Report on Arctic Marine Pollution

1. Background

In connection with the Danish Prime Minister's visit to the Faroe Islands in mid-September 1998 the leader of the Faroese Home Rule (Lųgmašur) informed the Danish Prime Minister that a report had shown that Faroese pilot whales had a high content of mercury and particularly PCB. The report showed that the level of heavy metals measured in Faroese children was above average, which was attributed to the relatively high proportion of whale meat in the diet of the Faroese people. In this connection the increasing marine pollution, documented by e.g. AMAP in its State of the Arctic Environment Report (SOAER), was also mentioned.

During the session of the Nordic Council in Oslo on November 9, 1998 of the five Prime Ministers and the leaders of the three autonomous areas, the Faroese Lųgmašur followed up on the concerns regarding increasing marine pollution. It was widely agreed to recommend the Nordic Ministers of the Environment to review in detail the international regulation of chemical substances in the sea. The Danish Prime Minister offered to take the initiative for a first meeting on this issue, which was welcomed by the Nordic leaders.

Against this background the Danish Ministry of the Environment and Energy was commissioned to take the initiative to ensure that the issue of marine pollution was raised in the Nordic forum. At a meeting of the Working Group of EK-M (the Committee of Senior Officials on Environmental Affairs) under the Nordic Council of Ministers on January 11, 1999 it was agreed to hold a meeting in connection with the meeting of the Nordic Working Group on Sea and Air on May 10-11, 1999 in Denmark in order to discuss the concerns of increasing marine pollution.

The Icelandic Presidency of the Working Group on Sea and Air endorses the proposal to extend the meeting of the group by one day, i.e. May 12, 1999. The conclusions from the meeting are to be submitted to EK-M with a proposition to submit the working paper to the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers (Iceland) for further action after discussion and adoption in EK-M.