The North Sea An Integrated, Ecosystem Approach

for Sustainable Development

International

Conferences on

the Protection of

the North Sea

0 100 200 300 km

The North SeaThe North Sea is a rather shallow semi-enclosed basinof continental shelf water. Its depth ranges from about30 m on average in the southeast to 200 m in thenorthwest.

Parties in the North Sea cooperation:Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands,Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom andthe European Commission. In addition, neighbouringcountries, intergovernmental organizations and NGOstake part as observers.

Over the years since the first Inter-national Conference on the Protection of the North Sea in 1984, the North Seastates have achieved good results in theirjoint efforts to reduce pollution and toprotect North Sea ecosystems. Someexamples of partly or fully implementedcommitments are:

• ban on the dumping and incineration of waste at sea

• reduction of inputs of nutrients by 50%• cessation of all inputs of hazardous

substances within one generation (by the year 2020)

• ban on the dumping of offshore installations

• ban on the application of TBT.

The success of the North Sea coopera-tion is the result of a combination ofseveral elements:

• cooperation on a regional level betweenstates which have a common interest inprotecting common resources

• frequent meetings at political level• political commitments without legally

binding enforcement • broad and comprehensive approach• willingness on the part of ministers to

commit themselves to ambitious targets• transparency and the active participation

of all stakeholders, including industryand NGOs

• comprehensive reviews of progress.

One of the main challenges for the future is to develop and make use of anintegrated ecosystem-based approach in the management of the North Sea.

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he states bordering on the North Sea have been successful

in developing a regional cooperation for the sustainable

management of the North Sea ecosystems and its living

resources.The process towards integrating fisheries management

and environmental protection, conservation and management

measures based on an ecosystem approach has been a very promis-

ing experience.

T

The North Sea is a rather shallow semi-enclosed basin of continental shelf water.Its depth ranges from about 30 m on average in the southeast to 200 m in thenorthwest.

Although the North Sea is small, its pro-ductivity and fish catches are among thehighest in the world, and fishing has longbeen an important activity in all countriesbordering the North Sea with total annuallandings of fish around 2.5 million tonnes.

The densely populated Europe puts greatpressure on the North Sea. Approxi-mately 65 million people live within thecatchment areas that drain into theNorth Sea and a number of large townsand industries have, over a long period,emptied their waste into the North Sea.Offshore oil and gas production has beena major economic activity in the NorthSea since the late 1960s, and the NorthSea contains some of the busiest ship-ping routes in the world. The coastalzone is also used intensively for recrea-tion, such as bathing, sailing and fishing.

As a result, the North Sea has been subject to eutrophication, oil pollution,pollution by hazardous substances andchemicals, and radioactive substances,posing threats to the various species and their habitats.

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Background

In the early 1980s there was growing con-cern in the North Sea countries that thelarge inputs of various harmful substan-ces via rivers, direct discharges and dumping could cause irreversibledamage to the North Sea ecosystems.

Some countries were also dissatisfiedwith the lack of progress made by thecompetent international organizationscharged with protecting the marine environment. In part this was due to the wider geographical coverage of thebodies concerned and the lack of focus at North Sea level.

This was part of the background for thefirst International Conference on theProtection of the North Sea in Bremen in 1984 and the subsequent conferences.The ministers have secured good pro-gress through their commitments tomeet ambitious targets and specific dead-lines, to embark on joint actions and to ensure comprehensive reporting ofimplementation.

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North Sea Conferences

Protection of the North SeaEnvironmentThe North Sea Conferences have focusedon the following issues:

• Protection of species and habitats• Fisheries

• Hazardous substances• Nutrients inputs and eutrophication• Pollution from ships• Pollution from offshore installations• Radioactive substances• Dumping of waste at sea• Incineration of industrial waste at sea

General circulation in the North SeaSchematic diagram of general circulationin the North Sea.The width of the arrows is indicative of the magnitude of volumetransport. Most of the North Sea waterflows through the Skagerrak before leav-ing via the Norwegian Coastal Current.(Source: North Sea Quality Status Report1993.)

Until 1995, pollution was the main issueat the North Sea conferences. Over thelast decade, however, there has been anincreasing awareness that other impactsof human activities on the North Sea eco-systems are also very important and thatthe combined effect could be detrimentalto biological diversity and biological pro-duction capacity.

This led to increasing concern about thedevelopment and status of the North Seafish stocks, as well as the impact of fish-eries on the ecosystems.

