86
S.Eld0Y
consultation with the fishery interests, in order to clarify details about the shrimp trawling activities, and to identify possible mitigating measures.
Between 20 and 25 shrimp trawlers operate in the area. These are smaller vessels
(40-50 ft) with relatively limited motor power. Most of the vessels are only certified to
operate within the 12-mile-zone along the coast. Particularly in the area between Vestre
Boku and Karm0Y (Karmsundet) the bottom is very soft, and experienced shrimp trawlers judged crossing of a 42-in. pipeline with a shrimp trawl in this area to be very difficult, if at all possible. Trawl tests in the North Sea have documented that trawling across
large diameter pipelines does not cause significant problems for the trawling activities.
According to these tests (Valdemarsen 1989, 1993), crossing at angels larger than 30
degrees can be done more or less without any impact on the trawl. Crossing at narrower angels can give a temporary tilting of the trawl boards and deformation of the
trawl, but the trawl boards can be raised after a few minutes. No hooking and no exceptional damage of the trawl gear was observed during the tests.
Between Vestre Boku and Karm0Y (Karmsundet) the direction of the trawling is
north-south. This means that the trawling is more or less parallel to the planned pipeline. As the trawl tests in the North Sea were made with larger and stronger vessels
compared to those operating in the shrimp fields around the southern part of Karm0Y,
it was difficult to insist that the conclusions from the trawl tests could be directly applicable. According to the trawl tests in the North Sea, there could anyway be a potential
for tilting of trawl boards and disturbance of the trawl, and because of the narrow area
in Karmsundet and the small size of the vessels operating there, other problems could
not be excluded.
Statoil therefore decided to indicate a willingness to trench the pipeline in Karmsundet from the landfall at Vestre Bokn towards Kvits0Y, and in the EIA (Statoil1996)
this was stated as a mitigating measure, if the alternative route from Karst0 via Vestre
Boku should be accepted. The fishery authorities and organisations did accept this alternative route, which, as mentioned already, had been rejected just a few years before
for the Sleipner condensate pipeline. Later on, more detailed procedures for pipelaying
in Karmsundet were agreed with the fishery authorities, starting with the pipelaying
and then deciding on the necessity of trenching, backfilling and eventually additional
measures based on the results from simple trawl tests.
8.4
Environmental Interests
For the alternative route from Karst0 via Vestre Bokn, two landfall solutions were originally considered: one at the western side ofVestre Bokn (Trosnavag) and the other near
the south-western end of the island. The southern solution was primarily considered
as a potential solution for reducing conflict with the shrimp trawling between Vestre
Bokn and Karm0Y. However, the EIA showed that this route would cross areas registen~d as being of local and regional value with respect to landscape and nature conservation values, outdoor recreation and some registered cultural heritage sites. Also, from
a technical point of view this solution would be quite challenging. As a satisfactory
solution had been found with respect to the fishery interests, there was actually no
need to consider this solution further, and it was therefore chosen to go for the northern alternative (Trosnavag) as the landfall site at Vestre Bokn.
S.Eld0Y
consultation with the fishery interests, in order to clarify details about the shrimp trawling activities, and to identify possible mitigating measures.
Between 20 and 25 shrimp trawlers operate in the area. These are smaller vessels
(40-50 ft) with relatively limited motor power. Most of the vessels are only certified to
operate within the 12-mile-zone along the coast. Particularly in the area between Vestre
Boku and Karm0Y (Karmsundet) the bottom is very soft, and experienced shrimp trawlers judged crossing of a 42-in. pipeline with a shrimp trawl in this area to be very difficult, if at all possible. Trawl tests in the North Sea have documented that trawling across
large diameter pipelines does not cause significant problems for the trawling activities.
According to these tests (Valdemarsen 1989, 1993), crossing at angels larger than 30
degrees can be done more or less without any impact on the trawl. Crossing at narrower angels can give a temporary tilting of the trawl boards and deformation of the
trawl, but the trawl boards can be raised after a few minutes. No hooking and no exceptional damage of the trawl gear was observed during the tests.
Between Vestre Boku and Karm0Y (Karmsundet) the direction of the trawling is
north-south. This means that the trawling is more or less parallel to the planned pipeline. As the trawl tests in the North Sea were made with larger and stronger vessels
compared to those operating in the shrimp fields around the southern part of Karm0Y,
it was difficult to insist that the conclusions from the trawl tests could be directly applicable. According to the trawl tests in the North Sea, there could anyway be a potential
for tilting of trawl boards and disturbance of the trawl, and because of the narrow area
in Karmsundet and the small size of the vessels operating there, other problems could
not be excluded.
Statoil therefore decided to indicate a willingness to trench the pipeline in Karmsundet from the landfall at Vestre Bokn towards Kvits0Y, and in the EIA (Statoil1996)
this was stated as a mitigating measure, if the alternative route from Karst0 via Vestre
Boku should be accepted. The fishery authorities and organisations did accept this alternative route, which, as mentioned already, had been rejected just a few years before
for the Sleipner condensate pipeline. Later on, more detailed procedures for pipelaying
in Karmsundet were agreed with the fishery authorities, starting with the pipelaying
and then deciding on the necessity of trenching, backfilling and eventually additional
measures based on the results from simple trawl tests.
8.4
Environmental Interests
For the alternative route from Karst0 via Vestre Bokn, two landfall solutions were originally considered: one at the western side ofVestre Bokn (Trosnavag) and the other near
the south-western end of the island. The southern solution was primarily considered
as a potential solution for reducing conflict with the shrimp trawling between Vestre
Bokn and Karm0Y. However, the EIA showed that this route would cross areas registen~d as being of local and regional value with respect to landscape and nature conservation values, outdoor recreation and some registered cultural heritage sites. Also, from
a technical point of view this solution would be quite challenging. As a satisfactory
solution had been found with respect to the fishery interests, there was actually no
need to consider this solution further, and it was therefore chosen to go for the northern alternative (Trosnavag) as the landfall site at Vestre Bokn.