Erik Olsen

Marine Scientist | Global Ocean Leader

Dr. Erik Olsen leads the Sustainable Development Research Group at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, Norway, where he has worked since 1999. Born in Sweden to Norwegian and Swedish parents who spent much of their careers in developing countries, he grew up and was educated in Bergen.

Academic background

Erik holds a BSc in biology (1995), MSc in fisheries biology (1997), and PhD in fisheries biology (2002) from the University of Bergen. His doctoral research developed new methods for age determination in minke whales.

Research and management experience

From 2004-2007, Erik led the joint autumn ecosystem survey in the Barents Sea together with scientists from PINRO in Murmansk — a survey that formed part of the scientific basis for Norway’s ocean management plans. He contributed to developing Norway’s Integrated Management plans from 2002, covering the Barents Sea (2006), Norwegian Sea (2009), and North Sea (2013), and has presented this work to international audiences including the United Nations.

From 2007-2013, he headed the IMR Research Program on Oil and Fish, including work on environmental risk assessments related to petroleum activity in Norwegian sea areas.

In parallel, Erik developed and led several international projects in the Global South. This included marine resource surveys in Mozambique (2009-2010) and Sudan (2012-2013, 2015-2018), as well as sustainable ocean planning (MSP) projects in Mozambique, Kenya, and Vietnam. He also contributed to the 2009 UNESCO guide on marine spatial planning.

From 2009-2013, Erik chaired the ICES Science Committee Steering Group on Human Interactions on the Ecosystem, and co-chaired the ICES Working Group on Integrated Assessment of the North Sea (WGINOSE) from 2017-2021.

As visiting scientist at the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts (2013-2015), he worked on ecosystem-based management and marine spatial planning, including applications of the Atlantis ecosystem model.

From 2015-2020, as Head of the IMR Demersal Fish Research Group, he led the Reduced Uncertainty in Stock Assessment initiative.

Current work

Since 2020, Erik has led the Sustainable Development Research Group, with a staff of 20. Current projects include:

  • Principal Investigator of the UN Ocean Decade project “ClimeFOOD” (2023-2030), on climate impacts on marine food systems
  • Contributor to the EAF Nansen Programme, supporting ecosystem approaches to fisheries in developing countries
  • Lead for a Norway-India marine spatial planning collaboration
  • Partner with Norad on bilateral projects across the Global South

Publications and recognition

Erik has 46+ peer-reviewed publications (h-index: 31) covering marine mammal biology, ecosystem modeling, and ocean governance. He served on the Norwegian National Committee for the UN Ocean Decade (2021-2025) and co-chaired the UN Ocean Decade Vision 2030 Working Group on “Sustainably Feed the Global Population” (2023-2024).

Research areas:

Capacity building and providing a science based for marine managment in developing countries

  • The first large-scale mapping of the distribution and diversity fo fish species along the Sudanese Red Sea coast
  • Contributing to the running and dissemination of results from the FAO EAF Nansen programme

    • Future aquatic food systems

  • Charting a science course for the sustainable transformation of aquatic food systems
  • Sustainability challenges and opportunities of three future aquatic food systems (summary outcomes of the UN Ocean Decade Visioning process of WG 3 "How to sustainably nourish the global population")

    • Ecosystem models

  • Exploring Future oceans under ocean acidification, changes in fishing and marine protection
  • "Future oceans" is now also a research topic at Frontiers in Marine Science
  • Evaluting the performance of ecosystem models: Skill assessment of the Northeast US Atlantis model
  • Exploring the use of qualitative ecosystem models in Integrated Ecosystem Assessments

    • Ecosystem-based management (EBM)

  • Developing and revising Norwegian marine ecosystem-based management and MSP
  • Use of risk assessments in ecosystem-based management
  • Importance of culture, leadership and integration in marine governance, management and MSP

    • Distribution, area use and conservation needs of marine mammals

  • Global tracking of marine megafauna space use reveals how to achieve conservation targets

    • Oil spill assessments and risk

  • Effects of spatial variability in survival on oil spill risk assessments
  • Using the Atlantis ecosystem model to explore effects of Mass mortality events (MMEs, e.g. Oil spills) on the Barents sea and Norwegian Sea ecosystem

    • CONTACT INFO

    Erik Olsen
    Head of Sustainable Development Research Group, IMR
    eriko@imr.no
    erik.olsen@protonmail.com encrypted email
    Mobile: +47-934 39 256 (NOR)