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2006
THE
THE BARENTS
BARENTS SEA
SEA
ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENT AND
AND PETROLEUM
PETROLEUM ACTIVITY
ACTIVITY
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BARENTSwatch
Barentswatch 2006 is published by
Bioforsk Soil and Environment,
CONTENTS
Svanhovd with support from the
Norwegian Ministry of Environment,
NOFO, The Norwegian Barents
Secretariat, Eni Norway and Statoil.
New opportunities and new challenges in the north,
Ingvild Wartiainen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Norwegian, English and Russian
Barents Sea, Ingvild Wartiainen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
editions are published.
Joint database for seabird colonies in the Barents Sea,
Hallvard Strøm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Director:
Hans Geir Eiken
Coral reefs and other vulnerable species at the bottom
of the Barents Sea, Pål B. Mortensen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Marine bioprospecting in the north, Espen Hansen . . . . . . . .12
Editors:
Bjørn Frantzen and Ingvild Wartiainen
Cover photo:
Bjørn Frantzen
The Northern Coalition: The first experience of
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) effort to
consolidate in the Barents region, Sergey Zhavoronkin . . . . .13
Barents Sea management plan, Ingvild Wartiainen . . . . . . . .14
Norway - a policy for the north, Ole Anders Lindseth . . . . . .16
Graphic design:
Tiina Monsen, Tvers Kommunikasjon
Print:
Birkeland trykkeri AS
Major funding for Russo-Norwegian environmental
research in the Barents Sea, Bjørn Kristoffersen . . . . . . . . . . .18
Protecting the treasures in a sea of change, Dag Nagoda .20
Abandoned and scuttled ships in the Kola Bay area:
The source of ecological and navigation danger,
Vladimir Bakharev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Editorial Work completed April 2006.
Petroleum transport from the Russian sector of the
Barents region, Bjørn Frantzen and Alexei Bambulyak . . . . . . . .24
Translators:
From Norwegian to English:
Cbg. Consult AB, Sundbyberg, Sweden
From Norwegian to Russian:
Storvik & Co, Svetlana Kurti
Russo-Norwegian collaboration to combat oil spill,
Ole Kristian Bjerkemo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Norwegian operating companies collaborate to combat
oil spill, Tom Gederø . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
World Wildlife Fund’s “Clean Coast” program,
Mikhail Kalentchenko . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Vardø traffic control centre, Terje Alling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
ISSN 0806 - 5411
Oil and Reindeer herdsmen in the Nenets Autonomous
Region (NAO), Vladislav Pesko . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
Exciting developments in the north, Alf E. Jakobsen . . . . . . .36
Emergencies versus imagination,
Harald Larsen and Bernt Aksel Jensen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Bearded seal
(Erignathus barbathus)
©Bjørn Frantzen
3
Ivory gull (Pagophila eburnea)
©Bjørn Franzen
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NEW OPPORTUNITIES
and new challenges in the north
The geopolitical focus is today strongly
directed towards the northern areas, and
especially towards the Barents Sea. The
Barents Sea is classified as one of the last
clean, rich oceans. Favourable ocean currents and shallow seas have made the sea
area one of the most productive, both considering fish, seabirds and sea mammals.
Much is known today about the ecosystem
in the Barents Sea, but on important subjects like biological diversity, the bottom
fauna, ecological interactions and mechanisms, the knowledge is still insufficient.
The Ocean may also conceal biological
produced substances that can become
immensely important for illness treatment
in the future. Today, the search for such
substances in cool climate and marine
environments are only at its beginning.
However, this is not what has lead to
the great interest for the northern territories and the Arctic. The centre of attention is
the prospect of a new oil and gas fairytale.
The interest for the Arctic and the northern
territories increased enormously when
reported that up to 25 % of the worlds oil
and gas reserves could be localised in the
Arctic. A large proportion of these oil and
gas reserves are expected to be found on
the Russian territory, which has lead to an
aggressive campaigning from Norwegian
and International oil companies to participate in the development of Russian oil and
gas fields. The world’s need for energy is
increasing, and so is the need for stable
energy deliveries. Among the business
community and politicians, the willingness
for oil and gas development is great, while
environmental organisations and scientists
request moderation and caution. At present, the oil protection is not good enough,
and there is still a long way to go before a
reasonable oil protection is achieved at
both sides of the border. The cooperation
on oil spill protection between Russia and
Norway was initiated in 1989, and has progressed steadily. However, it is a question
whether the progress of the cooperation on
oil spill protection, and a common environmental understanding is moving forward
fast enough.
As part of the increased focus on the
north, the Norwegian government presented a parliament paper and a management
plan for the Barents Sea and parts of the
Norwegian Sea in March 2006. This management plan is evidence based and seeks to
make a balance between business interests
and the environment in such a way that the
Barents Sea ecosystem is protected.
In many cases, there will be a great
challenge to combine environmental interests with the need for business development. Small communities with limited
business prospects often lack workplaces.
In these communities the discussion can
easily turn into a discussion about to be or
not to be for a whole community. We have
today good knowledge about what damage
industry can do to health, nature and primary industry. It is important to use this
knowledge as a base when new industry is
developed, and demand the developers to
take care of the environment in a satisfactory manner.
In this issue of Barentswatch, we
sought to show some of the activities in the
Barents Sea, other than fishery. The focus
has at large been on the prospects of increased petroleum activities, and we invited
scientists, the central government, local
politicians, environmental organisations
and business to contribute. The papers in
this magazine illustrate parts of the large,
complex picture. We hope that
Barentswatch will spread knowledge and
understanding for the environment and
business in the Barents Sea, and reach a
broad group of readers within the Barents
Region.
Good Reading!
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Polar bear (Ursus maritimus)
on Svalbard.
©Bjørn Frantzen, Bioforsk Svanhovd
The Barents Sea is one of the
world’s most productive
marine ecosystems, with
extensive harvestable
resources and some of the
densest concentrations of
seabirds. Its ecosystem is
vulnerable since its biological
diversity is lower than in seas
further south and the food
chains are short.
Ocean currents and nutrients
Although the Barents Sea comprises only 4
thousandths of the world’s oceans, it is a
sea area with extensive biological production and significant harvestable marine
resources. The seas off northern Norway
provide the basis for one of the most productive fisheries in the world. This extensive biological production is the result to a
significant extent of a fortunate combination of favourable ocean currents and shallow seas – the average depth of the Barents
Sea is 230 metres. Warm waters rich in
nutrients stream northwards from the
Atlantic Ocean, meaning that much of the
area is ice-free. When the warm waters
from the Atlantic encounter the cold, nutrient-poor waters of the Arctic Ocean, in
winter the water masses are completely
stirred up down to 200-300m, and nutrient
salts from the lower depths of the ocean are
brought up to the surface layers. The greatest availability of nutrients, and therefore
especially high productivity, is in the polar
frontal zone where the warm and cold
water meet and along the ice edge.
Nutrients, which accumulate when the
water is stirred up in winter, provide the
basis for spring inflorescence of algae and
phytoplankton.
Fish
The most important commercial species in
the Barents Sea – capelin (Mallotus villosus), cod (Gadus morhua) and herring
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BARENTS SEA
By Ingvild Wartiainen
Bioforsk Svanhovd
(Clupea harengus) – are also key organisms in the ecosystem to a major extent.
Cod is a predatory fish and a cannibal, with
capelin one of its main prey. Capelin
spends its entire life cycle in the Barents
Sea, functioning as a connecting link
between animal plankton and a number of
predators besides cod. Its main feeding
grounds are further north, but spawning
and predation take place in the south so
that production is in the process of moving
from north to south. Herring competes
with capelin for plankton in the south of
the Barents Sea. Periods when there is an
increased inflow of warm water from the
Atlantic favour herring stocks, while during colder periods it is capelin that is
favoured. Cod, capelin and herring all
spawn along the coast of Norway. Arctic
cod (Boreogadus saida), another important
plankton eater, is a true coldwater species
which spawns, matures and feeds in water
down to and below 0°C. It spawns mainly
in the southeastern part of the Barents Sea
as well as on the east side of Svalbard.
Arctic cod, herring and capelin are at the
bottom of the food chain and are important
sources of nourishment for seabirds,
marine mammals and larger fish. Fish also
provide food for some 1.3 million seals
and 20 million seabirds in the Barents Sea.
Seabirds
The seabird colonies in the Barents Sea are
among the largest in the world on account
of its large production of plankton and fish.
In summer the birds use food from the sea
to produce eggs and young birds, while
simultaneously carrying important nourishment from the sea to the land. Some
nesting birds leave the Barents Sea in the
winter months, while other species come
here to overwinter. 40 species of seabirds
are registered in the Barents Sea area, but
only a few of these are important in the
sense that they are found in large numbers
and are responsible for the greatest food
consumption. Some examples of important
species are Brünnich’s guillemot (Uria
lomvia), common guillemot (Uria aalge),
puffin (Fratercula arctica) and black guillemot (Cepphus grylle). In the Norwegian
sector of the Barents Sea the numbers of all
these species except the Brünnich’s guillemot are decreasing and they are included
on the Norwegian Red List of threatened
species. Today guillemot numbers in some
areas are 95% lower than in the mid-1960s,
while puffin numbers on the Røst Islands
are only 27% of 1979 levels. There are also
many indications that Norwegian numbers
of black guillemot have decreased significantly in recent years. The reasons for this
are uncertain, but a lack of capelin and herring as well as entanglement in fishing nets
and predation are important factors.
The Barents Sea is also an overwintering site for rare high Arctic seabirds such
as the king eider (Somateria spectabilis)
and Steller’s eider (Polysticta stelleri). A
significant proportion of the total numbers
of king eider and Steller’s eider overwinter
on the coast of Norway, especially in the
two most northern counties. Both species
are defined as Norwegian responsibility
species in the national Red List.
which live mainly on animal plankton, and
little auks (Alle alle), which mainly eat
king crabs. The minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) is one of the commonest baleen whales seen in the Barents Sea,
the most rare being the bowhead whale
(Balaena mysticetus) and blue whale
(Balaenoptera musculus). Tooth whales
mainly eat fish and squid. Examples of
toothed whales regularly found in the
Barents Sea are the killer whale (Orcinus
orca), Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) and harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). Whales are completely reliant on
the sea, where they also feed and nurse
their young. Seals on the other hand go
ashore or onto the ice to warm themselves
in the sun and to feed and nurse their
young. The commonest types of seal in the
Barents Sea are the ring seal (Phoca hispida), harp seal (Phoca groenlandica) and
bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus). Walrus
stocks (Odobenus rosmarus) on Svalbard
were protected in 1952, by which time they
had almost become exterminated by hunting. The walrus is found in relatively shallow sea areas where it lives principally on
mussels and snails. In winter and spring
the sea ice extends far into the Barents Sea,
and it is along the edge of the drift ice
where there are most seals that the polar
bear finds its food. The polar bear likes to
be in ice-filled waters preferably far from
land, and could therefore almost be regarded as a sea mammal.
RED LIST
A Red List is a list of plant and animal
species that are threatened by
extermination or critically endangered, or
are rare and vulnerable to human activity
for that reason. Species are assigned to
categories which represent different level
of threat: E=Critically Endangered,
V=Vulnerable, R=Rare, DC=Declining,
care demanded, DM=Declining, monitor
species, A=responsibility species.
In Norway the national Red List is
involved in putting a focus on threatened
species at national, regional and local
authority level as well as among
disinterested organisations. The official
Norwegian Red List is issued by the
Directorate for Nature Management (DN).
Bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) one of
the seal species commonly seen in the
Barents Sea.
©Bjørn Frantzen, Bioforsk Svanhovd
Black guillemot (Cepphus grylle)
©Bjørn Frantzen, Bioforsk Svanhovd
Sea mammals
Seals, whales and polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are the three large groups of sea
mammals living in the Barents Sea area,
and together with the seabirds they form
the top link in the food chain. The exceptions here are some of the baleen whales,
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Blood samples taken of Thickbilled murre (Uria lomvia) at Sakhanina Bay, Novaja Semlja. ©Hallvard Strøm, The Norwegian Polar Institute
JOINT DATABASE
for seabird colonies in the Barents Sea
By Hallvard Strøm, Norwegian Polar Institute
Email: [email protected]
All the known seabird colonies
in the Barents Sea and White
Sea have now been collected
into a joint Norwegian-Russian
database. The database was
produced by seven Russian
institutions and the Norwegian
Polar Institute and covers all
known seabird colonies in the
Barents Sea region. With
industrial activity in the Barents
Sea increasing, the database
may become an important tool
for management and research in
both countries.
