WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1300/96 by Gerhard BOTZ to the Commission. The Commission's participation in the Norwegian 'Maricult' research project involving the treatment of the sea with nitrogen
Date: 1996-05-31
Institutions: BOTZ, European Parliament
Subjects: EU aid, Norway, biomass, conservation of resources, ecosystem, environmental protection, project evaluation, research project, sea













EUR-Lex - 91996E1300 - EN






Avis juridique important




|



91996E1300

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1300/96 by Gerhard BOTZ to the Commission. The Commission's participation in the Norwegian 'Maricult' research project involving the treatment of the sea with nitrogen  


Official Journal C 345 , 15/11/1996 P. 0052 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-1300/96 by Gerhard Botz (PSE) to the Commission (31 May 1996)Subject: The Commission's participation in the Norwegian 'Maricult' research project involving the treatment of the sea with nitrogenOn page 223 of its 9/1996 edition the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that the Commission is contributing ECU 1.8 m to the Norwegian 'Maricult' research project. This project includes the treatment of the sea with nitrogen.Is the Commission in fact participating in this project? If so, can it explain what justifies its participation in so environmentally hazardous projects?Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission (25 July 1996)Maricult is a long-term research programme developed by Norwegian scientists as part of a multiannual process involving international expertise. The main purpose of Maricult is to improve our still very incomplete understanding of marine ecosystems in order to provide a basis for management decisions in future. The Maricult programme will be implemented in the form of separate national or international projects.In the framework of the Specific Research and Technological Development Programme in the field of Marine Science and Technology, the Commission is providing MECU 1.85 over 3 years to support the Comweb project (Comparative analysis of food webs based on flow networks: effects of nutrient supply on structure and function of coastal plankton communities). The main aim of the project is to develop analytical, numerical and experimental methods to facilitate decision-making in the decades to come as to whether increasing the production of marine biomass is possible, feasible and acceptable from an environmental point of view. Comweb is therefore contributing to the overall aims of Maricult.Comweb was set up on the basis of recommendations of outside experts in the framework of the normal authorization procedure which requires contractual assurances of conformity with all relevant, national and international environmental legislation. The experts considered the environmental risks of the project to be low and controllable, as most of the project is to be carried out in the laboratory, and the amount of nutrients to be introduced during the field experiments is very low. The project is being carried out by 7 partner-institutions from 5 countries (Belgium, Germany, Spain, Norway and Finland), with the Norwegian participants receiving only 23% of the grant.Please also refer to the answer given by the Commission to written question E-748/96 from Mrs Alvoet ((OJ C 322, 28.10.1996, p.6. )) on the same subject.