Press release
Stockholm, 27 April 2006

30 concrete measures for a better marine environment

Set up a national marine environment council! Offer scientific support for decisions! Create a pro-active international agenda! These are some of the measures that the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and 15 other public agencies propose in a joint Action Plan for the Marine Environment.

"We are pleased that the16 agencies involved have been able to agree on such a key issue. We hope that the action plan will give an added impetus to the efforts being made to reduce the environmental problems in our seas," says Lars-Erik Liljelund, Director-General of the Swedish EPA.

Proposed measures:

Eutrophication
1. Identify the areas causing most marine eutrophication
2. Deal with the worst outfalls first
3. Make it easy to choose the right detergent
4. Help farmers to retain phosphorus
5. Create the right wetlands in the right place
6. Explain the necessity of reducing nitrogen emissions to air
7. Reduce emissions to air from shipping 

Fisheries and biodiversity
8. Stop alien species invasion by boat
9. Protect endangered deep-sea fish species
10. Limit number of days that fishing is permitted
11. Reserve some fishing for passive fishing gear
12. "Fisheries account" to stabilise fisheries economy
13. Start professional education for fishermen

Hazardous substances
14. Implement EC Directive for certain hazardous substances
15. Promote environmentally compatible boat petrol
16. Reduce the risks posed by hazardous hull paints
17. Identify hazardous substances in harbours
18. Better monitoring of shipping

Knowledge and coordination
19. Improved coordination of monitoring
20. Declassify sea depth information
21. Improve availability of environmental data
22. Improve sea depth information
23. Survey geology and chemistry of sea beds
24. Describe nature under the surface
25. Research on use of phosphorus in agriculture
26. Research into cascading trophic interactions
27. Offer scientific support for decisions
28. Assign responsibility for the open sea to a public agency
29. Set up a marine environment council & coordination group
30. Create a pro-active international agenda

One of the main objectives with the action plan is to propose realistic and implementable measures that can start now. The proposed measures include details of the agencies responsible for carrying them out, as well as information on when they are expected to be completed and the anticipated environmental benefits.

The action plan is a complement to the efforts already being made to improve the marine environment, but further measures will be required to achieve the national environmental quality objectives. The action plan will serve as supporting documentation for Swedish input to the Baltic Sea Action Plan and the upcoming Marine and Maritime EU strategies.

The following agencies have endorsed the action plan:

National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, Swedish Armed Forces, Swedish Energy Agency, Swedish Board of Fisheries, Swedish Board of Agriculture, Swedish Chemicals Inspectorate, Swedish Coast Guard, Stockholm County Administrative Board, Västerbotten County Administrative Board, Västra Götaland County Administrative Board, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Swedish Rescue Services Agency, Geological Survey of Sweden, Swedish Maritime Administration, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute and Swedish Forest Agency.

Read a summary of the action plan (click here or see below)

For further information, please contact:

Johan Bodegård, Deputy Director, tel. +46 8 698 1413, 070-266 8600,

Kristina Ringström, press contakt, +46 8 698 10 94, 073-443 92 67

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency is a central environmental authority under the Swedish Government. The Agency has a pro-active and coordinating role in the efforts being made to reinforce and broaden responsibility for the environment in society at large. The Agency employs 550 people.

Source: http://www.internat.naturvardsverket.se/index.php3?main=/documents/press/2006/p060427.htm.

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Action Plan for the Marine Environment - Summary

Despite strenuous efforts over the last 30 years, the environmental state of the Baltic Sea, the Öresund (the Sound), the Kattegat and the Skagerrak is still alarmingly poor. In October 2005 the Government commissioned the Swedish EPA, in consultation with 15 other public agencies, to draft a comprehensive action plan for the marine environment by 1 May 2006.

The action plan has been produced by a working group made up of representatives from the 16 agencies. In addition, discussions have been held with representatives from the farming industry, fisheries and the environmental movement. A hearing with stakeholders and public agencies has also been held.

The draft action plan comprises 30 measures that we consider practically implementable and that complement the wide-ranging efforts already being made to improve the marine environment. For this reason, the action plan does not address measures in areas already included in work commissioned by the Government. We have chosen not to propose measures to combat air pollution from industrial facilities and terrestrial traffic (see measure 6, however) or measures concerning energy supply or designed to combat climate change.

The proposed measures assigns responsibility for carrying out the measures, as well as information on when they are expected to be completed and the expected environmental benefits. All proposed measures are listed on the next page.

We consider the following to be some of the most important steps:

• Reduce emissions of eutrophying substances to the areas most sensitive to discharges, leaching and seepage (measures 1 and 2).
• Introduce a "fisheries account" to stabilise the economy of commercial fisheries (measure 12).
• Increase access to marine data (measures 19–22).
• Create a pro-active international agenda (measure 30).

There are also measures that we have considered but refrained from proposing. Examples are use of mussel farming to absorb nutrients, regulated drainage in agriculture, grants for boat hull washes and safe disposal of the toxins in cod liver.

It has not been possible to make the action plan comprehensive to the extent that the measures we propose will achieve our national environmental quality objectives and meet our international commitments. Efforts to identify and develop further measures must therefore continue.

The Government has said that the draft action plan must be within the budgetary limits proposed by the 2006 Finance Bill. We have not found it possible to meet this requirement in full; some of the measures we propose will cost more than budget constraints allow.

We hope this action plan will revitalise and provide added momentum to the efforts to improve the marine environment, thereby making a significant contribution to those efforts.