Today the Government presents a Report to the Storting (Norwegian parliament) on Norway’s policy on marine mammals.

- The Report describes the situation as of today in our whaling and sealing industries, and indicates which way to go in order to establish an ecosystem-based management regime for the vast stocks of whales and seals in Norwegian waters, says Svein Ludvigsen, Minister of Fisheries. He points out that conservation of vulnerable stocks is as important as rational management of stocks that can sustain harvest.

The central topic of this white paper is the establishment of an ecosystem-based management regime for marine mammals in areas under Norwegian jurisdiction. This is a long-term process, and the white paper proposes steps that can be taken towards the goal. One of these is to devise harvesting strategies and propose measures to implement them.

The main measures proposed are the following:

General measures:

• Introduce a set of general principles to be used as a basis for marine mammal management in Norway, and seek to achieve the widest possible international support for them.
• Establish a scientific basis for the transition to the ecosystem approach to management; in this connection, the size of marine mammal populations must be evaluated in relation to management of other living marine resources.
• Continue current monitoring programmes for various stocks and introduce monitoring of stocks that are not included in the current system.
• Review the determination of critical reference points and precautionary reference points for viable stocks of seal and whale species whose natural distribution range includes Norwegian waters.
• Establish monitoring programmes for bycatches of marine mammals in fisheries and evaluate their effect on marine mammal stocks. Norway will, together with other North Sea states, follow up the Bergen Declaration adopted at the Fifth International Conference on the Protection of the North Sea by taking part in a recovery plan for harbour porpoises in the North Sea.
• Facilitate adjustments of catch capacity to the resource base. These will include both replacing vessels and increasing catch capacity from its current level, particularly in the sealing industry. The Government believes that this can be done by introducing a “quota bonus” scheme for vessels that are used for fishing in combination with sealing.
• Introduce licensing schemes for whaling and sealing as one means of establishing a predictable framework for these industries.

Measures relating to whales:

• Seek to increase the harvest of minke whales within the framework of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). If this goal proves to be impossible to achieve in the longer term, the Government may consider whether Norway should support management of minke whales through the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO).
• Review how the DNA register for minke whales can be used to calculate stock sizes.
• Develop methods for electronic surveillance of the whale hunt and replace the current system of inspectors with electronic surveillance.
• Permit a longer whaling season as soon as it is possible to introduce electronic surveillance.

Measures relating to seals:

• Increase catch quotas for the harp seal stocks substantially from the current levels to reduce these stocks to levels that will give the maximum long-term harvest of seals. Harp seals in the East Ice must be managed in cooperation with Russia.
• Implement measures to improve knowledge of the stock size and population biology of hooded seals.
• Review methodological improvements of the monitoring system for coastal seal species.
• Regulate population growth in coastal seals to reduce damage to the fisheries, etc., and at the same time maintain viable stocks on the basis of scientific advice.
• Permit foreign nationals to take part in hunting for coastal seals provided that they do so under expert guidance.
• Reorganise support for sealing to increase profitability; this will mean a greater emphasis on product development, processing and marketing. Business profitability is an essential basis for a lasting rise in the numbers of seals harvested.
• Encourage sealers to establish joint projects with Russian companies to increase seal catches in the East Ice. Norway runs a business development fund and an investment fund for northwestern Russia, and these can provide funding for such projects.
• Assess the need for mobile slaughtering units for seals.

Summary of the white paper