This report presents an overview of the ecosystem services and associated benefits provided by the Baltic Sea, including information on the approaches of assessing and valuing ecosystem services being applied in the Baltic Sea region. It also identifies the main challenges in ecosystem service assessments in the Baltic Sea, and outlines the way forward in applying assessment tools in regional and national policies.Valuation of the benefits provided by ecosystem services can aid in designing more efficient policies for the protection of the Baltic Sea. The existing studies on the value of improved marine environment are useful in assessing the importance and value of some marine ecosystem services, but further work is still needed on describing ecosystem services and their interactions, and evaluating how policy changes affect these services and human well-being.

Northern fulmars are seabirds which feed exclusively at sea, and as such, they are useful indicators of ocean health. Marine plastic pollution is an ever-increasing and global issue that affects the northern fulmar as they are frequently found to have ingested plastic. In this report we investigate whether the amount of ingested plastic affects the concentration of certain plastic-adsorbed toxicants in their tissues. Marine plastic pollution is a field of utmost importance. It is our hope that this continues to be an area which receives increased attention in order to elucidate the potential harmful effects plastics have on the northern fulmar and ocean health, in general.

Marine litter is a global environmental problem that endangers wildlife and has great socio-economic and aesthetic impacts. To identify sources of marine litter is an important key in order to propose cost-effective measures. Pick analyses of beach litter have therefore been conducted in order to categorise litter items from a product perspective. The results confirm that plastic are the most common litter material found on beaches in the Nordic countries. Short life items and packaging are dominating, which is strongly linked to individual consumers. It is further concluded that the plastics and packaging industry has an important role to play to decrease the amount of marine litter.

This report summarises the knowledge on plastics in Nordic marine species. Nordic biota interacts with plastic pollution, through entanglement and ingestion. Ingestion has been found in many seabirds and also in stranded mammals. Ingestion of plastics has been documented in 14 fish species, which many of them are of ecology and commercially importance. Microplastics have also been found in blue mussels and preliminary studies found synthetic fibres in marine worms. Comparability between and within studies of plastic ingestion by biota from the Nordic environment and other regions are difficult as there are: few studies and different methods are used. It is important that research is directed towards the knowledge gaps highlighted in this report, to get a better understanding on plastic ingestion and impact on biota from the Nordic marine environment.

This report presents results from the NovasArc project that has collated data on the distribution of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) in Arctic and sub-Arctic waters. Eleven VMEs were identified, based on management goals for coral and sponge communities. Many of the vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) in the study area has a wide distribution. Soft and hard bottom sponge aggregations, hard bottom gorgonians, sublittoral sea pen communities, and cauliflower corals are predicted to cover > 20% of the study area shallower than 1000 meters.

Of the anthropogenic activities in the study area bottom trawling represents the main threat to the VMEs. The compilation of trawling activity in the study area shows that fisheries mainly occurs shallower than 1000 meters and that 50 to 60% of the seafloor is not targeted. However, 30% of the seafloor has experienced intermediate to very high fishing effort.

In general, the VMEs shows a larger overlap with fishing when the risk analysis is based on areas with an optimal habitat suitability. Using this conservative threshold to model the distribution of VMEs the results indicate that most VMEs have experienced an intermediate to high level of fishing in less than 40% of their distribution area in the whole study area.

Increasing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere leads to acidification of marine waters. Ocean acidification is relatively predictable with pH decreasing ~0.02 per decade, whereas changes in coastal pH can be 10 times larger due to changing inputs of nutrients and organic matter from land and warming. Despite that most organisms affected by acidification inhabit the coastal zone, status and trends of coastal acidification as well as possible consequences for marine life are largely overlooked. At present, coastal acidification is not consistently monitored and reported in Nordic countries. The TRIACID project has developed indicators, which are applicable to assess acidification and its potential consequences, provided that pH and other parameters of the carbonate system are monitored. It is recommended to increase focus on this emerging environmental problem.

