Brim is a tourism company that aims to provide sustainable nature experiences at sea with the hybrid-electric catamarans. We will combine thoughtful modern design with innovative technology and ambitious environmental standards to create a unique product for exploring Northern Norway. Our vision is to attract a global audience and visitors and to leave them with stronger environmental engagement.
- Brim Explorer
- Environmental Policy & Education
Environmental Policy & Education
We believe in protecting and preserving the ocean by sharing its life, vulnerability and majesty.
By creating experiences that bring us closer to the ocean, we hope to leave our guests with a stronger environmental understanding and engagement than when they arrived.
Our environmental protection policy is built into the safety management system to ensure that the policy is enforced in all areas of the business. Our overarching goal is to minimise the impact our operation has on the external environment.
Brim strictly follows national and international laws, regulations and guidelines as well as Company standards in regards to pollution prevention and animal welfare. When encountering marine mammals and other wildlife we follow the Whale Watching guidelines of Visit Tromsø.
We actively work towards being as eco-friendly in all Company and ship operations as possible. As far as possible our tours will be run using our electric engines, and when applicable the electric engine will support the diesel to reduce emissions. All shipboard personnel shall be familiar with the rules and requirements regarding overboard discharge of waste, oil spill and pollution prevention. Detailed information and training material is available for all shipboard personnel in the ISM-system.
Waste management
All our employees are to know the rules and requirements for waste management, preventing oil spill. Detailed information and training material is found in our ISM-system.
On board our boats we sort: regular waste, food, paper, glas, plastic bottles and dangerous waste. This is logged and delivered at a waste station on land. The volume of waste generated on board shall, as far as possible, be reduced to a minimum. When ordering goods we shall consult the supplier and encourage them to use minimum packaging and/or packaging in recyclable materials. The crew shall ensure that all waste generated on board, except hazardous substances, which must be stored separately, must be sorted and stored in dedicated waste containers. Where sorted waste facilities are not available on shore, we shall encourage the harbour to improve their waste handling capabilities. Under no circumstances should waste be thrown overboard. Necessary measures shall be taken to calculate the potential risk to health and safety, as well as the risk of fire associated with stored waste on board. Flammable waste shall be stored in a safe environment and removed as soon as possible. The surroundings of such material shall be kept clean at all times. Waste containers onboard shall be placed so that they do not obstruct evacuation routes.
Purchasing policy
The main principle is to reduce our purchases of non reusable material and always strive to pick the most environmentally friendly choice on the market. We want to prioritise environmentally certified suppliers and products and have a frequent run through of these.
A big part of our purchases are food and drink related for purchase on board. For this purpose we use local suppliers to the degree its possible, and we specifically choose the suppliers with the best environmental profiles. The restaurants we buy food from use locally sourced produce that are in season, and from these suppliers we primarily buy fish and vegetarian. We avoid offering meat to our guests due to the environment.
Marketing material
Our primary attitude for use of marketing material is that it should almost all be digital. When we use material as: Brochures, banners or business cards we will always choose environmentally friendly products and suppliers like Svanemerket or Miljøfyrtårn. The same goes for ads and promotion of our products.
Cleaning
All cleaning products that are used on board are to be environmentally labelled with natural substances to the degree where it is possible (ex vinegar)
Our Education
At Brim Explorer, we take education about the marine environment to heart. We have a team of educational professionals, marine biologists and researchers with collectively over 100 years of experience in fields, ranging from political science and marine ecology to tourism and teaching. These passionate individuals are responsible for the content we deliver, which forms the backbone of our operations, and provides unforgettable experiences that immerse our guests in nature.
Brim Explorer participates monthly in a number of different projects for education, research and outreach for students, politicians, tourists and businesses alike.
Current Projects
1. Arctic Exploration of the 5 Senses
This project, funded by Samfunnsløftet SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge started in summer of 2021, where we tested a concept of our guests experiencing their 5 senses (touch, taste, sight, smell and hearing) onboard our tours in Svalbard. Guests were encouraged onboard to use their senses in ways they never have before with the help of our partners, Ocean Sounds and Polar Permaculture aboard our ship, Bard.
We are now involved in our second part of this project in Lofoten, where guests are encouraged to spend one day with Brim Explorer and another helping the scientists out with Ocean Sounds while exploring their 5 senses in new ways.
2. The School Ship Brim: A journey along the Norwegian coast
This project, funded by Innovation Norway, DNB, Corvus, Oslo Kommune and in partnership with WWF and Redningsselskapet took our ships, Brim and Bard, along almost the entire length of the Norwegian coast.
Brim Explorer’s ships and crew visited almost 20 schools and 2000 students along the coast of Norway. Both Brim Explorer and Redningsselskapet, covered the topics, "Safety at Sea", "Green Marine Technology" and "Plastic Pollution Prevention", ending each tour with a Green Harbor video competition and we are now in the process of completing our Brim Movie to teach guests and students, worldwide about sustainability around the marine environment.
3. The Brim Movie
Because our School Ship Tour went so well, we decided to take this tour digitally. In the summer of 2021 to present, we have been putting together an online interactive tour for school students and future guests to experience a day aboard our ship, Brim. Here, they learn about how they can help the marine environment and find out how to make sustainable decisions in their daily lives. This experience, used to compliment our daily tours, is a fun and active way to “get your feet wet” and explore an exciting part of the world, while sitting on your phone or computer in the comfort of your home. Try it here.
4. UNIS
Our collaboration with UNIS is a show & tell project to give our tours more variation (especially for the locals) and for students to practice to spread their knowledge. This strengthens our relationship with the locals in Svalbard and the research they do there. The project is based on that students from UNIS can come free of charge on board one of our tours in exchange for a 5-10 minute presentation about their projects in a "tourist friendly way". This way we can learn something new and keep our tours more relevant and exciting.
5. Norwegian Polarinstitutt
Since we go out to sea every day we have the possibility to gather data, which a research institution could never afford to finance. This way we can contribute to increase understanding, population situation and a lot more essential information about these unique animals in an ever changing arctic We register all marine mammals vi see on our tours and log what animal it is, the size, where we spotted it and what kind of behaviour it had.
6. Protect the Whales
We have chosen to engage in the "Protect the Whales" campaign by NOAH. We think this is a very important case and wish to educate about the whales, in hopes that more people will learn to appreciate these amazing creatures.
"It is 40 years since the world decided to protect whales and introduce a halt to whaling - the "whaling moratorium". But Norway continues to kill whales in violation of the international environmental agreement. " NOAH
Minke whales are highly developed mammals with a sense of pain and a complex social structure. New research shows that whales are very important for maintaining the ocean's ecosystems and ability to bind CO 2 - and thus counteract climate change.
By killing whales, we harm the whales, the ocean - and ourselves.
Sign this campaign to strengthen protection of the whales and stop whaling.
Past Projects/ Publications and Blog posts
Norway´s electric boats powering ahead to reduce impacts on killer whales.
Learn more here.
Future Projects
Contact Karoline if you are interested in a collaboration within research, education or sustainability.
[email protected]
