BSEP116B Biodiversity in the Baltic Sea - Helcom

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Box 2.1.2. The Baltic marine landscapes Sixty benthic marine landscapes have been identified for the Baltic Sea. The marine landscape 'non-photic mud at 7.5–11 psu' covers more than 58 000 km 2 . Forty marine landscapes cover less than 1% of the total seafloor area. Species composition varies significantly between individual landscapes (where tested). Eight marine landscapes cover 371 000 km 2 or more than 90% of the Baltic seafloor. Table 2.1.1. Categories for sea bottom salinity and their justification based on expert judgement. Category Salinity range Justification Oligohaline I < 5 psu This occurs at the biogeographic boundary in the Quark area. This region has a higher number of freshwater species. Oligohaline II 5 – 7.5 psu 7.5 psu equals roughly the area where Fucus serratus has its distributional boundary (Öland, SE) making Fucus vesiculosus the dominating sublittoral brown algae. This category also has the lowest number of species and is thus the most vulnerable part of the Baltic Sea. Mesohaline I 7.5 – 11 psu 11 psu is the minimum requirement enabling cod (Gadus morhua) eggs to float. As cod is an important commercial species for the Baltic Sea region, this interval was chosen in order to increase applicability of the marine landscapes for environmental management. It also helps to separate the offshore environment from coastal areas in large parts of the Baltic Proper. Mesohaline II 11 – 18 psu 18 psu is the approximate minimum requirement for sexual reproduction or limiting distribution of many marine macroalgae, e.g. Laminaria digitata and Ascophyllum nodosum, and of, e.g., echinoderms. It occurs at the biogeographic boundary in the Sound. 18 psu is also a boundary in the EU Water Framework Directive, further increasing the applicability of the marine landscape maps. Polyhaline 18 – 30 psu Most marine species are able to survive within this interval. It is also an interval defined by the EU Water Framework Directive. Euhaline > 30 psu Requirement of truly stenohaline species separating the marine parts of the Skagerrak and North Sea from the freshwater-influenced water masses of the Kattegat and Baltic Sea region. 22 and biology of the species, and thereby ensure that marine landscapes are ecologically relevant, though only at the coarsest scale possible. In summary, it is possible to produce a broadscale, ecologically relevant map spanning an entire marine region consisting of multiple independent states, e.g., the benthic marine landscapes of the Baltic Sea. 2.1.3 Application in marine management and conservation There are many potential uses and applications of marine landscape maps. Most importantly, they can be used as a basic ecological information layer in a marine spatial planning process or for ecosystem-wide assessments. In the BSAP, the Contracting Parties have agreed to use broadscale, cross-sectoral maritime spatial planning as a tool to reduce the impact of human activities on the Baltic Sea. This could include assessing the total environmental impact of human activities, obtaining information about the total resources available, or providing valuable information for strategic planning in relation to large-scale infrastructures. It is possible to develop an index of the relative seabed complexity based on the marine landscape map. Figure 2.1.2 illustrates the complexity of the seabed within a 20 km x 20 km area based