Marine mammals hold a special position in the hearts of people inhabiting Nordic Arctic areas and in coastal communities around the North Atlantic Ocean as they are an essential part of the diet and traditional life-style. However, marine mammals are in a particularly vulnerable position as regards environmental pollutants, because of the large fat stores in their bodies which serve as a “magnet” to a large number of persistent and toxic pollutants.     A Nordic Council of Ministers supported collaboration between Norway, Denmark/Greenland, Faroe Island, Iceland and Sweden set out to look for possible trends in “new” contaminants in marine mammals in Nordic Arctic waters. The “new” contaminants in focus are the brominated flame retardants including the PBDEs, methoxylated PBDEs, perfluorinated compounds including the PFOS family, and polychlorinated naphthalenes. In addition, a subset of the samples was analysed for brominated dioxins and dibenzofurans. The marine mammals studied were fin whale, minke whale, pilot whale, white-sided dolphins, harbour porpoise, ringed seal and hooded seal. The study aims at giving a wide scope of the presence of  these ”new” contaminants in marine mammals in recent time and going back to the 1980s using samples from specimen banks.

Shipping activities across the Artic are expected to increase with decreasing sea ice cover, thus increasing the risk of oil spills. Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO, a mixture of residual fuel and distillate diluent) is often used as fuel in marine vessels as it is relatively cheaper than e.g. lighter marine fuels. Knowledge about fate and behaviour of HFOs is important to select the most efficient countermeasures in an oil spill situation as well as in the risk assessment of possible oil spills in cold waters. The aim of this review is to collate and strengthen the knowledge base on HFO in cold seawater, its fate and behaviour, including weathering, biodegradation, environmental implications of HFO spills and HFO spill response including environmental considerations regarding use the of chemical dispersants and in situ burning. Knowledge gaps and research needs are identified and described.

This report provides both field and impact data on microlitter pollution in the arctic marine environment of Svalbard and Greenland. Microlitter concentrations and characteristics were determined in marine sediments and biota in relation to local sources. Higher concentrations and diversities were found closer to human settlements and sites where lost/dumped fishing gear accumulated. Thus, local microlitter sources were found to be present in the Arctic. The experimental studies on effects of microlitter on feeding rate, microplastic ingestion, respiration and locomotion activity in an arctic amphipod, confirmed previous studies showing effects only at very high concentrations, not yet relevant in the arctic environment. The relatively low field concentrations of microlitter found in this study should be regarded as a ‘window of opportunity’ to act to at least reduce local pollution.

Marine Ecosystem Services (MARECOS) is an interdisciplinary study that provides relevant information for national, Nordic and international ecosystem services assessments and valuation in the implementation of marine policy.

This report aims to provide suggestions on how ecosystem condition assessments, being based on the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), and the HELCOM indicator based assessments for the Baltic Sea, could be used for the assessment of ecosystem services.

By describing the potentials of linking data and knowledge describing the status of marine ecosystems and water quality to the values of the services and goods provided, the report offers useful information for policy and decision makers in the domain of the marine and aquatic policies around the Baltic and in the Nordic countries.

Microlitter consists of minute particles of anthropogenic or processed natural material. The project brings together research groups to conduct specific case studies in gradients from near urban sources such as the traffic environment and cities to the coastal water and sediments in order to study the relative occurrence of specific sources and their environmental dispersion and distribution. The conclusion were first that in sediments from the road environment (tunnel runoff water), tire particles, asphalt and road markings could be identified, and in the urban creek sediments many black particles including elastomers, charcoal-like and oil and soot where in high abundance and decreased rapidly out in the recipient. The results emphasize the role of the cities as hotspot source functions for microlitter in the coastal environment and also where mitigating measures could be directed.

This study describes a proposal for a new tool on how to incorporate an ecosystem services approach into the maritime spatial planning process. The proposed tool provides a prototype for a stepwise methodology to analyze linkages between maritime activities and ecosystem services, and to assess the status of marine ecosystem services as a part of the MSP process. The report addresses the Nordic cooperation needs, economic valuation of ecosystem services and trade-offs between concurrent uses of marine areas and ecosystem services. The study shows that making use of the proposed methodology enables and facilitates the incorporation of an ecosystem services approach in the planning process. However, in order to fully assess its possibilities, and the needs for further improvements, future work should focus on applying the methodology on a comprehensive marine spatial planning case.

This report addresses changes in population size in five species of diving ducks breeding and wintering in the Baltic Sea. Declines in breeding Greater Scaup, Eider and Velvet Scoters on the Baltic coast are verified. Long-tailed Ducks and Eiders have declined in winter. Breeding Eiders have declined in Norway. Monitoring programs in all Nordic countries are partly inadequate for detecting changes in numbers of birds both in winter and during breeding, but large-scale trends appear reliable. The reasons for the declines observed are largely unknown. For breeding Eiders in the northern part of the Baltic Sea a change in predation regimes on the breeding islands may be important. If the negative trends are to be stopped, a deeper understanding of the drivers involved and better knowledge about the ecological status of the Baltic Sea food webs utilized by the diving ducks are needed.

