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13-7 Call for Urgent Action Due to Primorsk Port Development Near Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission Maritime Working Group MARITIME 19-2019 Lisbon, Portugal, 23-26 September 2019 Document title Call for urgent action due to Primorsk port development near Berezovye Islands Reserve Code 13-7 Category INF Agenda Item 13 – Any other business Submission date 02.09.2019 Submitted by Coalition Clean Baltic Reference Annotations to the Provisional Agenda of HELCOM MARITIME 19-2019 Background On behalf of its Russian member organizations and partners, the Coalition Clean Baltic would like to raise attention and call for HELCOM’s urgent action regarding the alarming situation being reported around the State Natural Reserve ‘Berezovye islands’ on the Gulf of Finland. The authorities of the Leningrad Region have recently signed an investment agreement on the creation of the universal deep-water port Primorsk worth ca 1,3 billion EUR. According to the agreement universal port should be created by 2022, with an annual turnover of about 70 million tons. It will cover an area of 760 ha on the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland. The project includes the construction of a giant port entity for handling coal, mineral fertilizers and other cargo. This project will cause real environmental threat to the Baltic Sea region and pose a danger to human health as the considerable amount of harmful substances like coal and mineral dust will be emitted into atmosphere and water. A vast territory of the coast that was used as a tourist and recreational area will become industrial zone. The construction of the Universal deepwater port Primorsk is planned on the north-east coast of the Gulf of Finland, 40 km from administrative boundary of Saint-Petersburg, 40 km from Vyborg, 55 km from the border with Finland, 4 km from The ‘Berezovye islands’ State Nature Reserve. Geographic coordinates of the proposed Universal deepwater port Primorsk are: 60°19'42.9"N 28°45'15.0"E 60.328583, 28.754167 On July 24, 2019 the developers of the Universal deepwater port Primorsk have held in the Ermilovo village the public hearings on the construction of the new port. According to the presented information the port will occupy 760 ha of the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland between Karasevka and Ermilovo villages. The turnover of the port is expected at 1740 railway wagons per day. In total, the Universal deepwater port Primorsk plans to transfer 70 million tons of cargo per year, including 20-25 million tons of coal, 5-7 million tons of mineral fertilizers, 5-7 million tons of grain. In fact it will represent almost one third of the capacity of all Baltic ports, including Kaliningrad. Relevant project documentation is available on the official website of the Universal deepwater port Primorsk: https://upkprimorsk.com/ In March 2019 even before public hearings and no matter that official State Environmental Expertise was never conducted more than 330 ha of forest were completely destroyed to clear site for the construction. That is a violation of the procedure of land transfer according to the Russian Law. See here the photo and video of destroyed forest https://yadi.sk/d/3tHST2xcwDKUQw. In addition to the existing project, the regional development scheme provides about 3.5 thousand ha of land for the construction of subsequent port entities near Vysokinskoye lake (60.308655, 28.879525). About 12 km of the coast is reserved for the expansion of the port. These lands with a long stretch of coast directly adjacent to the section of the project the Universal deepwater port Primorsk. Page 1 of 3 MARITIME 19-2019, 13-7 The project caused a negative response of the inhabitants of the coast of the Gulf of Finland, Leningrad region and St. Petersburg, as well as the scientific community has disapproved this initiative. There is a strong belief that the implementation of the project will lead to a tremendous strain on the ecosystem of the Gulf of Finland in general and this region in particular and will create risks for the human health. At the public hearings, residents and experts (about 500 people) clearly outlined the position on the inadmissibility of this project with such volumes at that location of the Gulf of Finland. They pointed out the danger of the continuous emissions of a huge amounts of coal and mineral dust into the atmosphere and water. The territory in close proximity to the project of the Universal deepwater port Primorsk is a unique natural area - ‘Berezovye islands’. The ‘Berezovye islands’ State Natural Reserve was founded in 1996. The reserve is situated in Vyborgsky District, Leningrad Oblast, Russian Federation. It is a part of the protected areas system of regional importance of Leningrad Oblast. The reserve includes an archipelago of tree great islands near to the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland, several