on the number of marine landscapes present in that specific area. In the Baltic Sea, some areas are very homogeneous with only one marine landscape present within a 20-km grid, whereas other areas are more heterogeneous with up to 19 different marine landscapes present. It should be noted that even if there is only one marine landscape present (dark green in Figure 2.1.2), there may be a different landscape in the neighbouring grid and therefore the complexity map should always be used in close association with the marine landscape map. The index can be applied to illustrate, for example, potential ’hotspots‘ with a high complexity or many landscapes present within a small area compared to areas with less complexity. Such information provides planners and environmental managers with a strategic tool to identify potential important areas or ’hotspots‘ that may need special attention during the planning process. Hotspot areas include the Swedish west coast, the Danish Straits and the Sound at the entrance to the Baltic Sea, the area around the northern part of the island of Gotland, and the Gulf of Finland. Most importantly, the benthic marine landscape map provides a coherent ecologically relevant map of the HELCOM area. This map has been used (Piekäinen et al. 2008, Liman et al. 2008) and can be further used to assess ecological coherence and to select a representative network of marine protected areas in the Baltic Sea through a systematic approach. As such, the marine landscape map is an important tool for informed management of the marine environment. This is further discussed in Chapter 7 of this report. 2.1.4 Conclusions In conclusion, marine landscape maps covering entire ecoregions are potentially a strong tool, providing a basis for a broad-scale spatial approach to the protection and management of human activities in the marine environment. The approach presented here is a fully applicable and usable ecologically relevant characterization of the Baltic Sea. However, end users may find it necessary to continue the refinement and improvement of the maps. Further refinements are necessary in order to fully exploit the potential application of the maps and to link them to the implementation of national legislation, EU directives and other policy Figure 2.1.2. Map showing the number of benthic marine landscapes within a 20-km grid (deducted from the data used in figure 2.1.1d by using Map Algebra). Source: BALANCE, see Al-Hamdani & Reker 2007 for details. documents such as the BSAP and the EU Maritime Policy. The future success of producing marine landscape maps with a higher accuracy and precision depends on the availability of and access to existing data as well as a trans national and crosssectoral approach spanning the Baltic Sea. The work presented here and by the BALANCE project should be seen as a first step towards broad-scale mapping of the marine landscapes in the Baltic Sea; further developments should be made by EU Member States for implementing EU maritime policy and legislation. 2.1.5 Recommendations The marine landscape approach is still new to the Baltic Sea region and, in order to make full use of the applications of the approach, there are a number of areas requiring further development. The following recommendations are made to improve the overall map quality: 23
Page 1: Baltic Sea Environment Proceedings
Page 4 and 5: Published by: Helsinki Commission K
Page 6 and 7: TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE . . . . .
Page 8 and 9: 6.6 Hazardous substances . . . . .
Page 10 and 11: 1 INTRODUCTION 8 1.1 An integrated
Page 12 and 13: Box 1.1. Biodiversity The term biod
Page 14 and 15: of saline water from the North Sea
Page 16 and 17: 14 On a global scale, marine ecosys
Page 18 and 19: Box 1.2. Regime shifts in the Balti
Page 20 and 21: 2 MARINE LANDSCAPES AND HABITATS 18
Page 22 and 23: From an ecological point of view, a
Page 26 and 27: • A coherent data set on benthic
Page 28 and 29: Denmark Estonia Finland Germany Lat
Page 30 and 31: Mud-sandflat, Greifswald Lagoon, Ge
Page 32 and 33: 3 COMMUNITIES Communities are assem
Page 34 and 35: 32 Spring bloom index 1200 1000 800
Page 36 and 37: 34 Unusual events and new species i
Page 38 and 39: 36 Depth limit (m) the Gulf of Both
Page 40 and 41: Number of species 16 14 12 10 8 6 4
Page 42 and 43: Figure 3.2.7. Left panel shows pred
Page 44 and 45: Implications for the Baltic Sea Act
