Development of Baltic Ecological Objectives to top agenda of HELCOM MONAS Meeting

Helsinki, 17 November (HELCOM) - The Helsinki Commission Monitoring and Assessment Group (HELCOM MONAS) will convene a regular meeting on 21-25 November in Riga, Latvia, to present new and updated information on sources and quantities of inputs of harmful substances into the Baltic Sea, as well their effects on the state of the marine environment.

Experts from the Baltic Sea countries will also focus on further development of an ambitious HELCOM environmental monitoring system to meet the future challenges of the ecosystem based assessments which are needed as sound basis for effective management actions.

The Meeting will consider the final report of the HELCOM EcoQO Project on the development of Ecological Objectives, which are a set of clear environmental indicators materialising the aspirations of a healthy Baltic Sea. “This is one of the major topics of the forthcoming Meeting,” said Ms Baiba Zasa, Head of the Latvian Delegation to the Helsinki Commission. “These Ecological Objectives are the core of the new and innovative strategic Baltic Sea Action Plan, which is now being created by HELCOM to ensure that every possible measure is taken to improve the state of the marine environment”.

“The Meeting is expected to approve several new thematic assessments and indicator reports,” said Ms Heike Herata, Chair of the HELCOM MONAS Group. “Latest information on atmospheric supply of nitrogen, lead, cadmium, mercury and lindane will be presented at the Meeting, as well as an estimation of future atmospheric nitrogen deposition, if agreed emission targets in the EU NEC Directive for 2010 and the Gothenburg Protocol to the UN/ECE Convention on long-transboundary Air Pollution are implemented”.

According to Ms Herata, the Meeting will also discuss an assessment of implication of different policy scenarios (e.g. full implementation of present HELCOM plans and programmes, implementation of various EU Directives, EU Common Agriculture Policy) on nutrient inputs and their effects on the marine ecosystem.

HELCOM experts are planning to present a thematic assessment on coastal fish. It will include effects of various human pressures on coastal fish in the Baltic Sea. The Meeting will look into a project which HELCOM has begun in co-operation with a group of BALTEX scientists to produce a thematic assessment on impacts of climate change in the Baltic Sea and its catchment area by 2006.

The Meeting will adopt about 20 indicator fact sheets showing the latest information on hydrographic events including sea-base oxygen depletions, water clarity, as well as on cyanobacterial blooms, benthic animals, lead, cadmium and PCB concentrations in fish, and radionuclides in the sea-bed sediments. Experts will also look into the revision of the HELCOM Guidelines for the Disposal of Dredged Spoils, which has already become a very hot topic in many Baltic Sea countries.

Contacts

HELCOM Secretariat

Mr Juha-Markku Leppänen
Professional Secretary
Tel: +358 9 62202227
Fax: +358 9 6220 2239

E-mail: juha-markku.leppanen@helcom.fi

Mr Nikolay Vlasov
Information Secretary
Tel: +358 9 6220 2235
Fax: +358 9 6220 2239

E-mail: nikolay.vlasov@helcom.fi