Ottawa, 7 May 2002

"Northern cooperation: Common challenges"

Co-existence fisheries-petroleum – the Norwegian experience – Challenges in the Barents Sea

By State Secretary Solveig Strand

Ministry of Fisheries, Norway

Ladies and gentlemen,

Oil production on the Norwegian continental shelf started more than 30 years ago off the southern coast of Norway. Right from the start it has been a challenge to ensure that these activities could take place alongside the traditional use of the sea, the fisheries, and without negatively affecting the marine resource base, the environment and consumer safety. This has been a continued priority as the industry has extended into new areas.

Now gas and oil have been discovered in the Barents Sea, in an almost pristine area in the Arctic, an area of great importance to fisheries. So how do we tackle this situation? Does the petroleum industry represent a risk to the environment? And how do we assess the risks and benefits of this development? In this presentation I would like to outline how the Norwegian government will meet this challenge.

First some words about the importance of the Barents Sea.

The Barents Sea is one of the world’s largest and most productive shallow Arctic sea areas. This is where the warm currents of the Atlantic meet the cold Arctic water. Because the amount of Atlantic water entering the Barents Sea changes from year to year, there are large variations from one year to the next in both temperature and ice conditions. The intense algal bloom in the spring and early summer is the basis for all other marine organisms in the area. Low temperatures and extreme seasonal variations in light are also characteristic of the northern areas. Thus the productive season in the northern seas is more limited than it is further south. The climatic conditions also make the breakdown of substances, including pollutants, slower. Animals and plants are therefore thought to be more vulnerable to the effects of contaminants.

The Barents Sea is the main feeding ground for large fish stocks. Some of the most important Norwegian fisheries are based on these stocks, like the northeast Arctic cod, the Norwegian spring spawning herring and the Barents Sea capelin. In the year 2000 the total catch of these three stocks alone amounted to more than 2 million tonnes. Biological production in the sea is also the basis for a rich and varied fauna of birds, polar bears, whales and seals. Up to now, the most important uses of the Barents Sea have therefore been fishing and hunting.

The petroleum industry affects the fishing industry in two main ways:

- One is that it restricts fishing operations because of its physical structures, like platforms, pipelines and cables. This mainly affects trawling.

- The second is that any discharge into the sea of harmful substances may in the worst case reduce the productivity of the sea and thereby what we can harvest from it. Such substances may also contaminate food products derived from the sea.

I will here concentrate my comments on the second of these factors. With the increased knowledge about the effects of chemicals and new technical developments, the environmental track record of the offshore petroleum industry has steadily improved. However, some of the main concerns today are related to effects on marine resources, in particular from long-term exposure to even low doses of certain chemicals in the operational discharges, such as trace substances contained in the so-called "produced water".

It is the aim of the Norwegian government that by 2005 there shall be no discharges of substances that are harmful to living organisms. However, there is still uncertainty about which substances do cause long-term harm. Research on this question will therefore be intensified through a separate research programme with funding from the government and the petroleum industry.

Cooperation between the petroleum and the fishing industries has steadily improved over the years, and is formalized in different ways so as to ensure a good basis for decision-making. Before opening up a new area for petroleum activities, developing a discovery or closing down a field, Norwegian law requires an impact assessment. The assessment describes the possible environmental, social and economic effects that the planned activity could have, including its potential impact on fisheries. The impact assessment is circulated for comment to among others the fishing industry, relevant central and local government bodies and other interested parties such as environmental organizations. This public consultation process is important for identifying the measures that will have to be taken to minimize potential conflicts of interest between the petroleum industry, fisheries and environmental considerations.

The southern part of the Barents Sea was opened up for petroleum activities in 1989, but under strict conditions. Both gas and oil have been found, but so far none of the discoveries has been developed. However, in March this year the Norwegian parliament – the Storting – agreed to develop the Snøhvit field for gas production. The government’s view is that this project should be developed provided that all the environmental implications have been properly addressed. The plans for the Snøhvit development include production of gas only, which does not involve the same environmental hazards as the development of an oil field would.

The development of the petroleum industry in the north of Norway may also have many positive effects on society at large, provided of course that the environmental effects are acceptable. Snøhvit is expected to provide additional employment and income-earning opportunities in both the construction and production phases. The side effects for the service industry may also be considerable. These opportunities will strengthen local communities and give them a firmer economic basis. This again may stimulate other kinds of industries and also benefit the fisheries and fish farming industries.

The expansion of the petroleum industry into the northern areas in the last few years has aroused strong reactions from the fishing industry and environmental organizations. There is clearly a need for a careful approach to ensure that any further expansion takes place without in any way jeopardizing the renewable resources that we will by living off in the foreseeable future.

The new government that came to power last autumn therefore decided from the start to make sure that the development of one sector did not happen at the expense of another sector or the environment . In the platform it adopted when it took office, the government stated that it would:

• carry out an impact assessment of year-round petroleum activities in the northern sea areas, that is, from the Lofoten Islands and northwards. The Barents Sea will not be opened up for further petroleum activities until this has been done.
• develop an integrated management plan for the Barents Sea, covering the environment, fisheries, petroleum activities and sea transport. Petroleum-free fishing zones will also be considered.

The management plan was further outlined in a white paper in March 2002. The plan will be based on the impact assessment for the petroleum sector and on assessments of other activities and industries in the Barents Sea.

The overriding goal is to achieve a more coherent policy covering all sectors and users of the marine environment. A central goal is to establish a management framework that makes it possible to strike a balance between commercial interests, for instance fisheries, aquaculture, transport and petroleum activities, and the need to protect the marine environment and marine biological diversity. Norway also emphasizes the importance of cooperation and of involving all stakeholders in the decision processes.

The development of this management plan for the Barents Sea represents a new strategy for the management of the coastal and marine environment. The intention is to make similar plans for other sea areas. The experience we gain from developing the management plan for the Barents Sea will of course be important for making these other plans and we are ready to share it with others who might be interested. With this approach we hope to be able to ensure a balanced development that will benefit our environment and our economy and allow us to continue to harvest from the sea as we have done in the past.

Thank you.