1 Summary
Norway has a long tradition of managing the ocean environment and its resources sustainably, using a long-term approach for the benefit of society as a whole. Over the past 20 years, the management plan system has been developed into the most important political tool for an integrated Norwegian ocean policy. In this white paper, the Government is continuing and consolidating the system, which includes preparing an integrated, ecosystem-based ocean management plan for all of Norway’s ocean areas every four years.
Purpose of the management plans
The purpose of the management plans is to provide a framework for value creation through the sustainable use of marine natural resources and ecosystem services and at the same time maintain ecosystem structure, functioning, productivity and diversity. The management plans are thus a tool both for facilitating value creation and food security, and for maintaining the high environmental value of Norway’s seas and oceans.
The management plan system
Norway laid the foundation for integrated, ecosystem-based ocean management in the white paper Protecting the Riches of the Sea (Report No. 12 (2001–2002) to the Storting). The white paper described the vision of maintaining clean, rich seas so that future generations can continue to harvest the wealth of resources that the sea has to offer. Including this document, nine white papers have since 2002 been presented to the Storting on integrated management of Norway\s ocean areas. The present white paper is the second in a four-year cycle of management plans for all Norway’s ocean areas.
The management plans clarify an overall framework and encourage closer coordination and clear priorities for management of Norway’s marine areas. They increase predictability and facilitate coexistence between industries that are based on the use of these areas and exploitation of their natural resources. Activities in each management plan area are regulated on the basis of existing legislation governing different sectors. The various sectoral authorities are responsible for implementing the measures set out in the management plans, under relevant legislation that they administer.
This white paper deals with the management plans for all three of Norway’s sea areas: the Barents Sea–Lofoten area, the Norwegian Sea, and the North Sea and Skagerrak. The Forum for Integrated Ocean Management and the Advisory Group on Monitoring are responsible for providing the scientific basis for the management plans, and completed their work for this white paper in spring 2023.
International developments
Since the previous white paper on the management plans was published, important progress has been made in international ocean cooperation, particularly as regards the marine and coastal environment. The new UN Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (the BBNJ Agreement) was adopted in June 2023. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was adopted in December 2022. In summer 2023, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted the common ambition of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping by 2050. Norway is actively involved in the negotiations on a binding, effective global instrument with the aim of ending plastic pollution by 2040. The goal is to conclude an agreement by the end of 2024.
Through its participation in the High-level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel), Norway has undertaken a political commitment to sustainably manage 100 % of the ocean area under its jurisdiction by 2025, on the basis of sustainable ocean plans.
Ecosystem condition, drivers and impacts in Norway’s ocean areas
Since the previous white paper on the ocean management plans was published, a scientific panel has been established for each of the management plan areas. The panels have used a classification system to assess ecosystem condition in the three areas. This provides an overall assessment of the extent to which the ecosystems in an area are affected by human activity. The system has been incorporated into the work of the Advisory Group on Monitoring and supplements the information provided by the set of indicators used in the monitoring system.
The Barents Sea–Lofoten area
Climate change is an important driver in the Barents Sea–Lofoten area, and has probably already altered both ecosystem structure and functioning, particularly in the Arctic part of the management plan area. The fisheries are another important driver in this area, in addition to anthropogenic climate change, although some of the impacts of the fisheries appear to have diminished in recent years. Over the past 50 years, there has been a severe decline in seabird populations in all three management plan areas. In the Barents Sea–Lofoten area, certain populations are still declining, while others are stable or increasing.
