Swedish experts urge study of Baltic "crash"

 Environment Daily 1827, 23/02/05

 Despite decades of anti-pollution measures, scientists fear that the marine ecology of the Baltic region has "crashed" and is "locked in" to permanent eutrophication, according to a report by the Swedish environmental advisory council (SEAC) delivered to the government on Tuesday.

 Efforts to control releases of nitrogen compounds and other nutrients from agricultural run-off, drainage and road traffic appear to have made some difference to inshore waters around Stockholm and parts of Sweden's west coast, SEAC said.  But "in the open sea, especially the Baltic sea, the measures have had no discernable impact".

 The 55-page report calls for an urgent research programme to establish whether anti-pollution legislation might be working, but more slowly than expected, or that the region is indeed suffering "a new situation" analogous to the oxygen starvation typical of a badly eutrophied or stagnant lake. In either case, national and international anti-pollution efforts should be stepped up.

 

Follow-up: SEAC http://www.sou.gov.se/mvb/,  tel: +46 8 405 1000,

a press release http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/5246/a/39306 and the report http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/497/a/39302.

(ENDS)