5 Economic, administrative and district-related consequences

5.1 Economic consequences

General

The basis for the Government’s proposals for a comprehensive policy on the marine environment is that the social and economic benefits of measures to ensure a clean sea with abundant resources exceed the cost. In the short term it plans to institute measures which will involve direct, additional expenditure for the State, local authorities and trade and industry. However, in the longer term this expenditure will help secure the environmental qualities of our maritime and coastal areas. A good marine environment is a condition for commercial activities and settlements based on the utilisation of live marine resources in the future.

Learning more

Learning more is an important component in the Government’s plan for ecosystem-based management of maritime and coastal areas, as are better monitoring, charting and research. Work in this area is to be intensified and will become more focused and steps will be taken to improve co-ordination of existing efforts. The Government will revisit this subject in connection with the annual budget proposals.

A research programme is to be launched in collaboration with the oil industry with a view to clarifying the long-term effects of discharges from oil exploitation operations into the sea. The programme will have a budget of between 90–120 million Norwegian kroner over a period of six years and industry is expected to contribute two thirds. The remaining costs will be shared between the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, the Ministry of Fisheries and the Ministry of the Environment.

EU Water Framework Directive

For the moment, it is difficult to judge how much additional expenditure will be necessary to implement the measures required under the terms of the directive. Extensive work has been started at national level on assessing the social consequences of the directive and Norway is participating actively in working groups set up by the EU Commission in connection with implementation of the directive by individual countries. The Government will be returning to this in connection with the Ministry of the Environment’s budgets in the years to come.

Contaminated sediments in coastal areas and fjords

The basic principle is that cleanup operations are to be financed by the polluters themselves. This strategy will therefore primarily entail financial consequences for state agencies, municipal departments, companies and private enterprise, which have helped pollute coastal areas and fjords. State grants will be needed in instances where no polluter can be identified and also to make sure that comprehensive cleanup operations do take place in large fjords.

Very tentative estimates indicate that it will cost between a few billion and a few tens of billions of kroner to carry out a total cleanup along the entire coastline. But, the costs will depend on how large the areas requiring cleanup operations are. An estimate of the social and economic benefits should be included in assessments of the need for cleanup operations in each individual area. No estimates have been made of the total benefits of cleanup operations along the whole of the Norwegian coast. However, cleanup operations are expected to offer major benefits in the form of fewer environmental problems and less pressure on public health thanks to lower exposure to environmental pollutants via fish and crustaceans. In the long term, it will be possible to use areas where cleanup operations are conducted for fishing and fish farming activities. Clean fjords will help secure Norwegian export interests on this field.

Assessments of the social and economic benefits will be crucial in connection with ordering cleanup operations and launching state-financed cleanup measures to ensure that the social and economic benefits of the measures exceed the cost of the cleanup.

All in all it is expected that measures triggered by the strategy will be socially and economically beneficial.

5.2 Administrative resources/ consequences

The State

Work on developing a long-term policy to promote ecosystem-based management of coastal and maritime areas will involve a number of ministries and parts of the civil service. In the shorter term, resources will be required in particular for the development of an integrated management plan for the Barents Sea and for management plans covering areas close to the coast pursuant to the EU water framework directive.

The proposal to transfer responsibility for state contingency plans to combat acute pollution from the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority to the National Coastal Administration means that responsibility for cleanup operations in the case of severe pollution would be in the hands of the agency with the principle responsibility for preventing shipping accidents. It is thought that this will prove to be administratively more efficient and that it will encourage more joint assessment of the needs for preventive measures and repairs.

Regional level

The drawing up of county plans of action for cleanup of contaminated sediments will require some administrative resources at regional level. The same applies for the drafting of action plans for the individual catchment areas under the terms of the water framework directive. The goal is to achieve the greatest possible degree of co-ordination when drawing up these plans so as to ensure that the action plans for cleanup of sediments can be integrated into the plans established to meet the requirements of the framework directive.

Local authorities

Local authorities in coastal communities may gradually be given responsibilities in connection with implementation of management plans insofar as management concerns resources and activities, which are largely of local significance.

5.3 District-related consequences

A clean marine environment with abundant resources is one of the most important prerequisites for the fisheries and aquaculture industries and thus also for settlements and jobs in Norway’s coastal regions. The district-related consequences of more demanding environmental policy for the coastal and maritime regions will therefore be positive.