8
The database is the result of more than 15
years’ collaboration between Norwegian
and Russian academic institutions. Work
started on the database in 1993 as part of
Norwegian-Russian environmental collaboration under which the Norwegian Polar
Institute in Tromsø had main responsibility
for developing the database, with the aid of
seven Russian institutions (see textbox).
An internet version of the database has been
produced to facilitate access for Russian
and Norwegian management bodies.
Ocean rich in seabirds
The Barents Sea is one of the most productive sea areas in the world and few others
can claim such a rich variety of nesting
seabirds. At least 20 million seabirds,
divided between 40 different species and
1600 nesting colonies, spend summer in
the Barents Sea. A number of seabird
colonies are joint Norwegian-Russian
colonies. The most important threats to
seabirds in the Barents Sea in the future
will be from increased oil and gas activities, fishing, environmental pollutants and
climate change.
1600 colonies
The database contains data from seabird
colonies on Svalbard, Frans Josef Land,
Novaja Zemlja, Nenets Autonomous
Okrug, White Sea and Murman coast. A
total of 1547 colonies are recorded in the
database, including 25 colony nesting
seabird species. More than five million
nesting birds have been recorded the
colonies. The most populous species are
brünnich’s guillemot (Uria lomvia) with
over 1.7 million nesting pairs, and kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) with over 900,000
nesting individuals. However the quality of
the data varies from species to species. For
example, there are probably greater numbers of little auks (Alle alle) than is suggested by the database, since this species is
difficult to survey and many of its colonies
are in areas that are rarely visited.
Important management and
research tool
A seabird colony database is an important
tool for management and research.
Electronic data is generally easily accessible, and in the case of an oil spill for example it would quickly be possible to identify
potential areas with high concentrations of
vulnerable species of nesting birds. The
seabird colony database will also be useful
in a variety of other connections, since
researchers and managing bodies will be
able to utilise the data to compare areas
with regard to their biological diversity
and bird density so as to identify the areas
that are important for rare and vulnerable
species, estimate total numbers of individual species or analyse population trends
and historical data.
Counting seabirds in the Sakhanina Bay at
Novaja Semlja.
©Hallvard Strøm, The Norwegian Polar Institute
The map shows seabird colonies, with size estimaes, included in the seabird database. The
birds illustrated in the map is: Puffin (Fratercula arctica) at the Norwegian mainland,
common murre (Uria aalge) at the Bear Island, little auk (Alle alle) on Svalbard, ivory gull
(Pagophila eburnea) on Franz Josef Land, thickbilled murre (Uria lomvia) at Novaja Semlja,
and spectacled eider (Somateria spectabilis). ©Hallvard Strøm, The Norwegian Polar Institute
In order to make the seabird colony
database accessible to Norwegian and
Russian managing bodies, a simplified
password controlled internet version has
recently been introduced. This is mapbased and can be searched, and will form
an important tool in contexts that require
up to date knowledge of incidence of
seabirds. A trial version is currently being
tested in Norway and Russia.
defective, fragmentary and out of date.
Attempts have been made by various
projects to complete the most important
gaps
• Vulnerability analysis of oil/seabirds in
the south eastern Barents Sea (Russian
sector)
• Harmonisation of existing monitoring
on the Norwegian and Russian sides.
Russo-Norwegian seabird
collaboration
Russo-Norwegian seabird collaboration
originally started in 1989 as a specialist
group under the Russo-Norwegian environmental protection commission. In 1997
the group was formally dissolved and came
under the auspices of the Biodiversity
Group. Today the collaboration is maintained as a network of researchers and
management bodies in both countries.
Recent projects have focused on:
Collaborating institutions:
• Murmansk Marine Biological Institute
(MMBI) – Juri V. Krasnov
• Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
(AARI), St. Petersburg
– Maria V. Gavrilo
• Institute of Geography, Russian
Academy of Science, Moscow
– Grigori M. Tertitski
• Kandalaksha State Nature Reserve
(KSNR) – Alexander S. Koryakin
• Solovetski State Nature Reserve (SSNR)
– Alexander E. Cherenkov
• All-Russia Research Institute of Nature
Conservation and Reserves
(VNII Priroda), Moscow - Vladimir Yu.
Semashko
• Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø –
Hallvard Strøm
• Joint databases (eg the seabird colony
database and a literature database)
• Surveys of the incidence and extent of
seabirds in the eastern Barents Sea.
Information about seabirds in the
Russian sector of the Barents Sea is
9
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CORAL REEFS
AND OTHER VULNERABLE SPECIES
at the bottom of the Barents Sea
Pål B. Mortensen,
Institute for Marine Research
Email: [email protected]
Deep-water coral reefs, coral forests
and sponges are an important natural
resource, with wide biological
diversity and a high density of fish.
Environmental conditions favour the
occurrence of coral reefs further north
than is currently documented. The
Barents Sea is the scene of considerable fishing activity and it has been
shown that fishing using bottom
trawls may damage these unique and
vulnerable species. Since corals grow
extremely slowly, it will require a very
long time for nature to repair any
extensive damage. Many benthic animal species not only create a habitat
for other organisms but are important
during particular life stages of organisms which otherwise live freely in
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the water. Nevertheless until now little
effort has been made to understand
the significance of benthic habitats for
the ecosystem.
Benthic animals’ environment in
the Barents Sea
The salty and relatively warm (4–6°C)
waters of the Atlantic Ocean are the main
source of heat for the Barents Sea. The bottom fauna of the Barents Sea have a rich
variety of species whose combination
varies parallel with the temperature near
the seabed. Benthic animals in the polar
frontal zone inhabit a very changeable
environment and need to be adapted for
both Arctic-boreal and Arctic conditions.
The distribution of benthic animals in
these sea areas has received little study in
relation to the areas’ major importance for
Sponges in trawl catches (from a bottom
trawl) from Tromsøflaket. The round sponge,
Geodia dominated in the catch.
©Institute of Marine Research
fishing. In some areas the influence of the
Gulf Stream produces favourable conditions for many of the same species as those
found along the northern parts of the
Norwegian coast.
Many species are represented on the
seabed and it has a generally wide diversity compared with the deep-water masses.
Research in Russia has discovered around
2700 species of benthic animals in the
Barents Sea, comprising approximately
80% of the total fauna in the area. Many
species in the north grow slowly, live for a
long time, have a low rate of reproduction
and play a key part in transmission of energy. Local knowledge among fishermen
suggests that in some places sponges and
corals dominate the seabed.
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Corals
Several large coral species provide habitats
for a wide variety of other species.
Lophelia pertusa is the only species in the
North East Atlantic that forms coral reefs,
while horn corals (eg Paragorgia arborea,
Paramuricea placomus and Primnoa resedaeformis) may form so-called coral
forests, with colonies up to three metres
high. New coral reefs are continually being
described along the coast of Norway where
they are found mainly at depths of between
200 and 600m. In some places they may be
up to approximately 35m high and around
one kilometre long. Areas where the reefs
are dense are called reef complexes.
Examples of these are the Sula reef (14 km
long) and Røst reef (35 km long). The Røst
reef is up to 2.8 km wide. In 2002 it was
documented by the Institute for Marine
Research west of Røst, at the far south of
the area covered by the Barents Sea management plan. This is the largest Lophelia
reef complex ever recorded.
Coral reefs have been documented in
the Barents Sea as far north as the Tromsøflaket fishing bank and Lopphavet Sea, but
according to fishermen reefs can be found
both to the north and east of this. As early
as the end of the 1930s fishermen told the
marine biologist Carl Don that Lophelia
were found off Ingøy, Mehamn, Berlevåg
and Hamningberg in Finnmark, the northernmost location being west of Hjelmsøybanken (71°21’N), but none of these
locations have yet been investigated. A survey by the Institute for Marine Re-search
in summer 2005 using the re-search vessel
G. O. Sars discovered a coral reef in Sotbakken, just south of the Tromsøflaket
bank (70°45’N). The reef was discovered at
a depth of around 250m and was relatively
large with no clear indications of fishing
damage. This is the most northerly coral
reef so far documented.
that particularly large numbers of sponges
are found on the Tromsøflaket bank.
Many observations have been made of
the link between fish and sponges. It is
common to see Norway haddock in areas
where there are many sponges. The haddock like to lie inside the funnel-shaped
sponges or on the sea bottom next to the
sponges. It has also been shown that
sponge colonies have a rich associated
fauna of small crustaceans and other invertebrates, and there is therefore reason to
assume that sponges have an important
ecological significance for both fish and
other animals. Like corals, sponges are
vulnerable to bottom trawling. Using a
remote-controlled mini U-boat the Institute
for Marine Research has documented that
remains of sponges are left behind in trawl
tracks on the seabed. In addition to the
directly destructive effect (crushing) of
bottom trawling, stirring up particles from
the seabed can have a damaging effect on
the sponges. The particles may block the
sponges’ pores so that they can no longer
filter food particles from the water. No one
knows how much these creatures are able
to tolerate of this, and there are also large
gaps in our knowledge about their growth,
reproduction and ability to regenerate
themselves.
Further surveys much needed
In order to answer the questions asked
involving management of resources in the
Barents Sea, the species on the seabed
need to be surveyed. This surveying could
be viewed in the context of the need to survey and monitor biological diversity. One
important step in this direction is the
MAREANO (www.MAREANO.no) project, which involves collaboration between
the Institute for Marine Research, Geolo-
gical Survey of Norway and Norwe-gian
Hydrographic Service. Surveying will be
conducted by means of detailed depth surveys, video inspections and seabed sampling. Recording of benthic animals and
their habitats has been included as a permanent part of the Institute for Marine
Research’s “ecosystem expeditions”, the
purpose of which is to study different
aspects of the physical and biological environment in order to obtain a better understanding of how different factors interact.
One of the results of this research will be to
provide more information about which
areas are important food sources for fish,
and the Barents Sea will need to be surveyed in order to decide which areas
require monitoring. It is especially important that negative effects are traced as
quickly as possible in order that human
activities can be regulated in this vulnerable
sea area.
A pregnant redfish (Sebastus marinus)
rest between the chorales. (Lophelia and
Paragorgia).
©Institute of Marine Research
Damaged sponges from Tromsøflaket
documented with the ROV (remotely operated
vehicle) Aglantha. The sponges are aligned in
small trawltracks.
©Institute of Marine Research
Sponges
Some 109 species of sponge are found
along the coast of Norway in the Barents
Sea, but there is no list available of the
geographic distribution of sponge colonies.
Only a few tens of these species occur in
such dense numbers that they can be characterised as “sponge habitats”, the commonest in our waters being Geodia or potato sponge. Sponges generally grow in current-rich areas on seabed types such as
sand and gravel with an element of large
stones. The Institute for Marine Research’s
bottom trawl investigations have recorded
the amounts of large sponges in its catches
since 1981, and the results of these show
11
By Espen Hansen, MARBIO, Tromsø
Email: [email protected]
MARINE BIOPROSPECTING
in the north
In autumn 2005 the University of Tromsø opened
two new laboratories,
Marbank and Marbio,
which are at the centre of
comprehensive efforts by
the University to produce
new medicines from Arctic
marine organisms.
Natural bioactive compounds and
bioprospecting
People have been using chemical compounds originating from animals, plants
and microorganisms to treat illness and
disease for several thousand years. Since
the beginning of the 19th century a number
of bioactive compounds have been isolated
from nature, and today some 60% of medicines on the market originate from molecules isolated from terrestrial bacteria,
funghi, plants and animals. Bioprospecting,
ie searching for bioactive compounds from
natural sources, takes place in five stages.