On this basis Norway organized theIntermediate Ministerial Meeting on theIntegration of Fisheries and Environ-mental Issues in 1997 (IMM 97), in whichministers responsible for environmentalprotection and ministers responsible for fisheries as well as the respective EUCommissioners participated.

In the preparations for the IMM 97, itwas regarded as important to establishclose cooperation between the fisheriesand the environmental sectors andinclude all relevant stakeholders in a con-structive dialogue. In order to provide agood basis for discussion, a thoroughdocumentation of the status of the livingresources and the habitats in the NorthSea was needed. The Assessment Reporton Fisheries and Fisheries relatedSpecies and Habitats Issues was dulycompleted as the result of a joint effortby scientists, managers and NGOs. Thistransparent and participatory approachcontributed to mutual trust and improved understanding of the issues. The reportwas accepted by all stakeholders as abasis for the following negotiations onactions needed for the protection ofNorth Sea fish stocks, other species and their habitats.

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Integration of Fisheries and Environmental Issues

Status of North Sea Fisheries andEcological ImpactsFishing has a major impact on North Seaecosystems. Many of the demersal fishstocks have been at a rather low level forseveral years.The present exploitation rateis high and cannot be regarded as sustain-able. In order to improve the stock situa-tion and thus provide for recovery, the EUand Norway have agreed to elaborate har-vest strategies for these stocks.This willalso be done for mackerel, for which theEU and Norway have agreed to improvethe present management system.TheNorth Sea component of mackerel hasbeen very low for many years.The presentmackerel fishery in the North Sea is, how-ever, taking place on fish migrating fromspawning areas west of Ireland and fromthe Bay of Biscay into this area in the secondhalf of the year.The North Sea herringstock was for a number of years at a lowlevel, but harvest control rules have beenimplemented and the stock is presentlyimproving.

Due to high fishing pressure, the size com-position of in particular demersal fish haschanged, with an increase in the numbersof small fish since the turn of the century.This fact combined with low stock levelsare the basis for the work mentionedabove which is undertaken by the EU andNorway.

Some demersal fishing gear cause physicaldisturbance to the sea bottom and there-fore have an adverse impact on benthichabitats and communities.This problemhas to be further investigated and evalu-ated. In some of the major fisheries in theNorth Sea, fish are discarded because theyare too small or not the targeted species.In addition, non commercial species of fish,shellfish and benthic species are taken asby-catch in the fisheries, as is the case formarine mammals and seabirds. Currentknowledge about the levels of such catch-es and thereby the impact of this outtakeon the ecosystems is limited.

Main Elements in the future North Sea Management Regime

Guiding Principles• Utilization of the ecosystem in a manner

consistent with sustainable development• Conservation of biological diversity and

the sustainable use of its components• Application of the precautionary approach • Further integration of fisheries management

and environmental protection, conserva-tion and management measures drawingupon the development and application of an ecosystem approach

• Integration of environmental objectivesinto fisheries policy

Management Objectives• To ensure sustainable, sound and healthy

ecosystems • To maintain biological diversity• To achieve sustainable exploitation of

the living marine resources • To ensure economically viable fisheries

Strategies• Take appropriate measures to minimize

adverse impact of fishing activities• Take appropriate measures to minimize

adverse impacts resulting from humanactivities other than fishing

Main Areas for Actions• Rebuilding or maintenance of the

spawning stock biomass• Protection of juvenile fish, crustaceans

and molluscs• Protection of species and habitats• Protection from activities other than

fisheries • Control and enforcement• Research on science, technology

and economic impact• Enhanced information and involvement• Further integration of fisheries and

environmental policies• Implementation and review of progress

(The complete statement may be found in the Statement of Conclusions from theIMM 97.)

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An improved Management Regime for the North SeaAt the IMM 97, the ministers stressed theimportance of further integration of fish-eries and environmental policies, drawingupon the development and application of

an ecosystem approach. They furtheragreed on guiding principles, managementobjectives, strategies and actions for thefuture integration of fisheries managementand environmental protection, conserva-tion and management measures.

An Ecosystem ApproachOne important outcome of the IMM 97 is the agreement on the development andapplication of an ecosystem approach inthe management and protection of theNorth Sea. The development of an eco-system approach focuses on the criticalecological processes, the ecosystem inter-actions and the chemical, physical andbiological environment. The ecosystemapproach has been further elaborated ina workshop in 1998 and will include:

• Management of human activities in an integrated manner

• Formulation of clear objectives, both general and operational

• Better use of existing scientific knowledge

• Focused research on the North Sea ecosystems, including climatic, biologicaland human driving forces of ecosystemvariability

• Improved, integrated monitoring• Integrated assessments prepared by

experts on North Sea fish stocks, theenvironment and socio-economics

• Involvement of stakeholders, scientists,managers and politicians at different stages of the decision-making process.

