Later this week Baltic Environmental Ministers will meet to discuss the future of our shared sea. Lena Sommestad has consulted Swedish NGOs on priority areas for action.
The Swedish Minister for the Environment, Lena Sommestad, has taken the initiative to gather her fellow Environmental Ministers from around the Baltic Sea for an informal meeting. The meeting on “Urgent action for the Baltic – a discussion on the future” will be held in Stockholm on the 22-23 November. A discussion on how the existing processes within the EU, HELCOM and other fora can be strengthened, as well as the recent proposals for a European Marine Strategy (EMS) and a Marine Framework Directive (MFD) are on the agenda.
As part of the meeting preparations, Lena Sommestad invited a range of Swedish NGOs to discuss priorities for improving the environmental situation in the Baltic Sea. Representatives from the Fisheries Secretariat, as well as Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB), Greenpeace Nordic, the Federation of Swedish Farmers (LRF), Friends of the Earth Sweden, the Swedish Anglers’ Association, the Swedish Fishermen’s Federation (SFR), the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SNF), the Swedish Shipowners’ Association and WWF Sweden attended the meeting.
The environmental NGOs were more or less in agreement, and the following priorities were suggested:
- The restoration of the Baltic Sea should be given priority in all of the countries surrounding the Baltic. The highest political level shall take the lead and all affected departments and authorities must take full responsibility.
- Actions to further reduce the input of phosphorous must start immediately. This shall include actions against point sources in the southern and eastern parts of the Baltic region, a cut back on phosphorus in detergents, as well as improved control of diffuse emissions.
- The fisheries policy must be in line with environmental and nature conservation policies, and its primary goal must be to restore fish stocks. The fishing fleet must be adjusted to the available resources. The European Fisheries Fund (EFF) should not under any circumstances be used to support an increase of the fishing capacity.
- The ICES advice on Baltic Sea fish stocks must be followed.
- A temporary fishing ban for the eastern cod stock ought to be introduced, as well as further reductions in fishing effort in order to reduce discards.
- Within the framework of the IMO’s classification of the Baltic as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA), all shipping south of Gotland ought to be redirected in order to reduce the risks of extensive bird killing due to oil spills. The present proposal on route-changes is insufficient.
- A specific goal for the “state” of the Baltic Sea needs to be formulated. Are we aiming to restore the Baltic Sea to its state 200 years ago or 40 years ago?
- Increased horizontal integration between Baltic Ministers and authorities, in particular better collaboration between environmental, agricultural and fisheries authorities. However, there is no need to create a new arena for this, but rather strengthen current collaboration, for example within HELCOM.
- Purposeful actions from the Member States to strengthen the proposed EMS are needed. A tougher time schedule and legally binding actions must be implemented.
- Reintroduce the obligation for Member States to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES). The current EMS proposal does not include such a target, and adding that requirement would be a significant improvement. There is no acknowledgement of collective responsibility for protecting the transboundary marine environment under the EMS. In order to prevent Member States from defining different national standards for GES, there should be a single Regional Marine Strategy for the Baltic Sea region, as well as for other marine regions or sub-regions.
The other stakeholders present would like to see the following key points being dealt with at the Ministerial meeting:
- The Swedish Shipowners’ Association expressed their concern about accidents occurring due to the rapidly increasing traffic in the Baltic Sea. They would like to see an active traffic monitoring system, as well as actions against inferior tonnage.
- The Swedish Fishermen’s Federation would prefer more of an industrialist’ view of fishing activities. The needs of company owners should be the primary consideration when managing fish resources. The organisation would also like Ministers to see the fishery more as a type of agricultural activity than a natural resource issue. In line with the environment NGO’s, SFR would like to see a clear goal for the desirable state of the Baltic Sea.
- The Federation of Swedish Farmers addressed the need for further efforts in reducing the nutrient input to the Baltic Sea. At the moment, one third of the chemical fertilizers used in agriculture is released to population centres and ends up in the ocean. The organisation emphasised that all added nutrients need to stay at the farm. Like the environment NGOs, they want to see a focus on reducing the release of phosphorous and claimed that input from Denmark is a major concern.