The process begins with collecting material (1), after which as many compounds as
possible are extracted (2) from the organisms, before the extracts are cleaned and
sectioned (3), so that the different compounds in the extract can be identified (4).
Finally the compounds are tested for biological activity (5).
12
Marine bioprospecting
Marine bioprospecting is a young discipline in comparison with its terrestrial
counterpart. Given that 70% of the earth’s
surface is covered by water and that some
sea areas have a biodiversity equivalent to
that found in the most productive rain
forests, it is reckoned to be beyond all
doubt that the marine environment has
considerable potential as the source of new
bioactive compounds. The first marine bioprospecting programmes started at the end
of the 1970s but current investigations
focus almost exclusively on organisms
from the tropics. The organisms in our
northern waters have adapted to living at
low temperatures with wide variations in
light and availability of food, and because
of these adaptations the biochemical compounds they produce are different from the
organisms found in warmer, more southerly waters.
Marbank and Marbio
Owing to the absence of knowledge about
bioactive compounds in marine plants, animals and microorganisms from northern
waters, the University of Tromsø opened
the Marbank and Marbio laboratories in
autumn 2005.
Marbank is a national marine biobank
that collects, catalogues and provides longterm storage for marine biological material
from areas along the coast of Norway,
Barents Sea and around Svalbard.
Collection is undertaken in collaboration
with institutions that include the
Northern sea urchin
(Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis)
outside North Cape in Finnmark.
©Stein Johansen
Norwegian College of Fishery Science,
University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS),
Norwegian Polar Institute and Norwegian
Institute for Marine Research. Marbank is
also responsible for making extracts of the
material collected so that research groups
and commercial bodies can use these
extracts for various purposes including
screening for bioactive compounds.
Marbio is a high capacity analytical
laboratory for cleaning up and sectioning,
identifying and screening bioactive compounds, and works mainly on extracts produced by Marbank. The extracts are
cleaned and sectioned using high efficiency liquid chromatography (HPLC) and
other means. Once cleaned, the extracts are
screened for biological activity by a number of different tests. Marbio focuses on
compounds for combating bacteria, viruses, cancer and inflammation. Robots perform cleaning, sectioning and screening,
which means that a relatively small number of people are able to analyse a large
number of tests in quite a short time.
Owing to their natural proximity to
interesting marine organisms that have
adapted to the cold, their wide variety of
specialists and their comprehensive infrastructure, Marbank, Marbio and the
University of Tromsø have the potential to
become leaders in a research field that also
has great importance from an international
perspective.
THE NORTHERN COALITION:
The first experience of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
effort to consolidate in the Barents region
By: Sergey Zhavoronkin
E-mail:[email protected]
The Northern Coalition is an
alliance of non-governmental
environmental organizations. It is
established to coordinate activities
in environmental and social
problems of oil and gas industry
development in the North-West
of Russia.
Background
The speed of oil and gas industry development in the Barents region will increase
soon. Development of offshore oil and gas
fields will assist this process. It increases
risks for fragile Arctic nature and affects
interests of inhabitants.
The Federal center and regions, located
nearby the shelf are to be prepared for this
variant of development. One of the important factors of such preparedness is the
experience exchange, connected with the
amount of input of oil and gas industry into
sustainable development of the territories.
World practice shows that all the activities,
connected with oil and gas condensate production and transportation have caused
various environmental problems. Degradation of the natural capital makes barriers
to social-economical development and
assist in loss of investment attraction in the
region.
Taking these reasons into account,
environmental NGOs think it is necessary
to consolidate efforts of society in order to
make a constructive dialogue between
municipalities, authorities, environmental
non-governmental organizations and companies, interested in long-terms perspectives of its business.
NGO cooperation
The Northern Coalition was established in
2003, after the international seminar “Oil
and gas production and transportation in
the North-west Russia: problems and possibilities for sustainable development”.
The coalition coordinates activities con-
Elena Kluchnikova represents GAIA in
Northern Coalition, and present here the
Northern Coalition at the conference;
“The oil and Gas Industry and Sustainable
Development of the Barents Region“ in
Murmansk in November 2005.
©Bjørn Frantzen, Bioforsk Svanhovd
cerning environmental and social problems
of oil and gas industry development in the
North-West of Russia. The goal of our joint
work is a consolidation of efforts at all levels of society, for initiation and constructive dialogue between municipalities,
authorities, NGOs and companies for sustainable development of the northern territories.
Bellona-Murmansk, Kola Environmental Coordination Center “Gaya”, Biodiversity Conservation Center, and the Barents
Sea project office of WWF-Russia are the
members of the Northern Coalition. In
2004 “Nature and Youth” joined the
Coalition. According to the rules of the
Northern Coalition, every year one of the
member organizations is selected to hold
the position; Secretary-coordinator of the
Northern Coalition.
The aim of the Northern Coalition is minimization of risks and harmful impact of
investigation and development of petroleum fields and petroleum transport on protected natural objects and vulnerable territories, to provide sustainable development
for Barents Euro-Arctic region.
The Northern Coalition is directed by
several principles for cooperation:
- Constructive dialogue and cooperation
with authorities, special nature protection
bodies, local population, oil and gas companies.
- Every possible support for “Joint requirements of Russian non-governmental environmental organizations for oil and gas
companies, operating in Russia, its continental shelf and in exclusive economic
zone”.
- The Northern Coalition is not an absolute
opponent of investigation, production and
transportation of oil and gas, if these
actions do not contradict the Coalition’s
goals.
- The Northern Coalition supports sustainable and environmentally and socially safe
economical development of the region.
- The Northern Coalition does not support
the idea to solve social and environmental
problems of Barents Euro Arctic region at
the expenses of other regions and countries.
In order to implement these tasks the
Northern Coalition have arranged two
international conferences. The first conference: “Oil and gas transportation through
the White Sea ports. Problems and possibilities for sustainable development of
municipalities” was held in 2004. The
main goal of the conference was to work
out an interregional program on environmental safety and sustainable development
of the White Sea. In 2005, the second international conference; “Oil and gas industry
and sustainable development” was held.
The goal of the conference was to study the
experience from other regions and countries (Sakhalin, Alaska, north of Norway)
and work out recommendations for providing public participation in development of
the Barents region. This conference was
organized together with Bioforsk Svanhovd
(Norway), and supported by the Barents
secretariat.
The current task of the Northern
Coalition is to start work with municipalities, fist of all with municipalities where
oil and gas objects exist. The northern
Coalition plans to expand in the northwest
of Russia and find NGO-members in Archangelsk region, Nenets Autonomus region,
Republic of Karelia and Komi.
13
By Ingvild Wartiainen,
Bioforsk Svanhovd
Barents Sea
MANAGEMENT PLAN
On 31 March 2006 the Norwegian government
produced an overall management plan for the
Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea and
parts of the Norwegian Sea. Few examples exist in an
international context of similar management
plans for large sea areas.
14
Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus).
©Bjørn Frantzen, Bioforsk Svanhovd
The management plan for the Norwegian
sector of the Barents Sea and the sea areas
off Lofoten (see map on opposite page) are
ecosystem and evidence based. The plan is
described in Parliamentary Paper no. 8
(2005-2006), “Overall management plan
for the marine environment in the Barents
Sea and sea areas off Lofoten (management plan)”. The main purpose of the plan
is to establish an overall framework which
will make it possible to balance the interests of industry involved in fishing, sea
transport and petroleum activities, under
the framework of long-term value creation.
The condition of the Barents Sea’s environment depends on high environmental
standards operating in the whole of the sea,
not just on the Norwegian side, and the
government has therefore indicated that
they wish to increase collaboration with
Russia in order to produce a comprehensive management plan covering the whole of
the Barents Sea. This plan could also form
the basis of management plans for other
Norwegian sea areas.
The management plan stipulates that
there should be active acquisition of information and systematic monitoring, to
include geology, seabed conditions and
seabirds. It defines which areas are open to
oil activities (outside Finnmark) and which
are not, including areas adjacent to the
coast, the ice edge and the polar frontal
zone. The plan will be revised and updated
at regular intervals, the first being in 2010.
Work on the management plan was
initiated by Parliamentary Paper no. 12
(2001-2002), “Clean and rich seas”. In
2002 a steering group was set up under the
auspices of the Ministry of the Environment, with representatives from the
Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs,
Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The steering
group produced assessments of the
current status of communities and the
environment, and investigated the
consequences of activities in the sectors involving petroleum operations,
shipping traffic and fishing, as well as
outside influences. The reports of the
sector investigations were completed
in 2003-2004 and in autumn 2004 the
steering group decided to set up a
group of experts to prepare the specialist basis for the management plan.
This group comprised representatives
from the Petroleum Directorate,
Directorate for Nature Management,
Radiation Protection Authority, Institute of Marine Research, National Mari-
time Directorate, Norwegian Coastal
Administration, Institute of Fisheries
and Aquaculture, Polar Institute and
Pollution Control Authority. Experts
from other areas were also brought in
as required. In April 2005 the specialist group delivered its rapport, “The
consequences of the overall influences of present-day activities on the
Lofoten-Barents Sea area and in
2020”.
The complete management plan can
be read on: http://odin.dep.no/md/
Norsk/dok/regpubl/stmeld/
022001-040027/dok-bn.html
INTERNATIONAL NATURE
CONSERVATION AGREEMENTS:
• Berne Convention (into effect 1979):
Agreements on hunting and fishing. Important
basis for the introduction of the “Polluter pays”
principle: all vertebrates, except fish, are protected
unless there is a fixed hunting season.
• Bonn Convention (1979): Global agreement for
conservation of migratory species of wild animals.
• Washington Convention (1975):
Global convention on international and transport
of threatened species and their products. The
Convention’s aims are to regulate trade to prevent
uncontrolled hunting leading to extermination or
decimation of wild populations.
The map shows the sea area
included in the management
plan for the Barents Sea
(red doted line).
©The Norwegian Polar Institute
15
NORWAY
– a policy for the north
By Ole Anders Lindseth, Director General,
Ministry of Petroleum and Energy
Recent forecasts show that the global need for energy can increase by as
much as 60 % in the next twenty-five years. Most of this increase will be
covered by fossil fuels. The challenge can only be met if
the energy world with its authorities, producers and consumers put their
efforts into pushing in the same direction.
The joint challenges we need to capture
and act upon are many. To me two important elements are:
• Security of energy supply
• Secure, sustainable and environmentally good oil and gas activities
The energy security has high priority on
the agenda for the G8 Summit in July 2006
under the Russian presidency. Addressing
this topic will enhance the global understanding of stable supplies of energy as a
prerequisite for sustainable growth of the
world economy. In our opinion, there is a
need to further enhance the producer/consumer dialogue and the link between security of supply and security of demand.
An increased global interest for the
Barents Sea was triggered when estimates
revealed that almost one fourth of the
world’s undiscovered petroleum resources
may be located in the Arctic. Large petroleum resources together with the increasing global need for energy, and secure
16
energy supply, has contributed to placing
the northern areas high on the geopolitical
agenda.
Recognising that the north has become
an energy political power centre in a global context, the new Norwegian Government has the northern areas as a main focal
point. The new focus on the Arctic has led
us to reconsider our policies and views with
regard to fisheries, environmental concerns,
climatic issues and oil and gas activities.
The bilateral relations with Russia have
to be underlined in this respect. We have
many shared and common interests in the
north. We are both large producers and
exporters of oil and gas, and we have a
shared responsibility for the proper management of the resources in the Barents
Sea. Norway and Russia share an interest
in obtaining this goal, and for this reason,
Norway’s relationship with Russia is an
important element of Norwegian policies
concerning the Barents region. The chal-
lenges in the north can only be solved in
the best possible manner if our two countries cooperate closely. As strategic partners in the petroleum sector of the north,
we should work together to achieve the
highest level of safety and the strictest
environmental requirements for the petroleum activities. This is one important part
of securing public acceptance to operate in
the north, which is crucial for all activities
in the Arctic.
