European Union hopes to clean up European seas by 2021

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The European marine environment, including the troubled Baltic Sea, is to be restored by the year 2021. This is the noble objective of the strategy currently being formulated at the international Baltic Sea and European Marine Strategy Conference in Helsinki: to achieve a good environmental status for the European seas in the next 15 years.
      During its EU Presidency, Finland attempts to achieve political consensus with regard to the aims and methods of the European Marine Strategy.
      According to the Minister of the Environment Jan-Erik Enestam (Swedish People's Party), Finland's goal is for the member states to agree on the content of the European Marine Strategy Directive at the December meeting of the European ministers of the environment, before Finland hands over the EU Presidency to Germany.
     
Enestam claims that though it is a daunting task, the aim to heal the condition of the European marine environment according to the planned schedule is not impossible to achieve.
      EU Director-General of Environment Peter Gammeltoft agrees that the plan is realistic. "Of course the plan does not guarantee that all the European seas are totally clean by 2021, but if we postpone the protection by five years the results will also be delayed by five years. Therefore we have to act now", states Gammeltoft, who is also present at the Helsinki conference.
     
With regard to the Baltic Sea, the amelioration process translates to minimising the amount of poisonous algae and radically reducing the loading placed on the sea from external sources such as agricultural runoff.
      The transparency of the sea water should be improved considerably, and different types of fish should thrive in it and be productive.
      According to Finland's Environmental Administration, both nitrogen and phosphorus emissions into the Baltic Sea have already been reduced thanks to improved wastewater treatment techniques.
      However, despite these efforts the status of the Baltic has not yet improved. The Baltic Sea reacts to the emission reductions with a delay, and hence it could take some considerable time for the visible results of healing to appear.


Links:
  Baltic Sea and European Marine Strategy
  Finnish EU Presidency
  Helsinki Commission: Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission
  The Baltic Sea (Wikipedia)

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