes into account habitats and biodiversity are fundamental considerations, as set out in the second paragraph of section 7. The Marine Resources Act also provides the legal authority to protect vulnerable areas against fisheries activities, and it applies to the entire Economic Zone of Norway.

The Petroleum Act regulates the management of petroleum resources, and its basic principle is that resource management must take a long-term approach for the benefit of Norwegian society as a whole. Before any activity is started, an area must be formally opened for petroleum activities (Section 3–1). Proposals to open new areas are put before the Storting. The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy carries out a broad-based environmental impact assessment to provide a basis for the Storting’s decision.

A new Act relating to offshore renewable energy production (the Offshore Energy Act) entered into force in 2010. A strategy for offshore renewable energy was put forward together with the bill (in Proposition No. 107 (2008–2009 to the Storting). The Offshore Energy Act provides a framework for regulating offshore renewable energy production, and as a general rule applies outside the baselines and on the continental shelf, although it may also be made applicable inside the baselines. The Act requires an environmental impact assessment to be carried out before an area is opened for licence applications. Chapter 4.6 discusses the Act in more detail. The Pollution Control Act applies to offshore activities, which in many cases require a permit under section 11 of the Act. Specific conditions for activities are laid down when such permits are issued. An environmental impact assessment may also be required (section 13) as a basis for the evaluations made in connection with permits under the Pollution Control Act. In such cases, the Pollution Control Act and the relevant sectoral legislation apply together.

The Act relating to ports and navigable waters entered into force in 2010. It is intended to facilitate safe and unimpeded passage and sound use and management of navigable waters in accordance with the public interest, fisheries interests and other commercial interests. It is also intended to facilitate safe, secure and efficient port activities as part of maritime transport and intermodal transport, and to facilitate effective and competitive maritime transport of persons and goods within national and international transport networks.

Comprehensive legislation also applies to shipping. New regulations on the prevention of the spread of alien organisms via ballast water and sediments from ships entered into force in 2010.

There is separate legislation for Svalbard and Jan Mayen in several of the areas discussed above. For example, as a general rule the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act and the Act relating to Jan Mayen apply instead of the Nature Diversity Act and the Pollution Control Act.

Knowledge requirements

The general requirement for knowledge-based management set out in section 8 of the Nature Diversity Act serves as a guideline for decision-making by the authorities. The provision requires the authorities to make use of scientific and empirical knowledge when making decisions that may affect biological, geological and landscape diversity. This generally refers to knowledge that is already available. The knowledge required must be in reasonable proportion to the nature and scope of the case. The provision does not require the authorities to make general surveys of biological, geological and landscape diversity.

Section 8 of the Nature Diversity Act specifies that the knowledge requirement concerns the population status of species, the range and ecological status of habitat types, and the impacts of environmental pressures on species, habitat types and ecosystems. This will supplement the basis for assessments and decision-making under sectoral legislation that applies on the continental shelf and in Norway’s economic zone. The knowledge requirement must also be considered in conjunction with the requirement to use an ecosystem approach and consider cumulative environmental effects when assessing pressure on an ecosystem. This means that different environmental pressures should not be assessed in isolation. They must also be assessed on the basis of the overall pressure on an ecosystem, including habitats and species, now or in the future.

In the absence of adequate information, application of the precautionary principle as set out in the Nature Diversity Act and the Marine Resources Act means that the aim should be to avoid significant damage to biological, geological or landscape diversity.

The scientific basis has been updated for this white paper, with new information on biodiversity, pressures and impacts, and human activity, and the white paper focuses on new information and changes in the knowledge base used for the 2006 white paper. Chapters 3–5 describe the updated knowledge base, in line with the knowledge requirements of legislation including the Nature Diversity Act and the Marine Resources Act.

The cumulative environmental effects on the ecosystems of the Barents Sea are described, compared and assessed in Chapter 6, in line with the principle of assessing cumulative environmental effects set out in the Nature Diversity Act and the Marine Resources Act. This makes it possible to gain an overview of the cumulative environmental effects of activities in different sectors on the Barents Sea ecosystems, including habitat types and species, and provides a better basis for evaluating targeted measures for the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems.

2.4 Organisation of the work

Work on the management plans for Norway’s sea areas is coordinated by an interministerial Steering Committee headed by the Ministry of the Environment. Three advisory groups have been established to implement the management plan for the Barents Sea–Lofoten area: the Management Forum (headed by the Norwegian Polar Institute), the Advisory Group on Monitoring (headed by the Institute of Marine Research), and the Forum on Environmental Risk Management (headed by the Norwegian Coastal Administration) (see Figure 2.3).

Source Ministry of the Environment

A Reference Group has also been established for the advisory groups, which represents the various interests involved. After an evaluation of its work so far, the possibility of replacing the Reference Group with improved arrangements for ensuring the participation and engagement of interested parties will be considered. On 15 April 2010, the three advisory groups presented their joint report, containing the scientific basis for the management plan update. The report was based on published scientific and other documented knowledge available in March 2010, and reflects the consensus arrived at by the twenty-six institutions involved in its preparation. The scientific basis forms the core of the knowledge base used for the evaluations in this management plan update and for finding a balance between conservation and sustainable use. Supplementary reports have been drawn up for evaluating whether the waters off the Lofoten and Vesterålen Islands and Senja should be opened for oil and gas activities. These include an analysis of population and industrial structure in North Norway, an economic analysis and a report on the possible spin-off effects of expanding oil and gas activities, and a report on the importance of marine ecosystem services. In addition, an overall evaluation of lessons learned from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been drawn up. New information from the Nature Index for Norway and the 2010 Norwegian Red List for Species has also been incorporated during the preparation of the white paper. All the studies and reports have been made available on the Internet, and a list of all the background documents can be found in Annex 1.

A public consultation process was held to enable other groups whose interests are affected by the management plan to participate. About 80 responses were received, and a conference on the scientific basis for updating the plan was held in Svolvær on 8 June 2010 and attended by about 300 people. The responses have been categorised and assessed scientifically, and where appropriate, the advisory groups for the management plan have commented on the responses. The results of the consultation process have been used in the preparation of the white paper.