Russia is moving closer to a new era in
their oil and gas history with significant
offshore production. Norwegian oil industry has more than 30 years experience of
offshore development under harsh climatic
conditions on the Norwegian Continental
Shelf. As a good neighbour we will share
the experiences we have. One of the priorities of the Norwegian Government is supporting the participation of the Norwegian
petroleum industry in Russian petroleum
projects. This applies both to our oil com-
©Hans Geir Eiken, Bioforsk Svanhovd
panies and to our supply and service industry.
Although we do not know for sure the
size of the oil and gas resources in the
Barents Sea, we believe that it may represent a new petroleum province of Europe.
Thus, the Norwegian Government has an
active policy for future exploration of the
Norwegian part of the Barents Sea. The
Barents Sea is described as one of the
cleanest oceans of the world. This must be
preserved. Value creation must therefore
take place in such manner as to ensure an
acceptable co-existence between the different users of the sea and the environment. This calls for strict rules of safety
and environmental protection.
Good solutions require comprehensive
policies where all relevant issues are seen
together. Two important tools in this
respect are:
• Knowledge, and
• Understanding
Knowledge about the geological and
marine resource base, the environment, the
climate, the northern society and how it
can benefit from value creation must be
enhanced. This is a prerequisite if we are to
achieve sustainable petroleum activities in
the Arctic. Thus, the Norwegian Government have recently presented to Parliament
a management plan for the ocean areas in
the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea.
The Government has launched a new
project called Barents 2020. Under this
umbrella, cooperation projects for research
and development in the north will be carried out under Norwegian auspices, with
participation from our Russian neighbours
and other international partners.
Equally important, we need to ensure
that all interested parties – both national
and international – fully understand and
acknowledge Norwegian policies and concerns in this respect. This shall be fulfilled
trough active dialogues with other coun-
tries with interests in the Arctic. In addition
to our energy dialogue with Russia, which
was established in 1992, such dialogues
have also been initiated with the US,
Canada, the EU, France, Germany and
Great Britain.
The Norwegian Government would
like to meet the challenges in the Barents
Sea in a partnership with Russia and other
States with interests in the north. We will
also seek to continue our productive dialogue and cooperation with the industry in
meeting these challenges. Forming the
Arctic Energy Agenda demands clear commitment and a long-term perspective. We
will continue this process, as we feel certain that it is possible to have extensive
petroleum activities in the Arctic in line
with sustainable development criteria.
The best way to predict the future is to
have an opportunity to shape it. Now we
have that opportunity.
17
Major funding for
RUSSO-NORWEGIAN
environmental research in the Barents Sea
The polar bear
(Ursus maritimus) is often
seen along the ice edge,
where it hunts for seals. It
is seldom seen onshore,
except when giving birth.
The polar bear is
preserved in all Arctic, but
some indigenous people
are allowed traditional
hunting for polar bear.
©Bjørn Frantzen,
Bioforsk Svanhovd
Statoil will provide NOK 30
million over a five year
period for research into
marine ecosystems in the
Barents Sea, which will be
conducted by the
international research
network ARCTOS. The
agreement was signed in
Longyearbyen on 24
February 2006,
attended by the district
governor of Svalbard.
By Bjørn Kristoffersen, Statoil
[email protected]
18
ARCTOS is an international research network in the field of Arctic marine ecology
founded by the Norwegian College of
Fishery Science, Norwegian Polar Institute,
Akvaplan-niva and University Centre in
Svalbard.
“Information about the marine ecosystem is vital for our long term operations in
the Barents Sea. The funds awarded to
ARCTOS form part of an overall strategy
in which we wish to contribute significant
amounts for environmental research by
major research institutions in both Norway
and Russia. It is a condition of the agreement that Russian researchers are also
involved in order to ensure that there is a
common understanding of environmental
conditions on both sides of the international border in the Barents Sea. Svalbard,
which constitutes a unique Arctic laboratory in itself, will play a central part in these
activities,” said Henrik Carlsen, who is in
charge of Statoil’s operations in the
Barents Sea and northern areas.
The agreement will mainly pave the
way for research projects of 3-5 years’
duration for the training of Ph.D. students.
During the current year research will take
place into ecosystems and food chains
along the ice edge and with links to the
seabed in the eastern Barents Sea. It is
important to have a good understanding of
central ecological processes in order to
assess the consequences of pollution and
other human influences on animal life in
the Barents Sea. Additional short term
research projects will also be conducted
lasting 6 months to 2 years. The results will
be published as they become available.
Statoil wants to use the results of the
scientific research to improve its analysis
tools and methods of risk assessment and
consequence analysis, and as a knowledge
basis for environmental investigations.
The results of the research will also provide the basis for the development of environmentally friendly technology and sustainable operations in the Barents Sea and
other Arctic regions.
Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) is found along
the ice edge in the Barents Sea. The population
is now recovering after being near extinction
some decades ago. Individuals sometimes
migrate far south, and become the centre of
great attention. To increase the knowledge
about the migration some walrus carry a
satellite sender. In the picture, two Norwegian
scientists mark a walrus on Franz Josef Land.
©Bjørn Frantzen, Bioforsk Svanhovd
Northern Sea cucumber (Cucumaria frondosa)
in Jarfjord in Finnmark. ©Stein Johansen
19
The Barents Sea, one of the
last large, clean, rich and
productive marine ecosystems
on Earth, is under increasing
pressure from the oil and gas
industry. Action must be taken
now to safeguard the natural
treasures of the Barents Sea
for future generations.
Shared between Russia and Norway, the
Barents Sea is Europe’s last wild sea. Its
waters teem with life, including huge
stocks of cod, herring and capelin, as well
as 17 species of marine mammals, some of
the world’s largest seabird colonies, worldclass salmon rivers and cold-water corals.
The diversity and productivity of the
Barents Sea is of great importance for the
economy of both countries. The fish
caught in the Barents Sea is worth more
than 3 billion USD annually. Fisheries,
tourism and aquaculture employ more than
40 000 people in Northern Norway alone.
The Barents Sea holds large oil and gas
resources. High energy prices make these
resources attractive to the industry, and
many international oil companies see the
region as the gateway to the enormous
The map shows WWFs proposal for
permanent petroleum free zones in the
Barents Sea. Areas covered with ice for
parts of the year are also included in
the proposed zones. The map has been
drawn up by WWF Norway and is
based on vulnerability analyses from
Det Norske Veritas (April 2005) and
mapping of fish resources from the
Norwegian Institute of Marine Research
(March 2005). ©WWF
20
PROTECTING
THE TREASURES
in a sea of change
By Dag Nagoda, Barents Sea Ecoregion Coordinator,
WWF International Arctic Programme
the coral reefs or in other very sensitive
places. Some of these resources are so
valuable for the ecosystem that we must be
able to guarantee their continued existence.
The Barents Sea now stands at an important crossroad: While the planned development of oil and gas is putting increased
pressure on its limited resources, we can
still choose to move forward sustainable.
To do so, we need to identify and protect
key areas before starting new large-scale
developments. This will have three major
benefits:
For communities. It will protect the
renewable resources as a basis for welfare
and livelihoods.
For conservation. It will secure that the
Barents Sea remains a clean, rich and productive ocean.
For business. It will provide predictability
for investors, governments and other stakeholders.
Puffin (Fratercula arctica)
©Bjørn Frantzen, Bioforsk Svanhovd
hydrocarbon deposits in the Arctic.
Exploitation and transportation of oil and
gas in the Arctic will become easier to in
the future, since sea ice is melting because
of climate change.
Development of the oil and gas
resources in the Barents Sea will change
the economic, geo-political and environmental situation of the region profoundly.
It will bring along large infrastructure projects, increased risk of pollution, as well as
major changes for the people living there.
Oil exploration, production and transportation are inherently risky. Since 1990,
there has been more than 2500 oil spills on
the Norwegian Shelf. Oil and gas development results in discharges of chemicals, it
disturbs habitats, and it involves risks of
oil spills from blowouts, pipeline leaks and
tanker accidents.
The consequences of an oil spill can be
disastrous if it happens in the spawning
areas for the large fish stock, near seabird
colonies, close to the productive ice-edge,
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is, along with
leading Russian and Norwegian experts,
identifying the most valuable and vulnerable areas in the Russian and the Norwegian
parts of the Barents Sea. These are areas
that need special protection against petroleum development. Norway has already
decided to ban exploration outside Lofoten
until 2009, and WWF is proposing another
four areas that should be closed for petroleum activity in the Norwegian part of the
Barents Sea (see the map).
The Barents Sea is one large marine
ecosystem. An oil accident in Norway may
have serious consequences for Russian
economical and environmental interest, and
vice versa. The Russian and Norwegian
Governments are therefore equally responsible for ensuring high environmental standards on both sides of the border, including
new protected areas, zero discharges to the
sea and improved oil spill contingency
plans.
Life on Earth - plants, animals and people - is interdependent. The goals of biodiversity conservation are linked to the aspirations of human society. Ultimately,
WWF believes it is in everybody’s interest
to ensure a development that balances the
economic interests of the oil industry with
the need to safeguard the natural treasures
of the Barents Sea.
THE MAJOR THREATS TO
BIODIVERSITY IN THE
BARENTS SEA TODAY ARE:
• Over- fishing is having great impacts
on the marine ecosystem and has led to
important changes in marine food-webs
• Development of the large oil and gas
deposits in the Barents Sea will lead to
pollution and increased risks of large oil
spills.
• Climate Change will cause large
changes to the Barents Sea the coming
decades. The sea ice can disappear,
and species are likely to be extinct.
• Toxic Chemicals (POPs and heavy
metals) are transported to the region by
ocean currents, winds and rivers and
accumulate at the end of the food
chains
• Alien species, such as the king crab,
are introduced to the ecoregion
and may cause severe impacts on the
ecosystem.
• Shipping is expected to increase
dramatically due to the opening of new
sea routes, the development of new
petroleum fields and increased transportation of oil from fields further east.
POP
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
are chemical substances produced
unintended in combustion processes.
Typical POPs are dioxins and furans.
The substances persist in the environment, bioaccumulate through the food
web, and pose a risk of causing
adverse effects to human health and
the environment. POPs travel long
distances and may cause harm a long
way from the production area. Today
traces of POPs are found in ecosystems
all around the world.
21
ABANDONED AND SCUTTLED SHIPS
IN THE KOLA BAY AREA:
The source of ecological and
navigation danger
By Vladimir Bakharev,
Environmental Harmony Evolution Fund (EHEF)
The Murmansk Oblast coastal
area and the Kola Bay represent
a vital resource for people, flora
and fauna in the region as well
as the basis for industrial development. The period from the
1920s until the end of the 1980s
was characterized by the rapid
development of port facilities
and industrial activities in the
region. Towns and villages were
built and military garrisons
were set up with little attention
to environmental issues.
Today there can hardly be found any undisturbed ecosystems along the Kola Bay
coast, mainly as a consequence of the fishing activities, the commercial and nuclear
fleets, and other water users. The problem
was aggravated by dramatic changes in the
economy of the region, and the country, during the period from the Perestroika (early
90’s) to present day. Large fishing fleets,
fish processing and ship repair enterprises
collapsed, replaced by smaller companies
paying no attention to environmental problems, seeing them as an unnecessary burden.
The coastal area of the Murmansk
region is, due to its geopolitical position
and economic development peculiarities,
characterized by high density of ships
belonging to the civil fleet (fishing and
22
merchant) and the Navy. On the expiry of
their lifetime some ships are decommissioned, and are bought by new owners for
further exploitation, sent for dismantlement and scrapping/recycling, or partially
scrapped/recycled. Hulls are left in the
coastal areas, and even worse – scuttled.
Vessels abandoned along the Kola Bay
coast and scuttled in its water area give
reason for concern, as they trigger irreversible processes of the environmental
degradation and ecological threat to the
coastal areas.
Environmentalists are increasingly
concerned by the finding of petroleum and
other hazardous compounds in and near
the abandoned and scuttled ships. There
have been reported cases where abandoned
ships have been used by careless ship own-
ers as reservoirs for waste, which ought to
have been delivered through official services to harbor reception facilities for further treatment or utilization. Monitoring
the bottom sediment pollution revealed a
content of pollutants (heavy metals, PCB
and petroleum hydrocarbons) at the dumpsites ten times higher than in other areas of
the Kola Bay. There are no national standards in Russia for the allowed content of
pollutants in the bottom sediments.