The Norwegian Sea
The impacts of climate change are also becoming apparent in the Norwegian Sea management plan area, in the form of rising temperatures, shrinking sea ice cover and signs of ocean acidification. The fisheries are an important driver in the Norwegian Sea as well. The Norwegian Sea has become generally warmer in the last 40 years, and this can be clearly linked to anthropogenic climate change. There are signs of increasing ocean acidification in this area. The severe decline in seabird populations has been linked to factors including rising sea temperatures in the Norwegian Sea. The increasing occurrence of southerly species may be linked to higher sea temperatures. These are partly explained by an increase in water transport from the North Atlantic, which is one factor behind the northward shift in the distribution of more southerly species
The North Sea and Skagerrak
In the North Sea and Skagerrak, climate change is resulting in higher temperatures and ocean acidification, and also coastal water darkening, probably because of increasing runoff of organic material from land. The assessment of ecosystem condition concludes that climate change and other anthropogenic pressures, particularly the fisheries, are having substantial impacts on the ecosystem. New data show a dramatic decline in a number of seabird populations that breed along the coast of the Skagerrak and North Sea. This management plan area is generally more polluted than the other two.
Particularly valuable and vulnerable areas
Particularly valuable and vulnerable areas are identified on the basis of scientific assessments as being of great importance for biodiversity and biological production in an entire management plan area. The previous white paper on the ocean management plans stated that a review of valuable species and habitats and their vulnerability in all the particularly valuable and vulnerable areas identified in the management plan areas was to be completed. This has now been organised by the Forum for Integrated Ocean Management. A new set of particularly valuable and vulnerable areas has been identified on the basis of updated scientific evidence. As previously, the geographical distribution of valuable ecological features has been used as a starting point for identifying relevant areas. Areas have been identified as particularly valuable and vulnerable using criteria defined under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for evaluating ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs). A group of scientists under the leadership of the Institute of Marine Research has, using these criteria, identified 19 particularly valuable and vulnerable areas in Norway’s management plan areas. This is a smaller number of areas than previously, but the total area included is larger. Some of the areas are new, while in other cases the boundaries have been adjusted on the basis of stronger scientific evidence. Another group of more than 40 experts has subsequently assessed the intrinsic vulnerability of various ecosystem components.
The designation of areas as particularly valuable and vulnerable does not have any direct effect in the form of restrictions on commercial activities, but indicates that these are areas where it is important to show special caution, and where activities must be conducted in such a way that the ecological functioning and biodiversity of an area is not threatened. The scientifically-based identification of particularly valuable and vulnerable areas is not an administrative measure, and does not provide any special legal status or have other direct effects.
Ocean industries and value creation
Ocean industries play a vital part in value creation in Norway, and the oceans provide livelihoods for many coastal communities. For the foreseeable future, the oceans will continue to be a vital basis for jobs, value creation and welfare throughout Norway. At the same time, the oceans and ocean industries can play a part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Fisheries and aquaculture. Norway has a large and profitable fisheries and aquaculture sector, which harvests and produces a total of more than 3 million tonnes of seafood a year, mainly for export. Aquaculture is one of Norway’s largest export industries. In 2022, sales of farmed fish totalled about 1.65 million tonnes, with an overall first-hand value of about NOK 106 billion.
Climate change and other drivers are expected to result in major changes in the size and distribution of fish stocks in the years ahead, creating challenges for fisheries and fisheries management.
Greenhouse gas emissions associated with ocean-based food production vary between species, production methods, types of fishing gear and geographical areas, but are generally lower than for land-based production of animal protein.
Shipping. Fleet composition and activity levels vary between the management plan areas. In 2021, about 44 % of total distance sailed in Norwegian waters was in the North Sea, almost 32 % in the Norwegian Sea and 24 % in the Barents Sea. A similar split between the management plan areas has been observed for several decades.
In a normal year, about 7 000 unique vessels are registered in Norwegian waters. This includes transit, international and domestic traffic.
Norway’s ambition is to reduce emissions from domestic shipping and fishing vessels by half by 2030.
Petroleum activities. The activity level on the Norwegian shelf has beenhigh in recent years. Licensees have taken decisions to develop many new discoveries, and many field development projects are now nearing completion or have reached the production phase. To improve recovery, major investments have also been made in fields that are already in production. In the period 2020–2022, the authorities received plans for development and operation for 18 new projects and 13 plans for further development of fields that were already in production. On 1 January 2024, 92 fields on the Norwegian continental shelf were producing oil and gas, and 27 projects were in the development stage.
