The formal planning process was initiated for 17 of these areas in September 2009, and a comprehensive public hearing of the plans, together with impact assessments, is expected to be conducted in 2012. The formal planning process for the additional 19 candidate MPAs was initiated in April 2012.
Purpose
The purpose of the National Plan for Marine Protected Areas is to conserve a representative selection of Norwegian marine environments. Candidate areas range from Østfold county on the Swedish border in the south to Finnmark county on the Russian border in the north, and include different types of coastal ecosystems with their distinct geological features and associated flora and fauna. The plan is also a means to safeguard the base of renewable marine resources, and some of the candidate areas will serve as reference areas for long-term environmental monitoring and research.
Conservation or exploitation
There are at present many different types of human activities taking place in the candidate MPAs, but restriction levels will depend on the specific conservation purpose in each candidate area. One important guiding principle in the planning process is to seek a balance between conservation and exploitation, meaning that there should be no more restrictions than are considered necessary to achieve the purpose of the conservation measure.