“Our oceans are six times larger than our land areas, and represents opportunities yet to be explored”, says Monica Mæland, Minister of Trade and Industry.
Last spring the government published its maritime strategy entitled “Maritime possibilities: Blue growth for a green future”. In this strategy lies a commitment to organizing a joint conference for industries related to the ocean. Key players are now invited to a national ocean conference in Bergen.
“Norway has a long tradition of harvesting from the ocean. And we will create growth and value from fisheries and aquaculture in the infinite future. In coming years, the development of new marine-based industries will also contribute to value creation, if we focus on this”, says Per Sandberg, Minister of Fisheries.
“Petroleum and aquaculture are our two main industries. They often share challenges like fluctuations in exchange rates and prices. For decades, the industries have also shared experiences and exchanged expertise. For instance, the aquaculture industry explores how to use offshore technology, and the fishing fleet can be a very useful contribution to oil spill response, says Tord Lien, Minister of Petroleum and Energy.
The Ocean Conference should be a arena where key players from the business sector, NGOs, academia and the government meet to share experiences and discuss opportunities for increased efficiency and future value creation from the ocean. The conference will present opportunities, challenges and current examples from various industries.
In preparation for the conference, the three ministries involved have had a close dialogue with the blue industries; including GCE Subsea, NCE Maritime Cleantech, GCE NODE, GCE Blue Maritime, The Seafood Innovation Cluster and the Maritime Forum Bergen region.
