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5th North Sea Conference: Important issues addressed, but concern over future work

Environmental Ministers of the North Sea states commit themselves to create a network of investigators and prosecutors to improve the enforcement of existing regulations against ships polluting the sea. That was one of the more concrete outcomesas the 5th North Sea Conference closed in Bergen, Norway, Thursday, March 21.

Other ministerial recommendations were made a.o. on the protection of fish stocks and on chemicals in consumer products.

– Many of the issues in this Ministerial Declaration are of great importance to the North Sea Commission, says NSC vice chair Gunn Marit Helgesen, councillor of Telemark fylkeskommune in Norway. We have dealt a lot with them throughout the years, in our thematic groups and in political statements.

Another one of the more concrete outcomes of the 5th North Sea Conference was the designation, by 2010, of marine protected areas to safeguard North Sea ecosystems.

– This work must be done in close contact with scientists and the fishing industry, comments NSC vice chair Gunn Marit Helgesen.

– We are particularly glad to see that the discussion forum which the NSC has created for fishermen and scientists, the NSC Fisheries Partnership, was recognised by the Ministers. The North Sea Commission thinks that this method of getting stakeholders together for frank exchange of views and information can be useful also in other fields of society that fishing!

Further examples of recommendations made by the North Sea environmental ministers:

• support of economic and other incentives to improve the environmental performance of shipping,
• hazardous chemicals in consumer products should be dealt with by the EU already this year,
• strong support of establishment of offshore wind energy parks, taking account of environmental impact,
• evaluation of methods for making ships leave their waste in ports instead of in the sea,
• further international co-operation in spatial planning of the North Sea area, involving regional governments, local authorities and other stakeholders,

Intense discussions were held on radioactive pollution, both regarding ongoing discharges and the risk for accidents. The two countries reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, France and Great Britain, promised security measures. But they did not agree to stop these operations or to let their neighbours have greater influence on, for instance, transport routes.

Need for continuation of broad conferences

To the concern of several countries and most observer organisations, there was no clear decision on the long term future of the North Sea Conferences.

Next North Sea Conference will deal specifically with the topics of shipping and fisheries and will be hosted by Sweden in 2006, at the latest. There will be great involvement of many stakeholders, including regional and local authorities, in the preparations.

– The NSC looks forward to taking an active part in the further protection of the North Sea, says NSC vice chair Gunn Marit Helgesen.

– We welcome these important topics, but will work hard to keep a broader perspective in future North Sea Conferences!

Background:

Environmental ministers from all North Sea states, as well as the relevant EU authorities, have met regularly since 1980 to discuss the serious threats which human activities pose to the ecosystems of the North Sea. Organisations representing stakeholders like industry, fishermen, nature conservation, regional and local authorities, etc, have been taking part as active observers.

The Ministerial Declaration from the 5th North Sea Conference is available in English at www.northseaconference.no

The North Sea Commission is the organisation of regional authorities around the North Sea The NSC has over 60 member regions in all North Sea countries. The practical work of the NSC is carried out in thematic groups, with the following themes: Business development, Communications, Culture & Tourism, Education & research, Environment, Fisheries. The NSC secretariat is in Viborg, Denmark.

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