An advisory committee appointed in 2001 has recently given the Norwegian authorities its recommendations regarding the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). This work is based on the findings of a previous committee, which summarised the knowledge on the distribution of plants and animals along the coast of Norway and drew up an overview of possible MPAs (DN Report No. 1995 – 3). Government White Paper No. 43 (1998 -1999), “Conservation and use of the coastal zone”, gave guidance on the balance between conservation and use. The White Paper that conservation should not be stricter than necessary, and that a combination of conservation and use should be implemented whenever possible. The advisory committee has proposed that six of the marine conservation areas should be used as general reference areas for long-term monitoring and research purposes. These areas form a representative selection, each of them containing a wide range of types of underwater nature from different parts of the coast.