Facts about the Baltic Sea
State of the Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea, like other oceans and coasts worldwide, is in a poor ecological condition due to severe overexploitation. The marine and coastal ecosystems of the Baltic Sea are severely degraded by eutrophication, overfishing and pollution, resulting in a decimated resilience to cumulative pressures like climate change. Healthy seas and coasts fulfill multiple functions and are crucial for our social and economic wellbeing as they provide diverse ecosystem services for humans, including protection from storms and floods, space for recreation and leisure, food production and carbon sequestration.
Dialog topics
Blue Restoration
About 13% of the world’s ocean is classified as marine wilderness with no or little exposure to adverse impacts of human activities – only 4.9% of marine wilderness is currently within protected areas. The restoration of marine and coastal (blue) ecosystems includes both the promotion of natural regeneration processes through the exclusion of destructive activities like bottom-trawling as well as active measures to reintroduce marine species and habitats. With their ability to absorb and store carbon, marine and coastal habitats such as seagrass meadows and salt marshes are becoming increasingly important as nature-based climate solutions. Their protection and restoration also helps to enhance water quality, prevent coastal erosion, and improve biodiversity and fisheries production. Preserving and restoring our Baltic Sea blue ecosystems is active climate protection and can can contribute to mitigating climate related, but also ecological, social and economic challenges.
Invasive Species management
One of the most prominent issues caused by invasive species is the loss of biodiversity. They can outcompete local species for food, shelter, and breeding grounds, leading to the decline or extinction of native flora and fauna. This loss of biodiversity can have cascading effects on ecosystems, disrupting food chains and ecosystem functions. Preventing and managing invasive species require coordinated efforts on local, national, and international levels. Ultimately, addressing the issues caused by invasive species demands a proactive approach, recognizing the interconnectedness of ecosystems and the importance of preserving the fragile ecosystems of the Baltic sea.
Fisheries Regulations in MPAs
Fisheries can be a major driver of marine environmental degradation: Overfishing has drastically minimized many fish populations on a global scale and negatively affects marine biodiversity. Marine protected areas (MPAs) may provide invaluable refuges for exploited populations to recover, if implemented effectively.
The EU recently published its Action Plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems, which includes actions to ban bottom trawling in MPAs by 2030. The coalition contract of the German government also includes the goal to restrict destructive fishing gear as well as to strictly protect 10% of the German Sea.
“Fisheries regulations in MPAs” will focus on ways to ban destructive fishing techniques such as bottom trawling from MPAs and from important spawning and nursery grounds of cod and herring, and to implement effective conservation measures that will allow the Baltic marine ecosystem to reach a good environmental status at last.
Ecosystem-Based Management
Ecosystem-based fisheries management is a legal requirement within the common fisheries policy, CFP, and consequently through the multi-annual management plan for cod, herring and sprat (called Baltic MAP). Links are also available via the Marine Environment Directive's quality descriptors for Good Environmental Status (GES). Despite this, the implementation works poorly in practice, but in our dialogue theme we want to highlight three current examples that could be part of the solution:
- Pike factories that help the entire coastal ecosystems. Presented by Sportfiskarna (www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6nyNGbx-z4).
- Breeding and release of small cod. Presented by the Baltic Waters Foundation (balticwaters.org/en/project/recod-release-of-small-cod-in-the-baltic-sea/).
- Moved trawl limit and the management of the threatened flounder stocks. Presented by FishSec (www.havochvatten.se/om-oss-kontakt-och-karriar/om-...relocation-of-tralgransen-2022.html).