Therefore, the level of the bottom sediment
pollution was analyzed as compared to the
pollution level of the open area in the
Barents Sea. Recently the pollution level
classification system from Norway, defined
by the Norwegian Pollution Control
Authority (SFT) is often used. According to
this classification, the bottom sediment
Picture of the author among abandoned ships onshore at the Kola Fjord. ©Vladimir Bakharev
Abandoned vessels in Kola Bay. ©Bjørn Frantzen
pollution by heavy metals in the region of
the Green Cape dumpsite refers to the
group V (Very Bad) when it comes to copper and lead content, and to the group IV
(Bad) for chrome and nickel (based on the
analysis of samples taken in 2002 and treated at the MUGMS laboratory).
The Kola Bay is ranked as fishing
reservoir of top priority, where Atlantic
salmon and humpback salmon are migrating through to the spawning areas in the
Kola and Tuloma rivers. The dumpsites of
abandoned ships and shipwrecks contribute to pollution already done by liquid
waste and sewage originating from
Murmansk, Severomorsk, Polyarny and
other coastal settlements, by preventing
pollutants from being transported away by
water masses. The purity of the fish, as
well as people’s health, depends on the
purity of the Kola Bay environment.
Waters from the bay transport pollutants to
the coastal areas of the Barents Sea, areas
of intensive fisheries’ activity. Thus, ship
dumpsites produce negative impact on bottom sediments and waters of the Barents
Sea. This attributes an international dimension to the problem.
The major part of abandoned and scuttled ships cannot be regarded as ships anymore as they are not seaworthy and their
hulls look like a sieve as the result of profound corrosion. According to expert estimations, in addition to abandoned and half
– sunken ships along the coastline, there
are 40 scuttled ships and metal construc-
Map where sunken and abandoned ships in the Kola Bay area are marked.
©Vladimir Bakharev
tions located in the Kola Bay water area.
Sad truth, proven by statistics, is that even
nowadays, in spite of all modern navigation and safety facilities, accidents still
happen and ships still sink even in the Kola
Bay where salvage units are readily available. The latest accident happened in 2005
in the Saida Bay, where the floating crane
No1735 sank. As a rule, ships sunken in
the Kola Bay are neither recovered nor
removed. The reason is – salvage is expensive. All in all, shipwrecks are the source
of serious navigation danger, even though
their location is marked on navigation
maps and in situ by navigation signs in the
water.
Another noteworthy example of sunken
ships causing navigation danger is the
hunting ship “Teriberka” that sank in the
water area of Murmansk Commercial
Harbor in 1993. In addition to the navigation danger, this ship is an environmental
danger as she still holds some 46 tons of
gasoline (by ASMI records). The ship sunk
in the fairway, and buoys mark her location. Minimum clearance between the
body of the ship and the water surface is 17
meters. There have been 4 registered cases
of collisions of large ships with the
“Teriberka” hull. As good luck would have
it, no major consequences followed.
Over the last years, the problem of
scuttled and sunken ships posing danger to
navigation in the Kola Bay has become
more acute with the view of dynamics and
development of shipping and transshipping
of oil products in the Kola Bay. Especially
the development with the use of large
tankers and offshore oil terminals network,
represent a risk. The number of ship calls
at the Kola Bay increased in 2004 as compared to previous years. The statistics is as
follows: total number of calls; 86928,
including 1855 foreign-, and 84507 Russian
ships. The number of large capacity ships
was 4224, and 2929 calls was accompanied by foggy weather.
All abandoned and scuttled ships, as
well as all other ships, are regularly
detected and monitored on the screens of
the SUDS operators. It enables to provide
the tankers navigation and mooring safety.
The Kola Bay is the federal property. Yet,
none of the federal programs provides any
measures for rehabilitation of the Kola Bay
environment. Removal of ships from the
dumpsites will eliminate the source of the
intensive water and bottom sediment
pollution, the ecological danger hot spot,
and enhance navigation safety.
23
By Bjørn Frantzen and Alexei Bambulyak, Bioforsk Svanhovd
PETROLEUM TRANSPORT
from the Russian sector
of the Barents region
Following the increase in oil
exports from the Russian
sector of the Barents region in
2002 (here called the Russian
Barents), it was expected that
export volumes would
mushroom and reach 150
millions tonnes annually over
the course of 10 years, but at
present this seems to be
proceeding more slowly than
anticipated. In 2004, 12
million tonnes of oil were
transported from Russia
along the coast of North
Norway, and in 2005 this
figure was 9.5 million tonnes.
Nevertheless there is reason
to believe that considerable
volumes will continue to be
transported in future along
the coast of North Norway.
Why is this export of oil along the sea
route from the Russian Barents taking
place now? There are several reasons for
this. The most important is that European
markets wish to be less dependent on oil
from the Middle East. Japan, China, India,
Korea, USA and Europe are all negotiating
with Russia to obtain access to the country’s large oil and gas resources.
Russia has direct access to the open sea
at only one place in Europe – the Barents
Sea. In the western part of the Russian
24
Barents Sea super tanker terminals can be
built to serve more distant markets, such as
the USA. The Black Sea has tight restrictions on shipping traffic through the
Bosphorus. In the Baltic Russia has access
to the sea through the Gulf of Finland and
Kaliningrad, but the Kattegat places natural restrictions on ship size and in some
years the Gulf of Finland may experience
considerable problems with ice. In the
Russian sector of the Barents Sea only the
western part of the Murman coast is icefree. Russia therefore has no coastal areas
in the west that are entirely “problemfree”. From this perspective it might be
expected that Russia would rapidly increase
its transport of oil through the Barents Sea,
for example from Murmansk, which is
largely free of ice throughout the year.
Even so it has been shown that from 2002
to the present day Russia increased the
capacity of its oil exports in the Baltic by
80 million tonnes, ie 8 times more than in
the Barents Sea during the same period.
Capacity through Novorussia in the Black
Sea also increased during this period.
Time will show who is permitted to buy
oil from Russia. Oil has always been used
as a strategic political instrument. Some
analysts maintain that Russia is growing
tired of the EU’s and USA’s constantly
expressed opinion that the Russians use oil
and gas as political tools against their
neighbours. Russia has spent much energy
on oil and gas extraction in the last 20
years, but little on exploring new areas.
This means that detailed surveying of new
resources has fallen behind, and this will
delay any increase in export volumes. No
large increase in overall oil exports from
Russian can therefore be expected in the
next 10 years, and therefore no large
increase in the volumes transported along
the Norwegian coast before the onshore
oilfields in the Russian Barents and northwest Siberia come on stream. Much also
depends on how quickly production of offshore oil gets underway in the Russian sec-
tor of the Barents Sea.
The Russian authorities have taken
more control over Russian oil companies
in recent years and now regulate the companies’ plans for expansion, operation and
shipping. There is reason to believe that
the main focus is now aimed at areas other
than the Russian Barents.
In the light of the above, let us examine
the existing and planned capacity for
export of oil from the Russian Barents and
Kara Sea. Should it so happen that all the
terminals currently planned become operative and upgraded, this will mean that 100
million tonnes might be transported from
Oil is exported from the White Sea,
which is transported to the Russian Barents
by rail and by small tank vessels along the
waterways from east and south Russia, a
total of some 25 million tonnes each year.
The oil is transshipped from the railway
onto tank vessels, the two most important
terminals being Rosneft Talagi (7 million
tonnes) near Archangel, and Vitino (12 million tonnes) in the Kandalaksha Gulf. New
terminals will be built at Severodvinsk (2
million tonnes) and Onega (5 million
tonnes).
Oil is also exported from the Kola
Fjord that comes from the east: Kara Sea,
the Russian Barents along the coast of
North Norway every year.
50 million tonnes might be transported
each year from the Pechora Basin, the most
southeasterly part of the Barents Sea. Here
the Prirazlomnoye oil platform will come
into production some time between 20082012 (7.5 million tonnes p.a.). As the first
commercial platform in ice, it will be a
severe test of what might be a normal operation in the Russian Arctic in the future.
The pipeline to Indiga, on the coast of the
Nenets Autonomous Region, will be operative within 10 years, with a maximum
capacity of 30 million tonnes annually.
LUKoil is building a new terminal for
export of oil on Varandej, which will open
in 2008 and export more than 10 million
tonnes of oil p.a.
30 million tonnes of oil is expected to
leave the Kara Sea each year via the harbour on Dickson island when the Vankor
field becomes operative, plus 3 million
tonnes annually from the River Ob.
Pechora Basin and White Sea. The oil
arrives in small tank vessels and is loaded
onto larger vessels for transport to markets
in the west. The Kola Fjord acquired its
first transshipment terminal in 2002 and
now has five terminals. Murmansk also
receives oil that arrives by rail for export.
This oil comes from the south, eg from the
area around Moscow.
The transshipment that takes place on
the Norwegian side of the frontier will not
alter the total amount of oil transported
along the coast of North Norway, since this
oil is being exported from a Russian area.
Oil is a dangerous load. Although accidents do not happen very often, those that
do occur can have enormous consequence.
Successful environmental work is needed
in relation to oil transport, both in the form
of prevention and through strict precautions for combating oil spill. We want this
work to be based on high environmental
standards. Experience shows that traditional, bilateral environmental collaboration on
the part of the authorities is not sufficient
on its own. It is therefore desirable for
strong Russo-Norwegian industrial collaboration to take place in which Norway’s
high environmental standards are conveyed to the Russian side and used as the
basis for the operations being expanded
there. This collaboration should be developed under the control of the authorities,
since industry’s main focus is on earning
money. What motivates industry to maintain satisfactorily high environmental standards in its activities and production methods is the engagement of the authorities
and local population.
From the left:
The floating oil terminal, Belokamenka
in the Kola Bay.
©Bjørn Frantzen, Bioforsk Svanhovd
The Oil terminal northeast on the
island Kolguev in the Petsjora Sea
export smaller amounts of oil. The
shallow waters outside the terminal
have lead to problems for ships in
bad weather; the picture shows a ship
onshore.
©Bjørn Frantzen, Bioforsk Svanhovd
Large flocks of bar-tailed godwit
(Limosa lapponica) and other waders
feed in the bays around the White Sea
in the spring and summer months.
Oil spill and petroleum activity in these
areas can be devastating for the
wildlife and has to be protected
through good oil spill preparedness.
©Bjørn Frantzen, Bioforsk Svanhovd
25
RUSSO-NORWEGIAN
collaboration
TO COMBAT OIL SPILL
Norway and Russia have been working together to combat oil
spill since 1989 and have held joint exercises since 1991. Good
standards of cooperation are important in ensuring adequate
precautions against oil spill in the Barents Sea.
By Ole Kristian Bjerkemo, Divisional Manager,
Norwegian Coastal Administration, Horten
Training on the use of oil protection equipment in the Kola Fjord.
©The Norwegian Coastal Administration
26
Joint emergency plan
Collaboration with Russia on measures to
combat oil spill in the Barents Sea started
in 1989. The first joint practical oil spill
combat exercise between Norway and
Russia was organised in Tromsø in 1991 in
combination with a “table top” exercise.
This was based on an incident that took
place during exploration activities on the
Norwegian continental shelf, since the
Gulf Stream will carry any pollution eastwards. The exercise clarified warning routines and outlined how collaboration
would operate in case of an accident, and
formed the basis of preparations for a joint
emergency plan. Norway wished to set up
a mutual warning and assistance agreement with the Russians on the same lines
as other agreements relating to oil and
chemical accident prevention. The environmental department of the Norwegian
Pollution Control Authority began working
with the Environmental Ministry in
Moscow, represented by the State Marine
Pollution Control, Salvage & Rescue
Administration (SMPCSRA) and its local
offices in Murmansk. An important part of
the agreement was a joint emergency plan.
This would regulate the collaboration
arrangements in detail, including warnings, assistance and organisation in case of
accidents involving oil pollution, and planning and conducting of exercises, research
and development (R&D), meeting schedules, and mutual exchange of information.
