KYSTVAKTEN – NORWEGIAN COAST GUARD

Abstract

It is difficult to find a country in Europe as sea oriented as Norway. The country is surrounded by the waters of the North Sea from the southwest, Skagerrak from the south, the Norwegian Sea from the west and the Barents Sea from the northeast. Due to its geography, Norway has one of the longest and most extensive coastlines in the world. The country also comprises 50,000 islands, the largest of which is Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago. Continental Norway encompasses 323,772 km2. The country’s total area, including Svalbard and the island of Jan Mayen, is 385,017 km2. 95,000 km2 of Norway’s territory (this includes Svalbard and Jan Mayen) lies in the north Polar Circle. Its continental shoreline is 25,148 km long. If we include the islands, the number increases to 83,281 km.1