Reducing marine pollution in the Baltic Sea

About 85 million people live in the countries bordering the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Sea is the largest brackish water sea in the world, a mixture of both salt and sweet water. Today, the Baltic Sea is not healthy. Over fertilisation, over fishing and the existence of too many chemicals are examples of some of the hazardous influences on the biological diversity and the marine life in this sea.

It takes about 25-30 years for water to be completely circulated since the Baltic Sea is a semi-enclosed sea and the channel between Denmark and Sweden is very narrow. This causes pollution to remain in the water a very long time. It also causes oxygen to be in short supply, which is worsened by over fertilisation. Species in the Baltic Sea are extremely sensitive to pollution since they already are at the brinks of their existence levels. A sea that has few species is generally more sensitive than a sea environment that has many species.

Oil leaks are a severe problem in the Baltic Sea, since it is an important transportation channel with several thousand ships transporting goods every day. Between the years 1994-96 approximately 55,000 long-tailed ducks injured by oil spills were killed along the coast of the Swedish island of Gotland. But oil leaks and spills are not caused only by large ships and commercial ferries. Leisure crafts and smaller boats can also spread waste and chemicals.

"Keep Sweden Tidy" has become the lead partner in a initiative called "Baltic SeaBreeze" which aims to help to reduce marine pollution in the Baltic Sea. The target groups include guest harbours, marinas, commercial fishermen, and leisure craft owners. The purpose is to improve their knowledge of sustainable development and marine pollution issues, and to increase their commitment for a sustainable development of the Baltic Sea region.

Some of the activities that are being carried through in the "Baltic SeaBreeze" project are: educational seminars for commercial fishermen, harbour, marina and boat club personnel; pilot studies on increasing the possibility to tank environmentally-friendly petrol in guest harbours and marinas, and test boat washing facilities for leisure crafts; building a network among guest harbours and marinas in the Baltic Sea region; and conducting yearly conferences with local, regional and national authorities.

"Baltic SeaBeeze" has 34 partners in the countries around the Baltic Sea area, including Russia. Within the first year of activity, more than 200 marinas and leisure craft owners have been trained in seminars organized by different partners. The project is scheduked to run from January 2005 until December 2007 and is part-financed from the European Union Interreg IIIB Baltic Sea Programme. It is also designated as a Baltic Lighthouse Project by the Baltic 21 organisation.


Save the North Sea project

Over 20,000 tonnes of marine litter are dumped annually into the North Sea. This makes marine litter one of the worst environmental problems in the North Sea region. The "Save the North Sea" project was run between 2002-2004 with the mission to reduce marine litter in the North Sea. The initiative had seven partners around the North Sea region and was co-funded by the European Union Interreg North Sea Programme.

The ultimate goal of "Save the North Sea" was to reduce marine litter in the North Sea by changing the attitudes and behaviour of the people using the area. The main target groups of the project were fishermen, seamen, leisure boat owners and offshore workers. The project carried out activities to influence these groups and to reduce marine littering in the long run by focusing on the ecological aspects of marine litter as well as the social and economic consequences.

"Save the North Sea" arranged several environmental courses to discuss sustainable shipping among maritime college students, seamen, and people working within authorities, private companies and NGO's. The course included lectures, field studies and group discussions.

The project experiences and achievements have been summarized in a report describing the project. A digital version of the report is available for download.

© Since 2001- Scandinavica.com