Marine Centre in Simrishamn invited to a one-day conference to discuss current issues facing the Baltic Sea ecosystem. With focus on marine litter, ecosystem services in coastal areas and the problems associated with pharmaceuticals reaching the sea.
Snapshots from day
Marine litter is an increasing global problem with estimates of 6-7 million ton of marine litter reaching the oceans yearly with a total of 80 000 million ton estimated to be in our waters today. It is believed that 80% of all marine litter comes from land of which roughly 80% is plastic. In the Baltic Sea, researchers have found marine birds to have an average of 33 plastic pieces in their guts.
Marine Centre is part of a larger project called Fishing for Litter, where fishermen collect litter while out fishing, they bring this to shore where it is weighed, categorised and recycled. The Fishing for Litter project is designed to bring awareness and attention to the problems with marine litter, within the first three years of the project a total of 64 ton of litter has been collected of which 59% consists of plastic.
The discussions continued over to ecosystem services in coastal areas where Göran Sundblad from AquaBiota talked about VALUES a new project which will map and quantify ecosystem services from coastal areas in the Baltic Sea region with particular focus on costal fish habitats. What might not be that evident is that coastal areas rank second highest, after coral reefs, in terms of the ecosystem service they provide.
The discussions moved over to more specific fisheries related questions as Vesa Tschernij from Sydkustens fiskeområde (South Baltic flag) discussed the problems small scale fishermen in Sweden, and in particular within the South Baltic Flag area, are faced with. With economic viability being one key challenge, giving the example that if the fishermen would be paid one Swedish kroner more per kilo fish then the fishermen would be able to fish 800kg less fish and still maintain the same revenue – this would not only be more profitable for the fishermen but would also lead to decreased fish catches as the fisherman is paid a fair price for his fish. Vesa argued that a large part of the issue small scale fishermen face is the middleman/s, the middleman only pays the fisherman a fraction of what the fish is sold for to the consumer, and to make ends meet the fishermen are “forced” to increase catches. Vesa finished his presentation noting that we should move towards a management systems which takes into account the segments which poses a threat towards the fish stocks.
Marine Centre is located in Simrishamn in the south of Sweden, and is set to be a place where entrepreneurship, research and care for the marine environment can come together to promote the Baltic Sea region. The topics of the conference reflects some of the projects that the centre is involved with.