Many fish species in the Baltic Sea are dependent on shallow and sheltered near-shore habitats for their spawning, nursery, feeding and migration. Still, the role of these essential fish habitats, EFH, for the development and support for fish production has received little attention. As coastal EFH often are found in areas heavily impacted by humans, they are subject to many threats and therefore management needs are urgent. EFH also provide and support important ecosystem services and are included in national/international agreements and legislative acts. Despite this, the conservation status of EFH is generally poor in the region. Due to these shortcomings and needs, a workshop was set up to review the importance and protection of as well as threats to coastal EFH in the Baltic Sea. This report describes the outcome of the workshop and future directions for work in this research area.

Sediments contaminated by human activities usually contain a mixture of chemicals that produce unforeseen combined toxic effects in organisms. Thus, traditional risk assessments based on the concentrations of chemicals are unlikely to produce realistic data on toxicity. In the CONTEST project, 19 biotests were evaluated using a model contaminated sediment from the Baltic Sea. Most of the biotests applied showed concentration-dependent toxicity related to the degree of chemical pollution measured in the test sediment with some variability in the sensitivity of the test organism and the endpoint. The different biotests were analysed according to specially designed assessment criteria, and the results are foreseen to be useful for end-user groups including environmental authorities, private companies and industries, environmental laboratories, consultants, and the scientific community.

The report presents results from a study on the role municipal sewage treatment plants (STPs) have as entrance routes for microplastics and other microlitter particles to the marine environment. Microlitter concentrations were analysed in waste water before and after treatment in the STPs, and in the recipient waters where the treated waste water is discharged.

Municipal waste water was found to contain a substantial amount of microlitter, but in STPs equipped with chemical and biological treatment most of the litter particles were retained in the sewage sludge. This reduces the impact on the recipient water, but if the sludge is used as fertilizer on farm land the microlitter will still reach the environment. Efforts to reduce the microlitter concentrations should therefore preferably be done in households and other locations where the waste water is originally being formed.

Shipping today operates under a complex set of international and domestic regulations. However, the environmental regulations have lagged behind those of other industries. This situation is now changing quite dramatically. The increased focus on environmental issues, combined with the growing realisation of the actual pollution burden imposed by shipping, has led to an upsurge in both international and national regulations. Some are ready and will enter into force in the near future, while others are still being developed. On behalf of the Nordic Council of Ministers DNV has carried out a study on possible control mechanisms for Nordic ship emission. The aim is to assess the baseline shipping emissions and reduction potential and the possible controlling mechanisms (both incentives and regulations) available for reducing the emissions to air from shipping within the Nordic region.

This report presents the development of a methodology for assessing confidence in eutrophication status classifications. The method can be considered as a secondary assessment, supporting the primary assessment of eutrophication status. The confidence assessment is based on a transparent scoring of the 'value' of the indicators on which the primary assessment is made. Such secondary assessment of confidence represents a first step towards linking status classification with information regarding their accuracy and precision and ultimately a tool for improving or targeting actions to improve the health of the marine environment.

This report summarizes results from sampling and analysis of microplastics in leachates from a total of 11 landfills in Finland, Iceland and Norway. The study was commissioned by the Nordic Waste Group (NAG) and the Marine Group (HAV) under the Nordic Council of Ministers. Polymer particles with an upper size limit of 5 mm and a lower limit of 50 μm (micrometres), were included. Samples were analysed by FT-IR spectroscopy. Most samples tested positive for multiple microplastics. Compared to other quantified sources of microplastics such as raw or treated sewage, landfill leachates are likely to be a relatively small source of microplastic particles between 5000 and 50 µm. Variations in particle count extends, however, over several orders of magnitude. Variability and potential effects of microplastics in landfill leachates, including particles <50µm, should be focus of future studies.

MOPODECO has aimed to fill the gaps in harmonisation of the definition of the EU Habitat Directive Annex I habitats and the view on the main pressures and threats to these habitats between the Nordic countries and countries surrounding the Baltic Sea. The project has also aimed to develop standards for describing the functional characteristics of the Annex I habitats, including standards for application of modelling tools for quantifying the coverage of habitat-forming species. In MOPODECO, the harmonised definitions, pressure evaluation matrices, functional descriptors and habitat model application standards are integrated into proposals for unified indicators of favourable conservation status for Annex I habitats in Nordic waters. Common standards for assessing the favourable conservation status of these habitats are suggested by applying these indicators in case studies from the northern and southern parts of the Baltic Sea.

