The project evaluates the effectiveness of existing measures on improving the state of marine ecosystem, focussing on several pertinent topics, such as: by-catch of mammals and birds, impacts on the seabed, marine protected areas, and eutrophication. These topics have been chosen based on identified priorities in the region, for example some of the main pressures on the Baltic Sea ecosystem identified in the HELCOM State of the Baltic Sea report (helcom.fi). In addition, the project analyses the natural conditions that influence the achievement of Good Environmental Status (GES) in the Baltic Sea region, including impacts of projected changes in climate. Furthermore, the project develops an approach for regional sufficiency of measures (SOM) analysis to identify potential gaps in achieving GES, and estimate cost-effectiveness of tentative new measures to fill these gaps. The project aims utilize data driven analyses wherever possible, but expert based evaluations will complement existing data where required.
The project will be carried out in seven work packages:
- WP1 By-catch: identifying high-risk areas for by-catch of mammals and birds, evaluating technical measures to reduce by-catch of harbour porpoise, estimating the effect and cost of these mitigation measures.
- WP2 Impacts on the seabed: evaluating restoration measures in coastal areas and impacts of spatial regulation of offshore fisheries, including effects on benthic communities and costs of measures
- WP3 Marine protected areas (MPAs): developing a method to assess management effectiveness of MPAs, assessing how MPAs contribute to achieving GES in the Baltic Sea
- WP4 Input of nutrients: analysing sources and trends of nutrient input and compatibility of nutrient reduction targets under different policies, evaluating the combined effect of existing measures
- WP5 Conditions that influence GES: analysing the conditions of the Baltic Sea that influence achievement of GES, including climate change
- WP6 Sufficiency of measures: developing an approach to assess the sufficiency of existing measures to achieve GES, implementing the approach for selected topics, identifying the need for new measures, estimating cost-effectiveness of tentative new measures
- WP7: Policy-project interphase: ensuring guidance from and timely contribution to the BSAP update process and the preparation of MSFD PoMs.
Publications
- The final summary report (helcom.fi)
- Input of nutrients: potential to reduce input from point sources (helcom.fi)
- Methodology for the sufficiency of measures analysis (helcom.fi)
- Quantifying effectiveness and sufficiency of measures – An application of the DPSIR framework for the marine environment (sciencedirect.com)
- All other project reports (e.g. results per theme) are available on ACTION web site (helcom.fi)