HELCOM experts to further elaborate the maritime segment of the Baltic Sea Action Plan

Helsinki, 30 October (HELCOM) – The Maritime Group of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM MARITIME) will hold its regular Meeting on 31 October – 2 November in Tallinn, Estonia, to discuss further measures to improve safety of navigation and reduce pollution from ships in the Baltic Sea.

The primary focus of the Meeting will be the development of the maritime segment of the strategic Baltic Sea Action Plan proposed last year by the Helsinki Commission to further reduce pollution in the Baltic Sea and repair the damage done to the marine environment. Experts will further elaborate the details as well as draw up a timetable of maritime activities agreed by the Second Meeting of the ad hoc Task Force on the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP TF 2/2006) on 25-26 October.

“The Meeting will work on concrete actions that could be taken by the coastal countries to ensure no illegal pollution from ships, safe maritime traffic, as well minimum air pollution and no introduction of alien species from ships,” said Anne Christine Brusendorff, Executive Secretary of the Helsinki Commission.

It is expected that the Meeting will assess the scale of the problem of wastewater discharges from ships in the Baltic Sea. Some additional measures to reduce these discharges are to be considered, such as a new HELCOM Recommendation on restrictions for the discharge of sewage from passenger ships into the Baltic Sea and a joint proposal of the Baltic Sea countries to be submitted to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to amend the existing sewage treatment regulations (Annex IV to the MARPOL 73/78) to cover also nutrients. The nutrient load originating from ship's sewage is not very significant compared to atmospheric deposition and waterborne input, but not negligible due to the sensitivity of the marine environment of the Baltic Sea. The largest amount of the sewage discharge from passenger ships comes during the summer months when tourism in the region is at its peak. Nutrients contained in the sewage are readily available to algae and directly contribute to algal growth.

The HELCOM Maritime Group Meeting will also discuss how to promote the use of economic incentives to reduce emissions from ships in the Baltic. HELCOM considers economic incentives as one of the means to promote good environmental performance and can serve as a very effective tool to curb emission of pollutants (SOx, NOx) from ships. Several Baltic Sea countries have already some experience in that field. Now the work will focus on application of such incentives on the whole Baltic Sea area.

Additionally, the Meeting will discuss possible further steps to counteract introduction of alien species to the Baltic marine environment via ships’ ballast water, and the problem of marine litter in the Baltic. Experts will also look into the results of the inspection campaign in Baltic Sea ports to find out deficiencies of vessels as regards the international regulations for prevention of pollution by oil, carried out within the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State control, as well as consider a possible joint proposal of the Baltic Sea countries to the IMO aiming at tightening of the international regulation on sulphur content in fuel oil used by vessels to reduce emission of SOx to the air.

Note to Editors: 

The Helsinki Commission, or HELCOM, works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution through intergovernmental co-operation between the countries bordering the sea - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and also the European Community. 

HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area," more usually known as the Helsinki Convention.

For more information, please contact:

Ms. Monika Stankiewicz

Professional Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)207 412 643

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 639

E-mail: monika.stankiewicz@helcom.fi

Mr. Nikolay Vlasov

Information Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)207 412 635

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 639

E-mail: nikolay.vlasov@helcom.fi