The waters at the naval base Haakonsvern outside Bergen are a national secret. Or: At least it is meant to be. Keeping the details of the seabed along the Norwegian coast secret is seen by the government as a “vital national security concern.” Stealth makes it more difficult for the enemy to hide submarines, and effectively mine the coast. This is how Norway secures a home court advantage along fjords, islets and skerries. – An enemy who has as good maps as us is a far more dangerous enemy in our coastal zone, says naval captain Tor Ivar Strømmen. The Norwegian Defense Forces confirm to news that they have known about the mapping done by the Norwegian company. Now they admit that it is “unfortunate that there have been no prosecutions”. According to the Norwegian Armed Forces, it is forbidden to store data on bottom conditions and to spread the information further if it could have harmful consequences for the security of the kingdom to any extent. The ban applies to all information about the seabed along the Norwegian coast, at depths greater than 30 metres. The seabed at Haakonsvern, the Norwegian Navy’s main base, has also been mapped. Has Russians on the customer list The company Olex in Trondheim has spent a lot of money on distributing detailed data about the seabed. The mapping has taken place through large-scale online work from thousands of customers at sea. Norwegian fishermen are heavy users of the program, they use it to hunt for good fishing spots and to avoid losing equipment. 230 ships on the customer list are Russian. The software costs around NOK 30,000. The mapping is carried out by the users of the computer program Olex measuring the seabed with echo sounders. They can then share the information with each other. The sum becomes detailed maps of the terrain below sea level. A ship with sonar equipment measures the seabed in the computer program Olex. The result is detailed seabed maps. Here you can see depressions in the seabed. No control over illegal data About 4,000 customers have shared data that is entered into a digital map. Users can also share information directly with each other without going through the company. Olex confirms that they cannot control whether users share data that is illegal. Today, it is forbidden to record or otherwise use information about the seabed within territorial waters if it could harm national security interests to any extent. Olex says that since the Mapping Authority and the Norwegian Armed Forces have known about the software, they consider themselves to be within the law. But several of Olex’s biggest Norwegian competitors do not dare to share such detailed data. Have information about the seabed around Haakonsvern In the Olex database, measurements have also been made of the seabed inside Haakonsvern, Norway’s largest naval base. Norway’s frigates, submarines and missile torpedo boats are located here. The base is considered a military restricted area. Parts of the waters are closed to civilian vessels. Photography is also prohibited. Photo: Dag Harald Andersen / news Following the day-to-day manager of Olex, Ole Benjamin Hestvik, the company was tipped off by an officer in the Norwegian Armed Forces that measurements had been taken inside the naval base. Hestvik says he offered to remove the information. – The officer told me that it wasn’t that dangerous, he was just disappointed that someone had done it at all, says Hestvik. news has seen the map, but has chosen not to publish the image out of consideration for the national regulations. The map is far more detailed than the Swedish Mapping Authority’s open sea charts for normal ship traffic in the area. news has asked the Norwegian Defense Forces for a comment on the information about Haakonsvern. But the Norwegian Defense Intelligence Service keeps its view on the matter secret. They will not comment on data linked to a specific geographical area. They do not answer whether those responsible for safety knew about the survey. The law states that “it is prohibited to record or otherwise use information relating to specified objects worthy of protection.” This is the same section that led to Russians being arrested after filming the Coast Guard’s base in Sortland. The Defence: – Unfortunate that there have been no prosecutions The Defence, says they have “ongoing assessments” of data from Olex, and are “following the situation closely.” – The professional community is in agreement that a system such as Olex must to some extent be seen as harmful to the security of the kingdom, writes lieutenant colonel and press officer in the Norwegian Armed Forces Vegard Norstad Finberg to news. The submarine KNM Uredd in a Norwegian fjord in 2017. The defense wants them to have an advantage in being the only ones with detailed knowledge of the Norwegian coast. Photo: Anton Ligaarden The system that Olex has always followed The defense was affected by a general prohibition in the law. – The fact that there has not been a prosecution in itself is unfortunate. Why then have they not prosecuted this? – The assessment up to now is that the risk has been manageable. The Defense Forces doubts the quality The Defense Forces believe that the map is not as high quality as the Swedish Mapping Authority’s detailed bottom data. These are confidential under Norwegian law. They believe that Olex’s maps “have not been collected, assessed and compiled in a quality-assured way.” – Therefore, the professional community can still assume that the way Olex and similar systems are mostly used today, it should not fall foul of the prohibition in the law, writes Finberg to news. But last year, Olex told Fiskeribladet that they ensure the quality of data by removing obvious errors before compiling maps. When news asks the Norwegian Defense Forces how this is connected, the Norwegian Defense Forces does not wish to comment on this information. Disagreement that the quality is not good enough At NTNU, they disagree with the Norwegian Defense Forces that the Olex database is not of good enough quality. – When the Norwegian Armed Forces think the quality of data from civilian use is too bad, I don’t think this is true, says Norvald Kjerstad, who is an expert in navigation at sea. At the latest in 2019, NTNU in Ålesund was flatly refused by the Mapping Authority and the Norwegian Defense Forces when they applied for permission to map an area north of Sunnmøre for use in teaching. Norvald Kjerstad is a lecturer in nautical science at NTNU. Photo: Asgeir Heimdal Reksnes / news Kjerstad says underwater measurement data from the construction industry can have quality at the decimetre level, while a fishing boat can lie at approximately 1–2 metres. Kjerstad himself was on board a Dutch expedition ship outside Svalbard in 2016. The boat had a Russian captain. The captain demonstrated how he systematically used Olex to map the area. According to Kjerstad, the measurements were far more detailed than what is usually regarded as confidential. – The results of the mapping were first class, Kjerstad wrote on behalf of NTNU to the Ministry of Defense in a hearing last year. Olex believes they are not breaking the law According to Olex, the Norwegian Armed Forces and the Mapping Authority have been aware of the activity through various meetings since 1997, and use this as a basis for not breaking the law. Owner and day-to-day manager Ole Benjamin Hestvik wrote to news that the Mapping Authority has “declared that their data will not break the law.” Ole Benjamin Hestvik in Olex Photo: Private Hestvik also points out that the quality of the map varies depending on how much sea traffic there is in an area. Some areas are very well mapped, others have had little ship traffic. The company has been a success. Hestvik has collected several tens of millions in dividends in recent years. Mapping Authority: Never received an application news has asked Mapping Authority if they can confirm Olex’s claim that they are not breaking the law. – It is not the Mapping Authority’s responsibility to make such an assessment. It is possible that several years ago the Swedish Mapping Authority commented on the data quality of the depth data supplied by Olex, says department director of the Swedish Mapping Authority Gudmund Jønsson. A shipwreck of a cargo boat outside Ålesund, so it can be stored in the map base Olex. The wreck is 130 meters long. Photo: Asgeir Heimdal Reksnes / news The Mapping Authority says they handle applications for sea surveying. Since Olex does not measure the seabed itself, that is what the users do, but collects and distributes data about the seabed, the Swedish Mapping Authority will not be able to handle an application. The Mapping Authority confirms that the quality of the map for such an online service can develop quickly. – There is a responsibility on all actors who collect and compile data to comply with the law, says Jønsson. Since 2017, the state has been working on a regulation after the law regulating mapping of the seabed was changed. The regulations shall establish rules for applications, and how the regulations shall be enforced. A draft from the Ministry of Defense last year was met with strong protests from the fishing industry. The Ministry of Defense tells news that they are in the final phase of work on the regulation, but will not say when it will be ready.
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Secret Norwegian charts are in Russian hands – news Vestland