Ecological Quality ObjectivesOne of the main activities in the furtherdevelopment of an ecosystem approachis the establishment of overall or inte-grated objectives, and at the specificlevel, more detailed and operationalobjectives. A framework for operativeecological quality objectives (EcoQOs)has been established. An important prin-ciple for the work on EcoQOs is that itincludes both the fisheries and environ-mental sectors on a governmental levelas well as stakeholders from both thefishing industry and non-governmentalorganizations.

Work is currently going on with theobjective of developing proposals forEcological Quality Objectives for theNorth Sea.

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While the pertinent Conventions (OSPARConvention, Marpol 73/78, London Dump-ing Convention, Bonn Convention) andtheir executive bodies are rather special-ized in their scope, the International Con-ferences on the Protection of the NorthSea have the advantage of providing apolitical framework for a broad and com-prehensive assessment of the measuresneeded to protect the North Sea.

This enables ministers to deal with abroad range of North Sea issues, andallows them to respond swiftly and tofocus on key issues at each conference.

An important feature of the North SeaConferences is that they constitute politi-cal fora which adopt far-reaching politi-cally-based commitments, as opposed tothe legally binding force of the decisionstaken within the conventions. As a nextstep these political commitments havebeen adopted in the framework of legally binding conventions.

Apart from the agreements on action toprotect the North Sea, the North Sea

Conferences have also played an impor-tant role in influencing environmentalmanagement decisions in a much widercontext.

The adoption of the precautionary prin-ciple at the London Conference in 1987 is one of the important decisions emanat-ing from the North Sea Conferences.Once agreed at a political level, the prin-ciple has been adopted within the appro-priate legislative fora and has become agenerally accepted principle for the pro-tection of the environment.

The political forum provided by theNorth Sea Conferences has afforded a useful opportunity to keep North Seapolicy up to date with trends in modernenvironmental concepts. For example,the Hague Declaration in 1990 acceptedthe implications of the concepts ofsustained use and sustainable develop-ment, and the integrated ecosystemapproach, as indicated by the WorldCommission on Environment andDevelopment.

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Role and Influence of the North Sea Conferences

Participants in the North Sea cooperationThe following parties take part in the cooperation:Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, theNetherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland,the United Kingdom and the EuropeanCommission.

In addition, several neighbouring countries,7 intergovernmental organizations and 22non-governmental organizations take anactive part in the preparations and in nego-tiations during the ministerial conferencesand follow the progress of the implement-ation of commitments.

International North Sea ConferencesThe ministers and the EU Commissionerresponsible for the environment in the NorthSea have met frequently to discuss andagree on new targets and on joint actions:

• Bremen, Germany, 1984• London, United Kingdom, 1987• The Hague, the Netherlands, 1990• Esbjerg, Denmark, 1995• Norway, 2002

On two occasions they have had meetings with the Ministers responsiblefor agriculture and fisheries respectively:

• Copenhagen, Denmark, 1993(Intermediate Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Environment)

• Bergen, Norway, 1997 (IntermediateMinisterial Meeting on the Integration of Fisheries and Environmental Issues)

In addition to the outcome of the BergenMeeting in 1997 which is describedabove, some of the main achievementsfrom the North Sea Conferences are outlined below.

Significant Reduction of NutrientsThe increase in inputs of nutrients to theNorth Sea led to enhanced productionand biomass of phytoplankton andchanges in species composition, includ-ing an increased occurrence of harmfulalgae. In the bottom waters of certainareas it also resulted in reduced oxygenconcentrations, causing mass mortalityof benthic organisms and fish.

On this basis the ministers agreed in1987 on a commitment to aim to achievea substantial reduction (in the order of50%) of nutrients into areas where theseinputs are likely, directly or indirectly, to cause pollution. The ambitious targetset for phosphorus has almost been met,while the reduction target for nitrogenhas been more difficult to fulfil becauseof the particular difficulties of achievingreductions in nutrients from agriculturalproduction.

Reduction and Phasing out ofHazardous SubstancesSeveral synthetic organic chemicals have been detected in estuaries and inthe open North Sea, both in sedimentsand organisms.