After several meetings all parties accepted
a draft text of the agreement. The final
agreement was signed by the Norwegian
Minister for the Environment and Russian
Minister for Transport on 28 April 1994 in
Moscow.
Meetings and exercises
The emergency plan has continued to
develop based on experience gained from
annual exercises right up to the present
day. The Norwegian Coastal Administration
has always played an important part in
implementing these exercises. In addition,
personnel from the national oil spill combat depot in Vadsø have participated in a
number of exercises held mainly in the
area from Vadsø to various locations off
the Kola peninsula, the last one being
Barents Rescue 2005. BR 2005 took place
off Honningsvåg and its planning and conducting provided further experience.
Increased knowledge
As part of the collaboration arrangements,
activities have been held for the purpose of
improving collaboration and increasing oil
spill prevention and combat
expertise among the Russian partners
involved. One of these activities was an oil
spill prevention course for the personnel
who will be responsible for the first action
to be taken at the site of an incident.
Several courses have also been held in
incident management. These are organised
by staff from the Norwegian Coastal
Administration supported by expertise
from Russia and financed by funding from
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (UD) and a
contribution from the Norwegian Coastal
Administration. Large amounts of oil products are currently being transported from
Russia along the Norwegian coast to ports
in Europe and the USA, and this will continue in the future. These mainly constitute
crude oil and petroleum products from different oilfields in northwest Russia. Owing
to lack of information about how this oil
would behave in the sea in case of an accident, the Norwegian Coastal Administration
has engaged SINTEF to perform a study to
obtain more information about the disintegration characteristics of these types of oil.
This will involve a considerable amount of
work since a variety of different oil qualities arrive in the Murmansk area from large
parts of Russia to be transported further to
international markets. The products are
then mixed up while being reloaded from
railway wagons in Murmansk, which
makes the need for information about these
products extremely important.
One of the needs identified during the
many years that the collaboration arrangements have lasted is improving clean-up in
the beach zone - ie dealing with oil pollution that has reached land. EMERCOM of
Russia (the Ministry of Russian Federation
for Civil Defence, Emergencies and
Elimination of Consequences of Natural
Disasters) is in charge of operations on the
Russian side should oil reach the shore. As
a result of this, the Norwegian Coastal
Administration together with CNIIMF
(Central Marine Research and Design
Institute Ltd) from St Petersburg and
MBASU (Murmansk Basin Salvage
Department) have produced emergency
plans to provide a better and more effective
response in relation to beach clean-up.
This in turn has identified several possible
new projects, which together will aid in
strengthening overall measures to combat
oil spill, such as improving beach clean-up
expertise. Improved oil spill prevention
and combat equipment have been central
concerns among those involved right from
the start. The Norwegian side has recently
initiated a project, which will assist in the
development of oil spill prevention and
combat equipment for use in cold and icy
waters. The NATO-Russia Council (NRC)
supports this work. Two working meetings
have been held in Horten and Moscow and
considerations are currently taking place as
to how the work should proceed.
Future collaboration
Experience over a period of more than 15
years shows that collaboration arrangements continue to develop. Permanent collaboration by means of warning and assistance agreements has become stronger and
will continue to do so. Examples of this are
the planned exercises including save and
rescue operations, while perspectives
involving both sea safety and environmental monitoring have progressed beyond the
traditional oil spill combating aspects.
Picture from the First Responder course
in Murmansk in March 2005.
©The Norwegian Coastal Administration
Taken as a whole this will lead to better
understanding and coordination should an
accident take place. In addition, various
projects have resulted in Norwegian companies with expertise in the oil spill prevention field finding opportunities to set
up operations in north west Russia in collaboration with Russian companies and
institutions, eg in relation to training and
information connected with Russian crude
oil. Good collaboration with Russia will
play a valuable part in improving the prevention and combat of oil spill by both
Norway and the Barents Region.
27
Oil on water practice. ©NOFO
Norwegian operating companies
COLLABORATE
TO COMBAT OIL SPILL
by Tom Gederø, NOFO
If a major oil spill took place off
our coast, Norway would cope
very well. Close collaboration over
joint emergency resources by the
oil industry, government and local
authorities means that we would
be able to make the best possible
use of our equipment and
expertise, says Tharald M. Brekne,
director of the Norwegian Clean
Seas Association for Operating
Companies (NOFO).
28
The probability of a large accidental oil
spill occurring as a result of petroleum
activities on the Norwegian shelf is very
small. Nevertheless the operating companies are focusing strongly on measures to
prevent this. Through the Norwegian
Clean Seas Association for Operating
Companies (NOFO) they have developed
world-leading equipment and built up an
operational apparatus to prevent the environment being damaged should an oil spill
take place.
“We in the petroleum industry have a
responsibility, both in our own field and to
society as a whole. The ability to handle a
possible oil spill is fundamental. Moreover
it is a fact that our presence increases safety along the coast generally, for example if
a shipping accident were to occur,”
declared Brekne.
Tripartite responsibility
Emergency resources in Norway are tripartite: private, municipal and governmental.
Private resources, such as companies’ own
resources, are dimensioned to deal with
discharges from their own operations.
Municipal resources are organised via 34
intercommunal committees for dealing
with acute pollution incidents (IUA) and
are designed to handle discharges from
normal activities in the area, such as pollution from local industry, tank installations
or similar. The Norwegian Coastal
Administration is in charge of national
resources, which are aimed at dealing with
acute pollution from shipping traffic and
other activities not covered by private and
municipal provision.
In order for all problems to be dealt
with in the best way, NOFO has established collaboration arrangements, which
will provide access to all municipal,
national and private resources.
“We can draw on everything from
coastguard vessels to small fishing boats
and people with local knowledge.
Collaboration is a central part of our work.
This makes the operating companies better
able to deal with any accidents that might
occur, and at the same time it means that
the best possible emergency resources are
available along the whole of the
Norwegian coast,” says Brekne.
Development of new equipment
The systems and regulations developed for
the Norwegian shelf have strict requirements as regards technical quality, separate
barriers and operating procedures to prevent anything going wrong during exploration and production, and this has reduced
the risk of accidents significantly. There
has been systematic focus for decades on
measures to prevent and combat oil spill,
and Norway has considerable expertise,
both in operational resources and in equipment.
“We have worked particularly hard in
the last few years on developing the next
generation of oil spill combat equipment
and all our equipment will have been
renewed by 2007, at a price of around 200
million Norwegian kroner,” says Brekne.
Cold and dark
NOFO’s aim is to ensure that oil emergency resources have been properly adapted for the conditions encountered by the oil
and gas industry when it moves further
north on the continental shelf.
“Wave heights in the Barents Sea are a
bit easier to cope with than in parts of the
Norwegian Sea. Because we have specially equipped planes and helicopters which
can detect accidental discharges of oil on
the surface of the sea by using infrared
cameras and sensors, we now have better
emergency resources in the dark winter
months as well,” he explained.
In recent years the oil industry has also
worked on developing new radar technology for ships. The new technology will be
able to detect oil on the sea, whatever the
lighting and weather conditions. There are
also many other problems involving low
temperatures, wind and ice, which specialists in this field are attempting to solve.
Low sea temperatures may also mean
that some types of oil become stiff in the
sea, making it difficult both to remove the
oil from the sea and to discharge it from
ships’ storage tanks. Here also equipment
and resources have been developed which
will make these operations more effective.
“There are also strict regulations relating to oil spill combat resources for exploration in the north. On one of the planned
borings in the Barents Sea one NOFO system must be on permanent standby besides
the drilling rig, and an additional ten other
systems must be able to be in place within
66 hours if an accident should take place.
The Norwegian oil industry in the north
will play its part in reducing overall risks
to the environment, and our emergency
resources can also be used in case of a
shipping accident,” said Brekne.
FACTS ABOUT NOFO
The Norwegian Clean Seas Association for
Operating Companies (NOFO) is an
association of operators on the Norwegian
continental shelf. NOFO looks after the
emergency resources for combating oil spill
required by the operating companies during
exploration and oil and gas production. The
purpose of the association is to manage
and maintain emergency resources to combat acute oil pollution, including personnel,
equipment and vessels.
NOFO will be responsible for training and
instruction of emergency and maintenance
personnel and will keep abreast of changes
in oil spill technology and research and
development aimed at improving oil spill
combat resources. The association's work
also includes the development of emergency
plans and oil spill combat equipment for
sea, coast and beach zones, including
administration of the agreements necessary
to maintain adequate emergency provision.
SUPPORTING EFFECTIVE OIL
SPILL COMBAT MEASURES
NOFO has its own oil spill combat fund that
administers NOK two million annually. Part
of the aims of the fund are to encourage
development and innovation by industry
and local bodies in north Norway, plus
other measures to improve oil spill combat
resources in the northern part of the country.
Funding is only granted to businesses that
operate in Nordland, Troms and Finnmark.
NOFO cooperates with
NorLense on development
of oil booms.
©NOFO
29
Increased Petroleum activity
in the Barents Sea is good
news, some people argue.
Anticipated benefits are
income boosts, development
of regional infrastructure, and
growth in employment and
living standards. However,
World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
is concerned about the
environmental safety
standards applied to the
existing level of oil and gas
activities in the Barents
region, and increased
activity will increase the risk
potential. To address the most
immediate needs of the
region, WWF have introduced
new oil spill response
equipment and are developing
oil spill clean-up expertise.
Petroleum activities in Russian part
of the Barents Sea
Oil transshipment is a risky enterprise if
not accompanied by adequate prevention
and response measures. According to
media reports, about 300 companies in the
Murmansk Oblast are involved in oil and
gas development, processing, storage,
transportation and sales. Russian regulations require that every single company in
this business must have response plans in
place for handling different levels of oil
spill, but so far only a few companies do.
Even fewer have their own response units
and adequate equipment; it’s an expensive
commitment.
30
By Mikhail Kalentchenko, Project Leader, WWF-Russia
E-mail: [email protected]
WORLD WILDLIFE FUND’S
“Clean Coast” program
Oil protection practice in Vardø in
February 2006, a training course
arranged by WWF Norway, the
Clean Coast Program.
©Ingrid Jensvoll, Bioforsk Svanhovd
As the law allows the companies to
contract professional response units to
safeguard preparedness of an operator,
most of them prefer to do so. Murmansk
Basin Salvage Department (MBASU) is
the only contractor responsible for oil spill
response in the Russian Economic Zone of
the Barents Sea. Yet it has no responsibility whatsoever for coastal clean up in the
event of an oil spill. The regional branch of
ECOSPAS Ltd (Murmansk Region Centre
for Salvage and Ecological Operations) is
responsible for coastal clean up operations.
Another three to four companies are also
contracted by operators to provide oil spill
response capability. Yet there still remains
a shortage in suitable contractors. Despite
these shortages, plans for the development
of new terminals and fields are underway.
Oil spills cause the greatest damage
when they reach the coast. Existing regulations dictates that an oil spill should be
contained at sea in the first four hours after
it occurs. Yet it is hard to believe that
MBASU vessels will be able to meet these
standards in the areas from Varandey to the
Kola Bay. The target is only achievable if
dozens of properly equipped ships patrol
the Barents Sea. If not, an oil spill is likely
to end up reaching the shore and killing sea
birds and mammals, a potential disaster
during the breeding season.
Implementation of measures proposed
by WWF to mitigate impacts of oil development and transportation, such as development of protected areas network, no-go
areas, and establishing special routes for
tankers 30 to 40 miles from the coast, will
take some time. However, WWF can’t wait
for these measures to be implemented
without taking additional action.
two exercises in 2005 (Fig. 1). To enhance
the performance standards, WWF
approached Murmansk State Teachers
Training University experts and ECOSPAS
personnel to develop a training program
for volunteers that met Russian education
standards. During the autumn of 2005, the
program was developed and approved by
EMERCOM Murmansk Branch (The
Ministry of Russian Federation for Civil
Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of
Consequences of Natural Disasters). The
participants of the program will acquire
knowledge about the natural resources of
the Barents Sea Ecoregion, the risks associated with oil spills, clean up techniques
and safety, and try their hands in a mock
clean-up exercise.
