BarentsNews.com

The international conference "Oil and Gas of the Arctic Shelf» opened in Murmansk on Wednesday, November 13. The three-day event is organized by Russian ministries of energy and natural resources, Murmansk region’s administration, the North Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Association of Offshore Geological Exploration Organizations “Arctic Shelf" and with the support of the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers.

The aim of the conference is to give an opportunity to a wide range of concerned companies and experts to present the results of geological and geophysical exploration of the Arctic sea shelf conducted over the last twenty years as well as to discuss prospects of the exploitation of its rich oil and gas resources.

Among the speakers at the conference is deputy chairman of the State Fisheries Committee Anatoly Makoyedov, who is to present the report titled “Protection of the interests of fishing industry in respect to oil and gas exploitation activities to be conducted on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation.”

Mr Makoyedov’s report is to feature the serious concerns arising from a possible threat to fisheries that might be posed by developing oil and gas fields in the northern seas.

“Oil and gas exploitation activities will put an extra load on the marine biology as well the fisheries sector. First, possible contamination creates a significant danger to the life and reproduction of marine biological resources. Second, some productive fishing grounds may coincide with the areas of prospected oil and gas fields as well as with special buffer zones designed to protect the pipelines, which will result in a considerable diminishing of available fishery areas. Third, construction of all these facilities may severely affect the spreading and migration of marine eco-system inhabitants”, says deputy head of the Polar Fishery and Oceanography Research Institute (PINRO) Vladimir Borovkov.

In this context, it looks vitally important to search for ways to prevent or reduce to a minimum the possible negative effects of the planned works, and to find a solution that would suit both the fishery and oil and gas industry. That is what the participants of the conference in Murmansk have to discuss along with the main issues on the agenda.