Oceana has since 2010 conducted three expeditions in the Baltic Sea and Kattegat area and have, based on the finding of these expeditions, proposed 13 marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Baltic Sea and the Kattegat.
According to HELCOM, roughly 12 % of the Baltic Sea is protected with Natura 2000 areas fulfilling the international 10 % conservation target set for world’s marine regions. But as Oceana highlights in their report, only 5% of the area outside Territorial Waters is protected thus leaving pelagic and deeper water species and habitats unprotected. There is areas set aside as MPAs by the countries bordering the Baltic Sea is rather uneven, Germany for example have designated 45% of their waters as protected sites while Sweden currently only protects about 6%. However, Sweden has made plans to increase their protected areas to 10% as they are obliged to do so under the agreed Baltic Sea Action Plan.
Why MPAs? Several scientific studies illustrate the effectiveness of MPAs in enhancing biodiversity, providing threatened species and breeding grounds as a place to rebuild and flourish. MPAs have been shown to have healthier communities, displaying larger quantities and larger fish than in the areas outside reserves. As fish gets larger, productivity increases creating a spillover effect of fish and larvae to surrounding areas leading to larger catches in these surrounding areas. However, studies have shown that the area needs to be large enough, either as a large protected area or as a connected network of protected areas in order for MPAs to be fully successful.
The proposed sites by Oceana are in ecological important areas in both shallow and deep waters and are:
· Marstrandskärgården, Kattegat, Sweden
· Kattegat trench, Denmark and Sweden
· Northern part of the Sound, Sweden and Denmark
· Little Belt, Denmark
· Klints Bank, Baltic Proper, Sweden
· Bogskär, Åland Islands, Finland
· South of Åland Islands, Finland
· South of Hanko Peninsula, Gulf of Finland, Finland
· Bothnian Bay Deep, Sweden
· Ulkokrunni and Merikalla, Bothnian Bay, Finland
· Middle Bank, Poland and Sweden
· Central part of the Bothnian Sea, Sweden
These areas proposed by Oceana includes offshore sites in the Bothnian Bay, Kattegat and Baltic Proper, currently almost completely unprotected, deep water areas that still have healthy oxygen levels (Bothnian Bay Deep,
Kattegat trench) along with the Sound, Kattegat trench, Marstrandsskärgården and Little Belt which are areas that show abundant and distinctive biodiversity as well as declining and threatened species. Oceana further propose enlargements of some existing protected areas as a mean to cover a full range of depths and ecosystems covered, these are Hanko Peninsula, Merikalla/Ulkokrunni and the Kattegat trench.
By protecting these areas, the overall percentage of protection in the Baltic Sea would raise from a bit over 12 % to about 20%, covering a total of 31,000 km2.