In February 2006, a group of 15 volunteers joined a two-week training program
at the Murmansk State Teachers Training
University to be followed by one-day field
exercise arranged by the ECOSPAS
Murmansk branch. Within the framework
of this program, a group of 20 Russian
youths participated in training arranged by
WWF in Vardø in March 2006. By the end
of 2006, at least 60 Russian volunteers
should be trained and a valuable reserve
for future clean up operations established.
In Norway, WWF will train between 100
and 150 volunteers in close collaboration
with the Norwegian Coastal Authorities in
2006.
The training program can potentially be
adjusted for the needs of professionals and
used for building expertise in the region. It
is important to have regional training centers in Russia, because the closest training
centers are located in Moscow and Saint
Petersburg.
Another purpose of the Clean Coast
project is to fill in the gap in financing of
oil spill preparedness. WWF cannot pay
for all equipment needed in the Barents
Sea Region. However, out of limited
financing available to non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) we managed to allocate an amount sufficient to buy more than
200 meters of booms for MBASU as well
as basic equipment for our volunteers. We
hope that this symbolic contribution will
send an important signal to the authorities
responsible for safety of the environment.
Oil protection practice in Murmansk in 2005, a training course arranged by WWF
Murmansk. ©WWF Murmansk
WWF’s Clean Coast training
program
The WWF “Clean Coast” project aims to
educate and train volunteers from communities in Russia and Norway about how to
clean up the coast in the event of an oil
spill in the Barents Sea. The project is
based on experiences from WWF Finland
and Spain.
In Russia, the WWF Barents Sea
Ecoregion Office in Murmansk arranged
31
VARDØ
TRAFFIC CONTROL CENTRE
By Terje Alling, Norwegian Coastal Administration
The Norwegian Coastal
Administration’s traffic
control centre in Vardø will
open in January 2007. In
particular the centre will
monitor ship traffic
carrying dangerous loads
on the stretch from Rørvik
to the Russian border.
The Norwegian Coastal Administration
was requested to establish a traffic control
centre in Vardø, which will be completed
in January 2007. Coastal Administration
West from the Central Pilot and Vessel
Traffic Services (VTS) office in Haugesund was asked to manage the expansion
project, while Troms and Finnmark district
will be responsible for operating the traffic
control centre. During 2007 the project and
the management organisation will overlap
in order to ensure that the transition goes
smoothly and to safeguard those parts of
the development projects that will be
phased in after the start.
The centre in Vardø will cover shipping
traffic in the area from Rørvik to the
Russian border and will concentrate main32
ly on the transport of dangerous and toxic
loads along the coast. The traffic control
centre will form a very important link in
the Norwegian Coastal Administration’s
emergency organisation and will work
closely with the Coastal Administration’s
Emergency Division should any adverse
incidents take place. Computer-based support tools are currently being developed
which will provide guidance and relieve
pressure on traffic managers when dealing
with accidents and incidents, as well as
improving and protecting the flow of information between the various parties concerned. In order to meet needs for communication between ships and the traffic control centre the Coastal Administration
intends to expand its collaboration with
Telenor Kystradio (coastal radio) by utilising its existing chain of coastal radio stations. The centre will be given access for
monitoring purposes to data from the
Coastal Administration’s AIS chain and the
defence forces’ radar chain. The new warning regime SafeSeaNet will also provide
important data for the traffic control centre
in Vardø.
The centre will have a total of nine
employees: eight traffic managers and an
operations manager. Vardø’s traffic managers will undergo a training programme at
the central pilot and VTS office in
Haugesund and will spend a probationary
period at other traffic control centres
Vardø in November light.
©Hans Geir Eiken, Bioforsk Svanhovd
before tests and operations start in Vardø at
the end of the year.
Following a comprehensive tendering
process Norcontrol IT was selected by the
Coastal Administration to supply the systems for the Vardø traffic control centre.
These consist of a conventional monitoring
unit and a messaging service, which will
enable direct data communication between
the monitoring systems and other databases. This is the first time that the Coastal
Administration has effected such a link
between traffic monitoring and static and
journey-related shipping data, so we have
great expectations for our work with
Norcontrol IT in Vardø.
SAFE SEA NET
AIS
Safe Sea Net is a European electronic
reporting and information system for
improving the safety of ship traffic.
The Norwegian Safe Sea Net (SSN)
is the reporting system that must be
used by all ships entering and leaving
Norwegian ports. It was developed
and is operated by the Coastal
Administration. Ships of 300 GT
(gross tonnage) and above, and all
ships carrying hazardous or toxic
loads, regardless of size, must report
via SSN.
As its name suggests, the AIS (Automatic Identification System) is an
automatic identification system for ships introduced by the UN’s international maritime organisation, the IMO, to increase safety for ships and
the environment and to improve maritime traffic monitoring and vessel
traffic services. The Norwegian Coastal Administration has a landbased
network comprising 35 AIS base stations on the coast of Norway. AIS is
an important tool in preventing collisions between ships, as well as a
good means for coastal states to obtain information about a ship and its
load. An AIS transponder on board a ship automatically provides other
ships and coastal state authorities with information from the ship. On
board a ship AIS information received from other ships will supplement
radar-based information and assist in detecting and identifying ships.
AIS use a longer wavelength than radar and therefore offer better
coverage behind obstacles provided the ground is not too high. AIS
also means that ships can be detected which would otherwise merge in
with the land or other radar echo. With some exceptions, the Coastal
Administration’s AIS network covers the area from the baseline to 40-60
nautical miles out from the coast.
33
OIL AND REINDEER HERDSMEN
in the Nenets Autonomous Region (NAO)
By Vladislav Peskov, President of the public movement:
Association of the Nenets nation “Yasavey”
Email: [email protected]
The Nenets Autonomous Region
(NAO) is one of the subjects of
the Russian Federation. The
approximate number of inhabitants is without taking into
account the transient workers
for the oil companies. Almost
the entire territory of the region
is located beyond the Arctic
Circle. The indigenous people
are the Nenets nation, and make
about 14% of the total population. Reindeer pastures occupy
70% of the NAO. The capital of
the region is Narjan-Mar, where
almost a half of the regions
population lives. The remaining
population is settled in the
countryside and a small
proportion resides at the tundra
leading a nomadic life.
Development of oil fields in the NAO
began in 1970’s, and on this matter a large
body of information and publications is
available, one example being the book by
Victor Tolkachev “ The road to oil”. It
comprehensively covers the process of discovery and development of oil-and-gas
fields on the territory of the NAO.
Reindeer herding is one of the main
activities of the indigenous and resident
population. The total reindeer livestock in
the region is about 120.000. At present,
private livestock has increased. People
engaged in reindeer herding are the Nenets
and Komi-Izhemets. Today there are 14
rural producers’ cooperatives formed on
the basis of former collective farms and
34
state farms. A few communities of indigenous people are also involved in reindeer
herding. According to provisional estimation approximately 1500 people are directly
occupied with reindeer herding. However,
almost the whole rural population is related to reindeer herding as all large settlements serve as bases for reindeer farms.
Some farms from the Komi Republic use
summer pastures on the territory of the
Nenets Region. Nomadic way of living has
been maintained in the west, in the Kanin
tundra, and in the east, in the Bolshezemelskaya tundra. In the middle part of
the region, reindeer herdsmen live mostly
in settlements and work on the tundra as
transient herders.
Economy of the region
The economics of the Nenets Region
depends on the natural resources and are
directly connected to development of oil
fields. The budget for 2006 constitutes
about 4 billion rubles where nearly half of
it is tax from mineral resources. Unfortunately, the proportion of the tax remaining
in the region is decreasing. Formerly 60%
remained in the region, then 20% and 13%
while now just 5% of the tax remains in the
NAO. As the Nenets Region is considered
to be a donor region, the fund flow from
the federal budget back to the region is
very low. Access to financial resources of
the federal centre is a very complicated
process, and often it is easier not to receive
funds from the federal budget.
As a result of recent administrative
reforms, the Nenets Region have to share
its income with the Arkhangelsk Region.
In 2005, 500 million rubles from the
Nenets regional budget were withdrawn
for the benefit of the Arkhangelsk Region;
in 2006, this increased to 600 million
rubles. Since this is a contractual process,
negotiations for 2007 between these two
subjects of the Russian Federation are
expected to be very hard. Taking into
account the above situation, the Nenets
Region many times suggested spending
these funds on activities and programs of
direct benefit for both regions, but so far
the Arkhangelsk Region has not given any
response to this suggestion.
Besides, the current taxation policy of
the Russian Federation allow oil companies to pay taxes in place of their registration not in place of their operation. This
contributes to a concentration of financial
resources in the federal centre. The whole
situation seems unfair, especially in relation
to the subjects of the Russian Federation.
Enormous resources are extracted in the
north and spent in the south. Stabilization
fund of the Russian Federation is formed.
However, problems of social development
in the northern territories are not up for discussion, instead issues related to development of oil and gas fields and construction
of pipelines, which make a profit for the
federal centre are vividly discussed. The
issues of house-building, development of
social infrastructure, improvement of quality of life of the population in the north of
Russia are not prioritized and are assigned
to the regions themselves. The federal centre gives the regions only one opportunity
and that is to intensify exploitation of natural resources.
The results of this financial policy may
be exemplified as follows. In the Nenets
Region there is a program of social and
economic development for indigenous
people of the North, which is financed with
4% of the tax from the mineral resources
that remains in the region. Within the
frames of this program houses for herdsmen are being built and different issues of
social and economic development of the
peoples of NAO are being solved. An
increase of the tax proportion to the
Arkhangelsk region in 2006 resulted in the
reduction of this program financing from
40 million in 2005 to 30 million rubles in
2006. However, oil production is being
increased, and the funding for this program
should have been raised equally. Neverthe-
©Bjørn Frantzen, Bioforsk Svanhovd.
less, the situation develops quite the contrary. In 2006 only about 7.5 million rubles
will be allocated to house building, which
is evidently not enough. About 90 herdsmen are on the waiting list of the
Department on affairs of indigenous people of the North at the NAO Administration
to get subsidies for house building.
Association of the Nenets Nation
“Yasavey”
Issues pertaining to relationships between
herdsmen and oil industry workers are settled in the NAO. This process is adjusted
and normalized with participation of government bodies of the region. Almost all oil
companies conclude agreements on cooperation, effect compensation payments and
implement different programs. The process
of making agreements starts with allotment
of land. Now almost all reindeer farms
carry on negotiations and make bilateral
agreements.
Information on this issue is scarce and
based mainly on materials from oil companies themselves. However, since 2001 the
public movement: Association of the
Nenets Nation “Yasavey”, has launched
the process of public discussion of this
issue. The recent four years a few roundtable discussions and different meetings
have been organized. Representatives of
governmental bodies, oil companies and
public were invited to these meetings. It
can be said that the process of discussing
the above problems and searching for ways
out has moved forward. A series of materials is published, and now a procedure of
making agreements is being developed.
The “Yasavey” Association, being an
organization for indigenous nations, concludes long-term agreements with oil companies and even to date such agreements
exists with: “Lukoil-Sever”, “Narjanmarneftegaz” and “Severnoje siyanije”. As
for other companies, negotiations for
agreements are being conducted. Within
the frames of such agreements a program
of actions is coordinated annually, which is
further implemented. The large social project “Kaninsky Krasny Chum” (“Kanin Red
Tent”) implemented in 2002 and 2005
jointly with the “Lukoil” company is one
such agreement. All the materials and texts
of agreements are available at the office of
the “Yasavey” Association. It may be considered that with a rational approach based
on principles of partnership and mutual
understanding it is feasible to establish
long-term relationships and to meet all the
challenges by the way of a dialog and
cooperation.
Great problems and concerns still
remain, especially regarding the ecological
situation in oil production areas, implementation of large projects such as pipelines
“Yuzhnaya Khylchuyu – Varandey” and
“Kharjaga – Indiga”, and plans for development of the Arctic shelf. In many respects it
is related to continuous alterations of the
federal legislation and control functions of
the federal authorities. Recent reorganization of federal ministries dealing with ecological control has lead to confusions.