This report provides an overview of the currently available data from studies on marine litter in the Nordic countries. This covers various field studies on amount, distribution, characteristics and impact of macro- and micro-litter particles. The data reported can provide a good basis for prioritisation of activities, especially having the establishment of marine litter indicators for EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive monitoring and national management plans in the Nordic countries in mind.

This report reviews the findings of an ecological/economic analyses regarding the on-going and prospective efforts to reduce eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, conducted byBalticSTERN, an international research network. The results indicate that the overall benefits of fulfilling the targets of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) clearly outweigh their aggregate costs, suggesting that the BSAP is an economically sound plan for solving the transboundary eutrophication problem. The cost of inaction - not implementing the objectives of the BSAP - would be significant.

Nordiske hav- og kystområder gjemmer store miljøproblemer. De mest akutte er knyttet til overgjødsling, overfiske og miljøgifter. I Østersjøen er tilførsel av næringssalter det største problemet, mens de vestnordiske og arktiske områdene først og fremst trues av olje och tung nedbrytbare miljøgifter som transporteres langveisfra med hav- og luftstrømmer. I det nordiske Miljøhandlingsprogrammet for årene 2009-2012 er hav- og kystområdene ett sentralt fokusområde og målet er at alle nordiske hav skal brukes bærekraftig og de skal ha god miljøkvalitet innen 2020. Denne brosjyten inneholder sju historier om hvordan nordiske forskere i fellesskap med sine europeiske naboer forsøker å løste de problemene som menneskers aktivitet har medført. Det overordnede målet er å forsterke forståelsen av hvordan de marine økosystemene fungerer og hvordan vi bør forvalte våre felles ressurser. Alle de forskningsprojektene som er beskrevet er finansiert av Havog luftgruppen innenfor det Nordiske ministerrådet. Les mer om det nordiske miljøsamarbeidet på: http://www.norden.org/no/samarbeidsomraader/miljoe

Strendur og hafið umhverfis norðurlöndin þarf að vernda gegn mengun og athöfnum manna sem geta haft áhrif á umhverfi og vistkerfi hafsins. Ofauðgun af völdum næringarefna, ofveiði og hættuleg og umhverfisskaðleg efni eru dæmi um slíkt. Ofauðgun næringarefna er eitt stærsta umhverfisvandamál Eystrasaltsins en á vestari og nyrðri svæðum er það hætta af völdum olíuefna og flutningi á þeim og uppsöfnun á þrávirkum lífrænum efnum sem eru helstu áhyggjuefnin. Hafið og strandsvæði eru áhersluefni norrænnar framkvæmdaáæltunar í umhverfismálum fyrir árið 2009-2012 og markmiðið er að öll norræn höf séu nýtt á sjálfbæran hátt og séu í góðu ásigkomulagi árið 2010. Þessi bæklingur fjallar um sjö verkefni sem er árangur af samvinnu norrænna vísindamanna við Evrópska samstarfsaðila sem öll miða að því að leysa vandamál sem skapast hafa af athöfnum manna. Markmiðið er að skilja hvernig vistkerfi sjávar virkar og hvernig við ættum að fara með þessa sameiginlegu auðlind okkar svo vel sé. Öll verkefnin fá fjárhagslegan stuðning frá vinnuhópi norræna ráðherraráðsins um haf og loft / vinnuhópi um visterfi sjávar. Frekari upplýsingar um norræn umhverfisverkefni eru á heimasíðunni.

The Nordic Screening group is pleased to present a compilation of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) monitoring data from the Nordic countries. The report has been prepared by Bergfald miljørådgivere and founded by the Nordic Council of Ministers via the Aquatic Ecosystems Group and the Nordic Chemicals Group.   In recent years, there has been an increased awareness of environmental effects from our use of PPCPs. In order to examine the occurrence of PPCPs in the environment, the Nordic countries have conducted several regional and national environmental surveys. The Nordic screening group saw the need for a compilation of these studies. The objective of this report was therefore to present the existing Nordic environmental data on PPCPs, by identifying which compounds have been analysed, in which countries and if there are obvious variations of levels detected in each country. The Nordic screening is run by a steering group with representatives from the Danish Centre for environment and Energy, Aarhus University, the Finnish Environment Institute, the Environment Agency of Iceland, the Environment Agency of the Faroe Islands, the Norwegian Climate and Pollution Agency and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.