ARCTOS Workshop 2020

Svolvær, Norway - January 2020

 

February 2020 - I’m currently out in the Lofoten Islands with the Arctic Marine Ecosystem Network (ARCTOS) to learn about fisheries and oceans management in Norway! Here, Norwegians and Sámi must cope with competing interests in fisheries and Arctic offshore oil drilling. I can’t wait to share what we’re learning and how it can help us think about management in other places!

Svolvær is beautiful! It’s a small little town in the Lofoten Islands built on the foundation of cod fisheries. It’s quiet and sleepy in the winter, but ships are sill coming and going through the harbor. We worked through the weekend but were able to take a few hours here and there to wander and explore.

I was stopped on the street by a Norwegian man for a history lesson and he told me about the different ships in the harbor. The local people seem very connected to the sea and show concern for their livelihoods. The Lofoten Islands remain the last region of Norway where Arctic offshore oil drilling is not allowed. In part this has to do with geography, as the continental plate plunges deep just off the coast, bringing oil drilling very close to the cod fisheries and communities that rely on the living resources.

In just a few months, Norway will be negotiating a new management plan for offshore frilling in the Barents Sea and there’s quite a lot of tension between government, industry, and scientists as competing interests complicate and endanger an old and respected profession.