Raet National Park is one of 5 marine national parks in Norway, and the largest. It is 607 km2 and 98 % is ocean. It is situated on the coastline in Tvedestrand, Arendal and Grimstad municipalities, and it is 48 km wide. A deepwater transect outside Arendal municipality is included and here the depth is as low as 500 meters below sea level.  The adjoined Søm protected landscape has traditional farmland with cultural landscapes.

The national park is a higly values recreational site both at sea and on land, and you can read more about the park and places to go at raetnasjonalpark.no. Our newly assigned visitors center welcomes you to explore and learn more about the marine environment: Besøkssenter Raet Nasjonalpark

The protected values include geological formations, quartenary geological deposits, botanical sites including heather, oak and spruce forests, beech forest and salt meadows, hot spots for insect diversity, marine nature types, marine mammals and fish species and an relatively undistubed coastal landscape.  The park has the largest breeeding grounds for seabirds in Norway south of Ålesund and a group of islands have approximately 3000 pairs of breeding seabirds every year.

Within the park there is active agriculture and fishing, and sheep and goats are actively used to maintain the landscape. Parts of the park is given additional protection through zonation, this includes Sone A Birdlife (No entry during breeding season), Sone B Forest protection and Sone C Trawling ban.

Raet National Park and Søm protected landscape is managed by a board constituted of regional and local politicians and two landowners.  The board has six members and a secretary that handles applications. There are 4-5  meetings every year. You can contact us and read about park management here: nasjonalparkstyre.no/raet
There is also an administrative network that includes the local and regional administrations, and a reference group consisting of 45 local organisations.