Svein Ludvigsen - Minister of Fisheries – Norway

The Future of Norwegian Seafood Production

Conference on Marine Fisheries Aquaculture: Balancing Science, Economics and the Environment - Ottawa, Ontario February 5th 2003

Slide-presentation (powerpoint)

Allow me to begin by saying “thank you” to the Minister of Fisheries and Ocean for his welcoming remarks (I share many of his viewpoints), and thank you to all of you for your hospitality in arranging this meeting, which will give strength to our common future co-operation. We have had good cooperation within the marine fields so fare, and will continue our work within this spirit. The signing ceremony on co-operation between our research institutes to take place tomorrow is an important tool in this respect.

In my speech I will highlight some issues concerning:

• Where Norway is moving with respect to its seafood production industry
• Norwegian Governmental policy to develop the industry – being the fisheries as well as the aquaculture sector)

• Finally I will emphasis science and generic technologies as drivers in the development of the same industrial sector

However I would like to start by addressing some the key figures of the industry in Norway to put our sector into a national and international perspective. I will also try to give some comparative remarks on Norwegian – Canadian policy issues in order, hopefully, to trigger further discussions during the day.