In 2023, daily production from the Norwegian continental shelf was about 233 million standard cubic metres of oil equivalents (Sm3 o.e.), corresponding to roughly 4 million barrels o.e. In recent years, the North Sea fields have accounted for about 70 % of production on the Norwegian shelf. The North Sea is the most thoroughly explored part of the Norwegian shelf, and the area that has produced most oil and gas. The fields in the Norwegian Sea have accounted for about 25 % and those in the Barents Sea for about 5 % of production from the Norwegian shelf.
The largest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from petroleum activities can be achieved by supplying fields with power from shore.
Offshore wind is expanding both globally and in Norway. The Government’s ambition is for licences for 30 GW of wind power production capacity to be allocated by 2040. In 2020, the first areas of the Norwegian continental shelf were opened for offshore renewable energy production, and the authorities have since then been developing the necessary legislation in close cooperation with the industry and other users of the oceans. In 2023, the first tenders were announced for acreage in the areas Utsira Nord and Sørlige Nordsjø II. In the same year, the Hywind Tampen wind farm was opened. This is currently the world’s largest floating wind farm.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) under the seabed. Norway is well placed to implement CO2 capture, transport and storage, and storage under the seabed on the Norwegian continental shelf can become an important industry. By March 2024, seven licences had been granted under Norway’s CCS regulations, six of which were exploration licences. Stakeholders in the industry are focusing particularly on developing profitable business models so that large enough volumes are stored to ensure further operations and encourage the development of new industries. The presence of geological formations that are suitable for CO2 storage means that Norway can play a key role in the further development of CCS as an important mitigation measure in climate policy.
Extraction of seabed minerals. In June 2023, the Government presented a white paper on mineral extraction on the Norwegian continental shelf, opening of acreage and a strategy for managing these resources (Meld. St. 25 (2022–2023)), which was debated by the Storting in January 2024. Seabed mineral activities have the potential to become a new ocean industry in Norway, contributing to value creation and employment and also ensuring supplies of vital metals in the future. Seabed mineral extraction is an emerging and immature industry. The technology is being developed, and more information is needed about conditions in deep-sea areas and the environmental impacts of mineral activities before extraction can be started.
Increasing human activity in the oceans
Norway has long experience of enabling the fisheries industry, maritime transport and the petroleum industry to share marine space. The management plans increase predictability and facilitate coexistence between industries that are based on using the ocean and its natural resources. As emerging industries seek to find their place, it will become even more important to provide a framework for satisfactory coexistence between different activities.
Overall framework and measures for conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems in the management plan areas
The ocean management plans set goals for ecosystem condition, value creation, coexistence between ocean industries, and conservation and sustainable use in the management plan areas. The present white paper reviews and assesses the degree to which these goals have been achieved, based on assessments by the Forum for Integrated Ocean Management. The general conclusion is that the goals for value creation, commercial activities and society have been achieved, whereas many of the goals for biodiversity, ecosystems and pollution have not been achieved or progress is difficult to assess.
The white paper Norway’s integrated plan for the conservation of areas of special importance for marine biodiversity, Meld. St. 29 (2020–2021) is the basis for the Government’s work on the conservation of these areas. The Government will draw up a draft of a new act on the conservation of marine biodiversity outside territorial waters.
The Government will draw up a national action plan to improve the situation for seabird populations.
The Government has made adjustments to the framework for petroleum activities around Bjørnøya and determined a framework for petroleum activities in the central Barents Sea. Otherwise, the existing frameworks will continue to apply.
Norway is one of the world’s leading coastal states in sustainable harvesting and use of the oceans, and intends to maintain this position.
The Government will continue to promote integrated, ecosystem-based management in international ocean cooperation, and will advocate the use of knowledge about climate change and other factors with an impact on the oceans as a basis for work in relevant international forums and agreements.
The Government will present the next white paper on Norway’s integrated ocean management plans in 2028.