Identifying endangered species and habitats to implementing a Baltic Sea Protected Areas network

Baltic Sea endangered species and habitats and the implementation of the network of Baltic Sea Protected Areas were the main themes discussed at the Sixth Meeting of the Nature Protection and Biodiversity Group (HELCOM HABITAT), which took place in St. Petersburg, Russia on 24-28 May 2004.

The Meeting recognized the need to compile national lists of the most threatened species, as well as species in urgent need of protection (e.g. rare species), and invited all observers to the Helsinki Convention to contribute to such a list of threatened marine species by October 2005. The Meeting also discussed possibilities to further develop the list of threatened biotopes/habitat by harmonizing the classification system, particularly in a pan-European context.

The Meeting expressed the opinion that HELCOM can play an important role in mitigating the environmental impacts of fisheries by coordinating the monitoring of coastal, non-commercial and non-target fish species, as well as in assessing their status and the impact of fisheries on them. This would allow HELCOM to:

1) produce inventories, especially of Baltic Sea non-commercial fish species, thus contributing to a red list of threatened species in the Baltic Sea area;
2) identify gaps in the network of BSPAs and propose measures to be taken to enhance the protection of species and habitats in the Baltic Sea area; and
3) identify potential action plans aimed at recovering species threatened by fisheries.

The Meeting also considered the management of fisheries in BSPAs to be an important topic for HELCOM, and regarded the role of HELCOM as important in providing environmental nature conservation advice in a future Baltic Regional Advisory Council, under the new EU Common Fisheries Policy.

In order to foster implementation of the Baltic Sea Protected Areas network, the Meeting proposed to establish a special HELCOM project with the purpose to evaluate by 2006, whether the Baltic Sea Protected Areas are sufficient to constitute a ecologically coherent network jointly with the OSPAR corresponding network of marine protected areas, and take steps to identify and fill any gaps that are identified, to ensure that by 2010 there is an ecologically coherent network of well managed marine protected areas for the maritime areas of both HELCOM and OSPAR.

Contacts

Chairman of HELCOM HABITAT
Mr Jan Ekebom
Tel: +358 (0)2056 44457
Fax: +358 (0)2056 44350

HELCOM Secretariat

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

Mr Juha-Markku Leppänen
Professional Secretary
Tel: +358 9 6220 2227
Fax: +358 9 6220 2239