HELCOM Releases First Ever Checklist of Baltic Sea Macro-Species

5 March 2012, HELCOM Information Services – For the first time ever, all Baltic Sea animal and plant species visible to the human eye have been collected in a Checklist, available now on the HELCOM website. This checklist, compiled by HELCOM’s RED LIST project, presents a thorough and detailed overview on which macro-species occur in the Baltic Sea today and where. All the species that have been found within the last 200 years are also included. Usually checklists concentrate on a particular group of species found in a defined region, mostly within national borders. The HELCOM checklist is unique in that it aims to cover all visible species simultaneously and the Baltic Sea in its entirety.

The checklist contains more than 2700 species ranging from underwater plants and worms to seals and porpoises. The compilation has been carried out by the HELCOM RED LIST project since 2009, and the result is the achievement of more than 70 dedicated experts working in five specialist teams.

The list covers most major macro-species groups found in the Baltic Sea area and it supplies valuable information on taxonomies, scientific name and author, synonyms, information on distribution of the species in the different sub-basins of the Baltic, and references confirming the occurrence of the species in the Baltic Sea. For easy access the list is also available as Microsoft Excel files divided into macrophytes, benthic invertebrates, fishes and lampreys, breeding birds and marine mammals.

Accurate and extensive checklists provide for more comprehensive information on the biodiversity of the Baltic Sea. They are of great importance in providing an overall view of an area’s diversity, its species composition and its biological history. Such lists can also be used for practical purposes, for example as a foundation for databases of species monitoring.

In order to ensure that all available information on species occurring in the Baltic Sea has been included into the checklist, there is a period for public stakeholder review (1 March -1 April 2012) during which the wider scientific community can supply comments and suggestions to the Project Coordinator (jannica.haldin@helcom.fi). After this the list will continue functioning as a living document but will be updated every three years.

Note to Editors:

The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, usually referred to as the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), is an intergovernmental organization of the nine Baltic Sea coastal countries and the European Community working to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution and to ensure safety of navigation in the region.

HELCOM has been working to protect the marine environment through intergovernmental co-operation between all countries around the Baltic Sea for almost four decades.

HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area," more usually known as the Helsinki Convention.

For more information, please contact:

Ms. Jannica Haldin

HELCOM RED LIST project coordinator

HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)40 0329156

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 639

E-mail: jannica.haldin@helcom.fi

Skype: helcom38

Ms. Johanna Laurila

Information Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)40 523 8988

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 639

E-mail: johanna.laurila@helcom.fi

Skype: helcom70