Arctic Yearbook 2015 | Page 180

180 Arctic Yearbook 2015 larger populations west of the Norwegian-Russian border caused renegotiation so that Norway began to harvest crabs, in compensation for damages to cod and capelin gear from crab bycatch. When broader potential ecological impacts became more widely recognized and eventually accepted by both the scientific community and the policy makers in Norway, a spatially differentiated internal Norwegian management plan was initiated to accommodate both the economic interests of fishermen and the ecological interests of a broader community (Sundet 2014b). The most identifiable effects of the species are believed to be on the Arctic benthic habitat, despite the lack of adequate knowledge regarding its contribution to ecosystem services (Kaiser et al. 2015). With the Norwegians treating the species as invasive west of 26o E and at the same trying to maintain a long term fishery on the eastern part, and the Russians managing it on