In 1990 it was agreed to set ambitious targets to reduce inputs of 36 hazardoussubstances by 50% and for substancesthat cause a major threat to reduceinputs by 70%. Significant progress hasbeen made towards achieving the 50%and the 70% reduction targets. Good pro-gress has also been made to reduce theinput of certain pesticides reaching theNorth Sea. Several pesticides have beenphased out.

The long-term target from the North SeaConference in Esbjerg in 1995 of continu-ously reducing discharges, emissions andlosses of hazardous substances, therebymoving towards the target of their cessa-tion within one generation, has now beenadopted by the OSPAR Convention and is thus legally binding.

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Some Examples of Goals and Achievements

Regional follow up of GlobalConventions and AgreementsMany of the general principles and agree-ments that form the basis for the manage-ment of fisheries and the environment arelaid down in global and regional conven-tions and agreements, as well as otherinternational instruments and guidelines.

An important role of the cooperation between the North Sea states has been to provide the appropriate regional frame-work for the follow up, on a regional level,of conventions and agreements such asChapter 17 of Agenda 21 and theConvention on Biological Diversity.

The occurrence of PCB has receivedmuch attention in recent decades andhigh concentrations have been observedparticularly in predators such as mam-mals and birds. This led to an agreementin 1990 to phase out and destroy in anenvironmentally safe manner all identifi-able PCBs by 1995 or at the latest by the end of 1999.

TBT – a Cause for ConcernExposure to tributyltin (TBT), derivedpredominantly from anti-fouling paints onships, has been shown to produce dis-tinctive changes in various organisms,which in severe cases can result in steri-lity and destructive effects on the popu-lation. Such effects are demonstrated inmany areas of the North Sea. A signifi-cant increase in the frequency of occur-rence of penis homologues in femalewhelks (Buccinum undatum) has beenfound along the most common shippingroutes.

After an initiative at the Esbjerg Confe-rence, the North Sea states have takenconcerted action within the IMO toreduce pollution caused by the applica-tion of TBT in anti-fouling paint on ships.An agreement has now been made withinthe IMO to introduce a global ban on the use of harmful anti-fouling agents by the year 2003.

Offshore Oil and Gas IndustryThere have been reports of oil detectedin the tissues of fish well away from oilproduction platforms and this has beenidentified as stemming from oily drill cuttings. The North Sea ministersagreed in 1990 to eliminate oil pollutioncaused by oil contaminated cuttings andto minimize or reduce pollution causedby produced water. The targets havebeen followed up with implementationthrough legally binding OSPAR decisions.

The North Sea Conference in 1995 initi-ated a ban on dumping of disused offshoreinstallations within the maritime area.This initiative has been followed up bythe adoption of an OSPAR decision in1998.

Ban on Dumping and Incineration at SeaDumping and incineration of waste at sea was common in the North Sea by the beginning of the 1980s, and was animportant issue at the first North SeaConferences. After an agreement to bansuch handling of waste, these activitieshave now ceased in the North Sea.

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For further information about the North Sea Conferences please visit our internet homepage at:

http://odin.dep.no/nsc/

or contact:

The North Sea SecretariatMinistry of the Environment PO Box 8013 Dep.N-0030 OSLONorway

Telephone: + 47 22 24 58 93Fax: + 47 22 24 60 64E-mail: postmottak@md.dep.no

Further readingStatement of Conclusions, IntermediateMinisterial Meeting on the Integration of Fisheries and Environmental Issues 13 – 14 March 1997, Bergen, Norway.Ministry of the Environment, Norway,1997.

Assessment Report on Fisheries andFisheries related Species and HabitatsIssues. Ministry of the Environment,Norway, 1997.

Esbjerg Declaration. 4th InternationalConference on the Protection of theNorth Sea, Esbjerg, Denmark, 8 – 9 June1995. Ministry of Environment andEnergy, Denmark, 1995.

Progress Report. 4th InternationalConference on the Protection of theNorth Sea, Esbjerg, Denmark, 8 – 9 June1995. Ministry of Environment andEnergy, Denmark, 1995. rences please visit our internet homepageat: http://odin.dep.no/nsc/

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Further Information

Reduced discharges and inputsThe graphs below give, in an indicative way,some examples of the trends of the reduced inputsof some pollutants to the North Sea in the periodfrom 1990 to 1996:

• inputs of oil in contaminated cuttings from offshore oil and gas production

• direct inputs of phosphorus • direct and riverine inputs of mercury.

(Source: OSPARCOM)

Homepage:http://odin.dep.no/nsc/

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