Better targets for Baltic countries to reduce eutrophication

28 March 2013 (HELCOM Information Services) – The scientific basis for thinking anew the eutrophication status targets is now complete in a recently published HELCOM report, feeding into potential changes in regional environmental policies.

Eutrophication is the major problem of the Baltic Sea, caused by excess nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, and in HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan all Baltic coastal states have committed to comply with the set maximum allowable inputs of nutrients, along with numerous other measures for reducing eutrophication. The recent report by the HELCOM TARGREV Project provides the much-needed factual basis for reviewing the nutrient load reduction scheme with provisional reduction targets set for each Baltic Sea country.

“This report has been carefully prepared to provide straight support to the revision process, close to completion, of the nutrient load reduction scheme of the Baltic Sea Action Plan. Importantly, the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting in October 2013 is expected to endorse the agreement for better targeted measures for healthier marine environment. The upgraded targets are used as a basis of ecological modelling of nutrient loads the sea can tolerate,” says Maria Laamanen, Professional Secretary of HELCOM.

The aim of HELCOM is to strengthen the reversal towards a less eutrophied Baltic Sea and to reach a status where eutrophication does not cause adverse effects to the ecosystem or humans. The targets were crafted so as to allow for human impacts but nevertheless to set clear and ambitious goals for the Baltic Sea countries to reach. HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan contains numerous measures for reducing nutrient loads and eutrophication.

The targets, when reached, will yield more transparent water with less algae, lower quantities of nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, and a reduction in lack of oxygen. For the first time, clear targets have been set for oxygen levels of the deep Baltic Sea basins which encompass areas of several countries: the Baltic Proper, Gulf of Finland and Bornholm Basin. Targets have been set for oxygen “debt”, which is a measure of a lack of oxygen caused by eutrophication. Oxygen is consumed by microbes responsible for degrading the excess algae and other organic matter. The aim is to reach a level of oxygen debt that was prevalent in the 1950s to 1970s. Currently, hypoxic area and volume are the highest in record and the total dead zone is as large as Latvia i.e. about 65,000 km².

The set of targets is built on a thorough scientific analysis of development of the eutrophication in the Baltic Sea. They are the result of the HELCOM TARGREV project (2010–2012) carried out by major marine ecology institutes of the Baltic Sea countries. Those HELCOM Contracting Parties that are also EU member states will be able to make use of the targets in the implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive in the Baltic Sea, especially in fulfilling the task to set targets for Good Environmental Status related to eutrophication.

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Note for editors:

The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, usually referred to as HELCOM, is an intergovernmental organization of the nine Baltic Sea coastal countries and the European Union 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 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.

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For further information, please contact

Johanna Laurila

Information Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 40 523 8988

Fax: +358 207 412 639

E-mail: johanna.laurila@helcom.fi

Skype: helcom70