Until now there has been no program of the
complex exploration of the TimanoPechora adopted at the level of the Russian
Federation, although this question is raised
repeatedly. Besides, the concept of ethnological expertise is not applied to projects
on oil and gas production.
Nevertheless, it may be inferred that by
taking further initiatives, it is possible at
least to change the current situation for the
better, although this is a very complicated
and difficult process. We need to learn ourselves and to teach herdsmen and oil industry workers in order to reach mutual understanding. It would be fruitful to submit for
public discussion as many issues as possible related to long-term prospects, sustainable development and maintaining traditional way of living. The most important is
to look for solutions satisfying all the sides
and to care about what will remain in the
Nenets Region for the future generations.
35
Polarbase, the supply area for the
petroleum activities in Hammerfest,
which also includes a freeze hotel for
fish, salmon butchery, fish container
factory, and the production hall of
Norway Seafood. ©Hammerfest municipality
EXCITING
DEVELOPMENTS
in the north
by Alf E. Jakobsen, Chairman of Hammerfest Council
36
We must make use of our
opportunities here in the
north. We cannot live only
on love and air, although
they are certainly important. Fish and oil can go
hand in hand with responsible management in all
areas. If we want young
people to stay here or to
return, we must have jobs
that use their education.
Today we are educating our
young people to leave this
part of the country.
Snøhvit (Snow White) and
Hammerfest
The expansion of the Snøhvit plant in
Hammerfest and the LNG plant on
Melkøya Island mean that Finnmark will
soon play a serious part in petroleum operations. This also means the start of extraction of oil and gas on the Norwegian side
of the Barents Sea. This has not happened
overnight. From starting exploration
drilling in 1980 and making the first find in
1981 to extraction of natural gas on the
Snøhvit field has taken around 25 years. I
usually say that we hold the world record
when it comes to patience, but we must
also realise that technology has improved
NATURAL GAS
during these years and the concept we now
have is completely different from what it
would have been if the project had started
earlier.
From stagnation and a declining population, we are now experiencing optimism
and an increase in the number of people
living in Hammerfest. What is best is that
it is the age group of 20 to 39 years that is
experiencing greatest population growth,
and births are now exceeding deaths. Put
simply, this means that Hammerfest now
has a younger population, and this is a
healthy sign for any local community.
High environmental demands in the
Barents Sea
Environmental and safety requirements
have grown steadily stricter since operations started in the North Sea. The technology has also improved steadily. The
Snøhvit project has no surface installations
in the sea in the operating phase. The LNG
plant is landbased and is managed from
onshore. Trawlers are able to operate (fish)
over sea bottom installations and pipelines,
and the routes of pipelines are decided in
consultation with fishermen.
Environmental requirements in the
Barents Sea have been increased from
Class 0: hazardous discharge, to Class 0
discharge. Judging from what the government is envisaging, I expect strict requirements to be introduced for CO2 handling
for future gas power stations. It is also
good to note that CO2 will be used as the
pressure support for producing more from
the fields in the future.
The use of CO2 as a resource in the
petroleum industry is a goal that authorities on different levels, environmental protection organisations and oil companies
should work towards together. It makes
sense to use CO2 as part of the value chain
instead of releasing it into the atmosphere
or passively allowing it to lie unused at the
bottom of the sea. The development of new
technology for capturing the maximum
amounts of CO2 will need even more
research and resources. The challenge for
the authorities and the oil companies is to
act together sensibly so that sufficient
resources can be prioritised for this.
Increased emergency resources and growth
in local communities
Another positive environmental result
of using the Norwegian side of the Barents
Sea for petroleum extraction is that emergency resources are being much increased
in the northern areas by the use of tugboats, support boats and other emergency
equipment. This is important, especially in
relation to shipping traffic and tank vessel
operations from the Russian side. Russian
oil traffic will continue, regardless of what
we do in the way of petroleum operations
on the Norwegian side, and according to
existing plans, Russian developments can
be expected to increase.
North Norway has exciting times ahead
of it, but to make the most of them we must
hold several things in our heads at the same
time. East Finnmark in particular needs
fresh impetus behind its industrial development. Fish and fishing will remain the
primary industry. Fish farming will continue to grow, and tourism and travel have
great development potential. The developments in these industries, together with stable and predictable petroleum activities in
the Barents Sea convince me that
Finnmark and the rest of North Norway
will move out of stagnation to development and growth. The changes in the
coastal communities have shown that fishing alone is not enough to keep them alive.
International cooperation
The Norwegian authorities, in dialogue
with those from other countries, face the
large and important challenge of removing
conflicts, not least in the fishing and petroleum industries. The Russian authorities
have first place in this dialogue, naturally
enough, but it is important that no conflicts
arise in relation to overfishing by all countries. There has been a tendency in recent
years for dispute levels to rise, and we cannot afford to have continual conflicts in
this area. It is my belief that our social
dealings with Russian people from all
areas will produce unsuspected opportunities for us in the north. North Norway will
steadily become an increasingly international society, and we live in interesting
times.
Natural gas, also called dry gas, consists of
60-95% methane (CH4). Methane gas is
produced mainly by bacteria as an end
product of the breakdown of organic matter,
but is also formed in the same way as oil
when organic matter (dead plants and
animals) is subjected to enormous pressure
without an oxygen supply over a long period
of time (several million years). Natural gas is
a non-renewable resource. Besides methane,
natural gas also includes occurrences of
so-called “wet” gases, such as ethane,
propane, butane and isobutane. Gas
contains more hydrogen than oil, in addition
to very small occurrences of sulphur and
heavy metals. The untreated gas which
comes from the gas fields is called rich gas
and is a mixture of wet gas and dry gas.
LNG
(LIQUIFIED NATURAL GAS)
Gas extracted from the Snøhvit (Snow
White), Askeladd and Albatross fields is
transported to the landbased plant on
Melkøya Island off Hammerfest. Here the
different types of gas are separated from one
another and the natural gas is cooled down
to liquid form (LNG) at a temperature of
approximately –160°C. In liquid form its
volume is 600 times smaller than it is in gas
form. Melkøya Island now has Europe’s first
export facility for LNG. After being cooled
down the liquid gas is transported into the
world by ship, in cooled tanks under atmospheric pressure. LNG technology enables the
gas to be carried using smaller vessels and
thus distributed to places which are too small
to justify the extension of pipelines.
LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas)
When the natural gas is extracted from the
gas fields small amounts of propane and
butane are mixed in with it. These gases are
then separated out and cooled down in the
same way as the natural gas but are called
LPG. LPG can be transported round the
world and sold in the same way as LNG.
37
By Harald Larsen and Bernt-Aksel Jensen,
East Finnmark Regional Council
EMERGENCIES
versus
IMAGINATION
No matter how good
one’s preparations,
reality often exceeds
one’s imagination,
as experiences
with oil spills and
environmental
problems show.
Nevertheless the world
accepts not only this
risk but also that
accidents, with their
subsequent negative
consequences, happens.
But do we actually
have any choice?
38
These slight philosophical musings bubbling to the surface could be compared
with a small oil spill. It spreads quickly
and lies on the surface of the water, fully
visible for a while. Then it is broken down
by environmental factors and after a time it
can barely be seen. So it is also with the
thoughts behind the question of making
sure that there are adequate emergency
resources for preventing oil spill. Fierce
debates take place from time to time
involving scenarios that would put the fear
of God into the devil himself, as one might
say – and then they sink out of sight for
ages afterwards.
Imagination is too small
What kinds of resources are needed to cope
with the Barents Sea? Who can guarantee
that the emergency resources will be so
good that there will be no negative consequences if an accident happens? The world
is crying out for petroleum to produce
energy. The resources are there. They will
be tracked down, whether they lie several
thousand metres under the sea, or just
beneath the earth’s surface. The petroleum
industry involves the risk of accident and
pollution, in the same way that every other
human activity on earth involves risk, not
to forget the earth’s own activity, such as
volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. So we
are surrounded by differing degrees of risk,
whatever we do. This is the perspective
from which we must view the question of
combating oil spill in the Barents Sea. The
big national emergency exercise held in
Finnmark in autumn 2005, “Barents
Rescue”, uncovered defects in several elements of our emergency provision. New
aspects emerged that no one had thought
of. It is always the way. That is why we say
that reality will outstrip imagination when
it comes to the possible results and consequences of an accident. We can never be
prepared for everything – and we accept
this!
First threatened, then saved
The development of petroleum activities in
the northern areas is in full swing, both on
shore and at sea. All phases are underway,
from surveying, test drilling and extraction
to conclusion. Finnmark is squeezed
between activities in the North Sea on the
one side and Russia on the other. The most
important point is that extraction is taking
place within the framework of ever stricter
safety and environmental requirements. At
the same time the consequences of an accident are reckoned to be so dangerous that
large resources have been set aside to prevent not only accidents but their effects.
During all this the local communities in
East Finnmark are watching as developments come closer and closer. The term the
northern area has acquired new meaning
and is attracting interest from all over the
Dead Brünnich’s guillemot (Uria lomvia).
Thousands of seabirds died after an oil
spill in the Varanger Fjord in 1979. The oil
spill happened at the worst thinkable time,
when many seabirds were assembled at a
small area.
©Bjørn Frantzen, Bioforsk Svanhovd
world. Finnmark’s reputation is changing
from that of a national fishing county to
one of the world’s most important petroleum areas. Politicians in East Finnmark are
looking forward to activities increasing
and welcome them on several grounds.
The influence and dominance of the fishing industry has become much reduced
during the last few decades. If communities are to continue to exist, they must have
something to live on. Building up new
industry is difficult, but here comes the
petroleum industry, sailing towards the
coast like an oil slick. The threat that the
fishing communities saw the oil industry
as, will now be their salvation. With this as
background, the political leaders have
realised that if this industry is to acquire
legitimacy with the coastal population,
emergency resources and safety must be
assured, so the chairmen of the coastal
councils have become eager spokesmen
for petroleum operations – and simultaneously standard bearers for improved oil
spill combat precautions on the coast.
From local to international network
As leader of the council’s crisis management team, the chairman has an important
role to play. A role focused on enabling
people to live on an unbelievably long and
twisting coastline. Collaboration is currently being formalised between several
coastal councils in East Finnmark where
resources to combat oil spill are now being
worked out. This collaboration will extend
over council, county and national boundaries into the councils and counties of
northwest Russia. The main view is that
councils are not content with the emergency resources available. Levels of both
knowledge and equipment vary from council to council, and in order to change this
several new measures have been introduced. One of these is a proposal for better
physical security. As part of the county
council’s petroleum strategy, East Finnmark regional council proposes establishing a large regional emergency centre in
the east of the county. This will be in addition to the existing local emergency provision. The requirements are based on coordinating resources for everything from
traffic monitoring and tugboat capacity to
emergency equipment and available manpower. The council also wants to set up a
network with different organisations to
focus on the risks involved in increased
petroleum operations. Looking further
ahead this might form part of an international network of coastal communities and
national states that face a common challenge, namely establishing the best possible emergency provision to cope with accidents, followed by routines to minimalise
the negative effects if an accident should
occur.
Fish and oil in the same boat
Taken as a whole, what is wanted is a
change which results in there being better
equipment on shore to deal with an oil spill
near to a local water source, an accident
involving tankers going to and from
Russia, and suitable resources for the different phases in the construction of an oilfield. For very many of Finnmark’s fishing
areas the time has come to recognise that it
is no longer possible to sustain the community by fishing alone. Fish is now a global
commodity. Finnmark’s advantages with
regard to fish are no longer what they
were, which means that the coastal communities must make use of the other commodities that they have available. The fishing communities of Finnmark extend a
warm welcome to the oil industry. Fish and
oil are literally in the same boat – together
with improved resources to combat oil
spill!
39
PUBLISHED BY THE SUPPORT OF:
Bioforsk Soil and Environment, Svanhovd
N - 9925 Svanvik
Phone: +47 78 97 36 00 Fax: +47 78 97 36 01
E-mail: [email protected]
www.bioforsk.no/svanhovd
©Ragnar Våga Pedersen