Act No. 37 of 2008 relating to the management and conservation of living marine resources (Marine Living Resources Act).

The Marine Resources Act is a Norwegian law that regulates the extraction of marine resources in Norway. The Act provides a comprehensive legal basis for the ministry to regulate the extraction of marine resources through national quotas, group quotas, district quotas, and vessel quotas. The purpose of the Act is to ensure sustainable and economically profitable management of the wild marine resources and the associated genetic material, as well as to contribute to securing employment and settlement in coastal communities. Regulation under the Marine Resources Act is based on resource management considerations and within the established total quotas. The principal responsibility for administration and control shall lie with the Fisheries Directorate. This Act does not apply to the harvesting and other utilization of anadromous salmonids.
The Marine Resources Act is based on a management principle, meaning that all harvesting of living marine resources is permitted unless it is prohibited, as stated in 7. This provision further specifies fundamental considerations that should be emphasized in the management of marine resources. These include, among others, the precautionary principle and the principle of an ecosystem-based approach. There should also be adequate control over the extraction of marine resources and a purposeful distribution of resources to help ensure employment and settlement in coastal communities. Another important consideration to be emphasized is that management measures should contribute to securing the material basis for Sami culture, specifically the coastal Sami culture. The Act requires that all catch of fish must be landed. It may also be required by Regulation to land bycatch of other marine organisms or to report such bycatch.
The Ministry may for control and enforcement purposes prohibit or adopt further rules on transhipment, including requirements that any person that tranships catches shall report this within specified time limits, and that transhipment may only take place at or within specified positions or in a particular port. The Ministry may by Regulations: require any person that starts harvesting operations, changes harvesting area or discontinues harvesting operations to send reports on this within specified time limits and report for control at or within specified positions or in a specific port; prescribe that any recipient of catches unloaded or transhipped from a vessel shall be registered with the Directorate of Fisheries as a recipient of catches, and that any first-hand purchaser of catches shall be registered with the Directorate of Fisheries as a purchaser. The owner or user of a harvesting or transport vessel and the person that receives the catch shall complete a landing note with information on the catch. The Act specifies other regulation-making powers of the Minister with respect to control measures and in particular with respect to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities and port control. The Ministry may also, in order to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, prohibit activities that may undermine national management measures or measures taken by international or regional fisheries management organisations.
The Act consists of 70 sections divided into 13 Chapters: Introductory provisions (1); Marine bioprospecting (2); Catch quantities and quotas (3); The conduct of harvesting operations and other utilisation of wild living marine resources (4); Restrictions on fishing activities of foreigners in territorial waters (4a); Order on harvesting grounds, compensation, local regulation and committees (5); Arrangements for control and enforcement (6); Control and enforcement (7); Measures against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (8); Catches taken or delivered in contravention of this Act (9); Fees, registers and duty to provide information on the operation of vessels (10); Coercive fines and infringement fines (11); Criminal liability (12); General provisions and entry into force (13).