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7 Marine environment
7.1 Shelf programme
Norwegian Continental Shelf Initiative
Now in its 8
th
year, the Shelf Programme continued to be a
main component of GRID-Arendal’s Marine Programme.
Special focus has been placed on supporting West African
states during this biennium.
The Shelf Programme in West Africa
The project to assist coastal states in West Africa prepare
submissions for continental shelf beyond 200 nautical
miles, has gone from strength to strength. A regional data
acquisition programme, and regional capacity building strat-
egy, were both completed at the end of 2012.
7
A team of ex-
perts, with new and increased understanding of the offshore
marine environment has been developed. These scientists
from Mauritania, Cape Verde, Senegal The Gambia, Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone have worked together to de-
velop the arguments and compile the data to support claims
for large areas of the sea floor. Together we have completed
foundation documents and analyses
8
and all seven countries
are now in an advanced stage of submission preparation.
7. In May 2012 GRID-Arendal signed a contract with the Norwegian
Petroleum Directorate (NPD) for NOK 1 Mill to assist with the acquisition
of geophysical data offshore of the West Africa States of Cape Verde,
Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauretania, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
The survey company Gardline was responsible for project oversight
including the continuous valuation of data quality and applicability.
8. On 1 July 2013, in accordance with the Norwegian agreement, the
Shelf programme delivered, to the West African national focal points,
the three key technical documents that form the major part of the final
submission documents. These included the geological background,
the base of slope document and the revised foot of slope document.
Participants and instructors at the 2
nd
Technical Training Workshop.
Photo: Rannveig Nilsen
Participating technical experts have received hands-on ex-
perience in marine geophysical data integration, interpre-
tation and analysis and drafting of the technical sections
of the submission document and accompanying annexes.
Apart from the satisfaction felt by the team in completing
these large and complex activities for the benefit of their
countries, it was acknowledged that very exciting and use-
ful new information now exists on the geological history of
the region and the physical processes operating offshore.
This information can be used to informmarine resource ex-
ploration and management, but potentially has even more
added-value. Many of the team have expressed interest in
working together to develop this supplementary informa-
tion into a tertiary-level textbook to enhance the teaching of
marine geoscience in West Africa.
Participants and instructors at the 2
nd
Techni-
cal Training Workshop under the West Africa
Training and Capacity Building Programme for
the Establishment of the Outer Limits of the
Continental Shelf Beyond 200 Nautical Miles.
Photo: Lars Kullerud, GRID-Arendal.