MAST 2010, 9(1): 61-79 61 Constructing knowledge gaps in Barents Sea management: How Uncertainties Become Objects of Risk Maaike Knol University of Tromsø maaike.knol@uit.no Abstract In the assessment and management of environmental risk, scientific advisers and managers alike increasingly point at uncertainties in the ‘knowledge base’. Very often, this leads to a postponement of controversial political decisions and the initiation of research programs to reduce the uncertainties. This paper is critical towards the construction of ‘knowledge gaps’ when risk assessment and management are contested. It shows how uncertainties are constructed and repre- sented as knowledge needs in deciding on future petroleum activity in vulnerable areas in the Norwegian part of the Barents Sea. By doing so the paper provides in- sight into a disagreement about risk assessment practices among oil interests and marine scientists in Norway. It discusses the implications of diverging approaches to knowledge and the treatment of uncertainties in controversial situations when ideas about risk are contested. Introduction Environmental policy documents increasingly emphasize the uncertainties that underpin management decisions, especially in controversial situations with con- tested knowledge. Managers and scientists alike tend to believe that, in order to achieve ‘best-management practices’, uncertainties need to be reduced through the incorporation of more knowledge. Yet, how the reduction of such uncertain- ties should lead to answers to which questions, seems to be neglected. As a result, the knowledge produced for advice often remains unused to a large extent, and dilemmas in environmental management remain unsolved. This paper explores how uncertainties in environmental policy are constructed, represented as knowl- edge needs, and translated into objects of risk. It draws on a case study of ocean management by focusing on discussions on environmental risk related to petro- leum activity in the Norwegian part of the Barents Sea. In 2006 the Norwegian government ratified an integrated, ecosystem- based management plan for the Barents Sea and the ocean areas off the Lofoten islands. This ocean area in the Arctic has been free from year-round petroleum activity until 2007 (for the management area, see figure 1). One of the main tangi- ble outcomes of this plan is a framework that regulates petroleum activity (figure 2) in valuable and vulnerable areas, which were identified in a scientific process during the preparation of the plan (Anon 2005). The framework for petroleum activity is an instrument that regulates the oil and gas industry through a zoning arrangement, based on ecological information and environmental assessments. Mast Vol 9.1_4.indd 61 17-6-2010 16:46:26