small islets and banks, and surrounding water area. Its total area is 53 616 ha, including 45280 ha of sea area. It is located at the distance of about 30 km from the land border of Finland, 40 km from administrative boundary of Saint-Petersburg and only 4,3 km from the Universal deepwater port complex ‘Primorsk’. The ‘Berezovye islands’ Reserve (along with Kurgalsky Nature Reserve) is one of the most significant protected areas in the Russian North-West and Eastern Baltic Region. The purposes of the reserve foundation are conservation of the ecosystem of the Björkesund Archipelago and water area, conservation of stopovers of migrating birds and breeding grounds of waterfowls and shorebirds. The reserve and an adjacent mainland coast (area of the future port complex) are located on the so-called White Sea-Baltic Bird Migration Route. The archipelago provides shelters from bad weather, feeding grounds and resting sites for thousands of the migrating birds. Since the small islets are out of reach for terrestrial predators, numerous breeding colonies of water birds (ducks, cormorants, grebes, waders, seagulls and terns) occurs there. The purposes are also concerned with conservation of spawing grounds, undisturbed areas of vegetation on the islands, and cultural and historical heritage conservation. The special value of the reserve is breeding and molting area of the Baltic ringed seal. Population of the Baltic ringed seal consists between 100 and 240 individuals what means high probability of its extinction. According to the aerial surveys most part of the population concentrates to the west and south of the Berezovye islands to the beginning of breeding season because this is the only area where the fast ice stably forms. During open- water season ringed seals as well as grey seals use the banks at archipelago and mainland coast close to the projected port as haul-out sites. Besides the Baltic ringed seal a number of protected species of animals, fungus and plants inhabits the reserve. 33 species are listed in Red Data Book of Russian Federation and about 150 species are listed in Red Data Book of Leningrad Oblast. 26 species of vertebrate animals and 7 species of vascular plants have severe conservation statuses in IUCN Red List. The ‘Berezovye islands’ reserve is the Baltic Sea Protected Area (HELCOM MPAs). It is also the Wetland of International Importance (Ramsar Site) and it is nominated to the Emerald Network of Areas of Special Conservation Interest. The Universal deepwater port Primorsk is a source of many threats for the reserve at the stage of building and exploitation which are chemical, noise and light pollution, animal disturbance, reduction in food resources of the animals, direct destroying of habitats and traditional way of life of the citizens. In the frame of building large-scale dredging activities (total volume 14 500 000 m3) and an aggradation of an artificial land ground are planned. It will lead to the presence of big volume of suspended particles in the water and their further sedimentation to the bottom what may potentially impact on spawing grounds and fish stocks. The project means considerable extension of ship traffic, wherein the vessels will move along the border of the reserve and cross the Baltic ringed seal breeding ground. It is a strong concern that icebreaker will decrease the area of fast ice appropriated for the breeding of ringed seals. It is clear that a number of pollutants (i.e. coaldust) which throw away to the air and water area will be integrated in food webs in marine part of the reserve. The project documentation submitted for consideration did not contain an assessment of the impact of these and other factors on the protected area ecosystem and its individual components. The presence of the species at the territory of future port and in the impact zone, including the reserve, was not investigated (no links or details are presented), and no models of the potential impact from the activity were simulated. Chapters of the project documentation devoted to biological species, by some signs, was compiled from the Page 2 of 3 MARITIME 19-2019, 13-7 reports on other regions of Russia. For example, some exotic animals like the European mouflon (Ovis orientalis) and fallow deer (Dama dama) are mentioned which do not dwell in the Baltic region. The conclusions of the lack of harmful effect on the species were made without evidence base. The certain implications of the project on the ‘Berezovye islands’ reserve is unpredictable at present time. But it is obvious that location of the Universal deepwater port Primorsk on at such a short distance from the reserve causes a great trouble for its future. Plans to build the port Primorsk produced huge movement for protecting this place, full of rare animals and plants, to say none about people living here, some of them not further than 100 meters from future coal port.
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