Marine protected areas for whales, dolphins, and porpoises: a world ...

212 Marine Protected Areas for Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises
MARINE REGION 6: BALTIC
In the Baltic Marine Region, the harbor porpoise is the main resident cetacean.
Near the edge of its border with the Northeast Atlantic Marine Region (a line
drawn from the northern tip of Denmark to the tip of southern Norway)
white-beaked dolphins and minke whales are also found. Historically, other
toothed whale species such as orcas were found in the Baltic, but are rarely seen
today. Harbor porpoises, too, have suffered declines. In the Skagerrak Sea, for
example, Swedish gill-netters (bottom-set gill nets for cod) were shown to have
a high, unsustainable bycatch of harbor porpoises (Carlström and Berggren,
1996). In the southern Baltic Sea, since the 1950s, harbor porpoises have
declined to a tenth of the original numbers probably due to toxic pollutants
(Esping and Grönqvist, 1995). There are three species of seal present, mainly
ringed and gray seals, followed by a small number of harbor or common seals.
The region has an active marine habitat conservation programme but it
does not feature cetaceans. Some of the existing MPAs may cover some harbor
porpoise habitat but none are known prime cetacean areas. The existing MPAs
are mostly very small.
The Baltic Marine Region is considered to have one large marine ecosystem
(LME): the Baltic Sea. It also includes the neighbouring sea, the Skagerrak,
which is usually considered part of the North Sea. In many respects, the Baltic
is similar to an inland sea or a massive estuary, and in the past 12,000 years has
several times alternated between being a large freshwater lake and a brackish
marine area as it is today. It is linked to the open sea circulation only by the
narrow straits of the Sound (Oresund) and the Danish Belts (the Great and
Little Belts) east of Denmark. These have a strong outflow of brackish water at
the surface. Most of the inflow comes from rivers in the region, although there
is also an incoming salty water bottom current from the North Sea.
Some ten countries border the Baltic Marine Region, from Norway,
Denmark and Germany in the west to Sweden, Finland, Poland, Russia and the
Baltic republics in the east. Most are party to various non-UNEP regional seas
programmes which feature or include the Baltic Sea:
• In 1992, every Baltic Sea country, as well as the European Community,
signed the Helsinki Convention, the full name of which is the Convention
for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area. As
part of the convention, the contracting parties are obliged to establish a
system of coastal and marine Baltic Sea protected areas.
• Baltic Sea countries are also party to the OSPAR Convention for the
Protection of the Marine Environment of the Northeast Atlantic and some
also participate in the EU Habitats and Species Directive, following the
mandate to establish SACs.
• Finally, there is ASCOBANS, the Agreement on the Conservation of Small
Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Sea. Entering into force in 1994, it is
concerned with the conservation of small cetaceans and their habitat.
ASCOBANS serves as a regional agreement of the Convention on