Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs Helga Pedersen launched the www.fisheries.no portal at the European Seafood Exposition in Brussels today. “There is an increasing need for communicating information about Norwegian resource and aquaculture management and what Norway is doing to ensure that the seafood we export to more than 150 countries is safe and healthy. A greater focus on environmental information regarding fish products makes it necessary to improve information in this area,” says Pedersen.

Among other things, the portal contains facts and information in English about the state of the Norwegian commercial stocks, resource management and control, aquaculture, the marine environment and the work being done to ensure that Norwegian seafood is safe.

The portal has been prepared and is edited by the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs in cooperation with the Institute of Marine Research, Directorate of Fisheries, National Institute for Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES) and the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.

Fisheries.no is based on the design and technical platforms of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' www.norway.info, which provides information about Norway through webportals in 89 countries and in 18 languages. The Fisheries portal is hosted on the MFA's Norway Portal server.

• Speech by the Norwegian Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs Helga Pederesen at the press brief.