31-03-06
The Norwegian government presented its Integrated Management Plan for the
Barents Sea and the coastal areas in Northern Norway. The plan opens for
petroleum activity in the southern part of the Barents Sea, but not in a 50 km
belt along the Finnmark coast and certain areas off the coast of Vesteraalen and
Lofoten. Neither will there be any activity in a 65 km zone around Bjoernoya.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said at the presentation that the Government has
made the Northern Regions a major part of its policy, and that the fisheries and
the oil and gas industry would be developed side by side. He said the Integrated
Management Plan for the North ought to become a model for many other nations.
Environmental Minister Helen Bjoernoey said the Barents Sea was a unique
area, with major renewable resources. She said the Government will establish a
new and more coordinated system for monitoring the marine ecosystems in the
north. This initiative is a part of the Integrated Management Plan for the
Barents Sea and the sea areas off Lofoten, which calls for more knowledge about
these marine areas.
“The gathering of more knowledge will be a fundamental part of our efforts to
establish a management of the Barents Sea that safeguards the marine
ecosystems,” Bjoernoey said.
The restrictions have been met with disappointment by many in Nordland, Troms
and Finnmark, both among politicians and the industry, as well as fishermen.
They fear that the region will not receive the full benefit of the development
of the resources in the North, compared with what has happened in the coastal
regions further south.
Environmental organisations, on the other hand, see the restrictions as a
victory for their long campaign against the exploitation of the oil reserves off
the vulnerable coastal areas in the North, where they claim even the smallest
oil spill would result in an environmental disaster, particularly in the winter
time.
Source: NRK/Norway Post