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A preparation for something

Interview with Brigt Dale, anthropologist, Svolvær, February 2015
 

They spent five hundred million Norwegian krøner in research ahead of the management plan, but they sort of hide the fact that 400 of these 500 were seismic shootings, to assess not the presence of petroleum, but the presence and potential value of petroleum. So there’s a mix, that people recognize. When you start to look into it, I mean it’s not an ecosystem challenge. The challenge becomes real when you start bringing that petroleum up, that’s when it becomes part of an issue which is concerned with the ecosystems, and the sustainability of these ecosystems. When it’s lying there it’s not an issue. So if you spend 400 millions out of 500 millions assessing what is there, and you say that this is the basis for an eco-system management plan, people recognize what it is, right? It’s a preparation for something.