Speech by State Secretary Vidar Ulriksen

Bergen - 26 September 2006

Ladies and gentlemen,

Introduction

An ecosystem based approach to management of marine living resources, and management of our fisheries in particular, is about using the resources on the ocean’s own terms. That is fundamentally what this conference is about.

History

The holistic approach to a better understanding of what is happening in the sea is not new. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) was established more than hundred years ago. The main reason was to join the scientific forces in order to explain the great fluctuations of the fish stocks.

It was quite clear from the very beginning that a holistic approach. We needed knowledge of all the driving forces that govern the marine environment. This is fundamental for a better understanding of the fish stock fluctuations.

The way marine research was organised in the scientific institutes connected to ICES reflected this holistic approach. Not only fish stocks and their biology were studied, but also other components.

I feel it is important for us to remember the value of the data collected over many years. We must also remember the fact that these data have been used in the scientific development of fisheries management advices. It is the foundation that our current management rests upon.

The Reykjavik Conference

This conference is hosted by the Nordic Council of Ministers, with the technical cooperation of FAO. It is a follow-up of the Conference on Responsible Fisheries in the Marine Ecosystem hosted by Iceland in 2001.

The Reykjavik Conference was a meeting place for politicians, administrators and scientists. New knowledge was developed and communicated directly to decision makers.

It was even more evident after the Conference in Iceland, that our old strategies for managing the fish stocks, focusing on the stocks one by one, have not been enough. It became increasingly clear that we must consider the marine ecosystem in its totality when making our management decisions.

In Johannesburg, at the World Summit of Sustainable Development we committed ourselves to implement an ecosystem approach to fisheries management within 2010. It is mandatory to do so if we want to continue to harvest the fruits of the ocean for generations to come.

To manage the fisheries - while considering the whole marine ecosystem - is not easily done. It requires sound knowledge of the ecosystems in order to be sure that we focus on the most important factors in our management. That is why we must continue our efforts to learn more about the marine ecosystem. And we must gradually implement new knowledge as it becomes available, for instance through this Conference here in Bergen.

Bergen

Bergen is a great centre for shipping, fisheries and aquaculture, and has been so throughout many centuries. But this is not the main reason why this city was chosen for this conference.

Norway’s most important institutions of marine research and fisheries management are located here. I believe we will greatly benefit from this throughout the conference.

An ecosystem based approach

Some progress has been made in our understanding of how to implement an ecosystem based approach.

This spring the Norwegian Government presented a proposal for an Integrated Management Plan for the Norwegian part of the Barents Sea and the areas off the coast of Lofoten and Vesterålen, in short “the management plan for the Barents Sea”, as we say when we are in a hurry.

The plan will be presented at this conference under session four as one of the case studies. When you hear the presentation, I believe you will agree that the management plan for the Barents Sea is internationally in the forefront of management plans for larger sea areas.

A major aim of the plan is to provide better instruments for a sustainable harvest of the marine living resources. This means taking into account driving forces others than the fisheries itself. It also means the establishment of a framework for management that includes the aspects of biodiversity, as well as the interactions between the most important components in the ecosystem.

In other words, our management will be further developed to a complete ecosystem based fisheries management plan.

The results of the Conference

I hope this conference will help us to develop a better understanding of the marine ecosystem. An improved understanding will make us capable of truly managing our fisheries in accordance with an ecosystem based approach.

We believe that this Conference will generate new knowledge and ideas on how to implement an ecosystem based approach into the practical management of fisheries. Therefore we will forward the results to FAO’s Committee for Fisheries (COFI). We trust that this will prove to be a useful and important input to the discussions in COFI on ecosystem based management at its meeting in March next year.

An ecosystem based approach to managing our fisheries has been in focus for several years. It is not an easy thing to achieve as the ecosystem is complex and our knowledge is limited. In Norway we feel we have made a good start. But we still need to work together in order to improve our knowledge, and together we can implement the new management tools as they become available.

That is why I am pleased to see the large number of participants for this Conference representing a total of 38 countries from all over the world.

You are politicians, administrators, scientists, representatives from the fisheries industry and International Government Organisations, Non-Governmental Organisation and much more. This diversity of participants here today is a guaranty for the quality of the results from our deliberations.

Finally, I would like to wish all of you a fruitful couple of days.

See also: http://cieaf.imr.no/