Page 46 and 47: Biomass (wet weight, mg per m 2 ) B
Page 48 and 49: the other hand, is not selected by
Page 50 and 51: iomass can be used to assess enviro
Page 52 and 53: Average number of species 20 15 10
Page 54 and 55: 52 Macoma baltica where the influen
Page 56 and 57: the total BT identified for each ma
Page 58 and 59: Recruitment (thousands) 8000000 700
Page 60 and 61: Alien species Several alien fish sp
Page 62 and 63: 4 SPECIES The number of species in
Page 64 and 65: Table 4.1.1. Results of dedicated a
Page 66 and 67: Number of stranded porpoises 180 16
Page 68 and 69: is recommended to survey harbour po
Page 70 and 71: Number of individuals 12000 10000 8
Page 72 and 73: Mean blubber thickness (mm) 40 35 3
Page 74 and 75:
Breeding pairs 60000 50000 40000 30
Page 76 and 77:
predation on nests and nesting adul
Page 78 and 79:
sites outside the Baltic, decreased
Page 80 and 81:
Table 4.3.1. Development of the pop
Page 82 and 83:
80 Number of breeding pairs 3000 25
Page 84 and 85:
The strategic goal of the BSAP to h
Page 86 and 87:
for a given site or area. The secon
Page 88 and 89:
Mussel bed reef community, Jasmund,
Page 90 and 91:
Table 5.3. Assessment results of th
Page 92 and 93:
Aerial photo of harbours seals (Pho
Page 94 and 95:
6 HUMAN PRESSURES ON BIODIVERSITY A
Page 96 and 97:
Table 6.1.1. Catch range during the
Page 98 and 99:
Baltic herring trawling, Bothnian B
Page 100 and 101:
6.1.3 Major international framework
Page 102 and 103:
100 Oil turnover (millions of tonne
Page 104 and 105:
NOx emissions and sewage Macrophyte
Page 106 and 107:
Communication links There are a num
Page 108 and 109:
Figure 6.3.3. Left: concrete-stone
Page 110 and 111:
ecommendations would contribute to
Page 112 and 113:
Tourist fishing 110 cial fishery fo
Page 114 and 115:
112 Figure 6.5.1. Integrated classi
Page 116 and 117:
can be considered as having been a
Page 118 and 119:
Although no direct, dramatic mass m
Page 120 and 121:
Bearing in mind the complex hydrogr
Page 122 and 123:
Box 6.7.1. Invasion status of the B
Page 124 and 125:
Table 6.7.1. Examples of ecological
Page 126 and 127:
munities that formerly consisted of
Page 128 and 129:
6.8.2 Activities generating noise i
Page 130 and 131:
128 and fish in the Baltic Sea area
Page 132 and 133:
800 700 600 bag of the two German B
Page 134 and 135:
Fish swarm on kelp (Laminaria sp.)
Page 136 and 137:
tion of ice cover, either through r
Page 138 and 139:
7 STATUS OF THE NETWORK OF MARINE A
Page 140 and 141:
Box 7.1. Natura 2000 network of pro
Page 142 and 143:
25 20 on how the criteria on ecolog
Page 144 and 145:
estrial, nearshore marine, and offs
Page 146 and 147:
144 >30 psu 18-30 psu 11-18 psu 7.5
Page 148 and 149:
Permission needed Restricted Forbid
Page 150 and 151:
Figure 7.8.a. MARXAN ’best portfo
Page 152 and 153:
The BSPA network is relatively well
Page 154 and 155:
Mammals. Among the mammals, the pop
Page 156 and 157:
154 taxonomic groups and communitie
Page 158 and 159:
156 provided by an ecosystem. Use o
Page 160 and 161:
158 Reduction of human pressures Wh
Page 162 and 163:
160 fishing on fish population dyna
Page 164 and 165:
162 Baden, S., Boström, C. (2001).
Page 166 and 167:
164 Season 2001-2002. Acta Zoologic
Page 168 and 169:
166 Gasiūnaitė, Z.R., Cardoso, A.
Page 170 and 171:
168 HELCOM & OSPAR (2003): Joint HE
Page 172 and 173:
170 ICES (2008c). Report of the Bal
Page 174 and 175:
172 area: density-dependent effects
Page 176 and 177:
174 Noer, H., Clausager, I., Asferg
Page 178 and 179:
176 Scheffer M., Carpenter S.R., Fo
Page 180 and 181:
178 by passive acoustic monitoring.
Page 182 and 183:
180 Warzaw, Poland Vilhunen, Jarmo,
Page 184 and 185:
182 6.7 Alien speices Authors: Lepp
Page 186 and 187:
ANNEX III: CONSERVATION STATUS OF T
Page 188 and 189:
ANNEX IV: HABITAT OR SPECIES DISTRI
Page 190:
ANNEX V: STATUS OF BREEDING AND WIN
show all

BSEP116B Biodiversity in the Baltic Sea - Helcom

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?