FIRST VERSION OF THE ‘sTATE OF THE BALTIC SEA’ REPORT – JUNE 2017 TO BE UPDATED IN 2018 HELCOM – BALTIC MARINE ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION COMMISSION The production of this report has been carried out through the HELCOM Project for the development of the second holistic assessment of the Baltic Sea (HOLAS II). The work has been financially supported through HELCOM, the EU co-financing of HELCOM coordinated projects BalticBOOST, TAPAS and SPICE as well as special contributions by Sweden, Finland, Germany (Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety) and Denmark. The basis for the assessment of status of the Baltic Sea are the HELCOM core indicators and associated threshold values. In this context the following has been agreed: Regarding threshold values “At this point in time, HOLAS II indicators and threshold values should not automatically be considered by the Contracting Parties that are EU Member States, as equivalent to criteria threshold values in the sense of Commission Decision (EU) 2017/848 laying down criteria and methodological standards on good environmental status, but can be used for the purposes of their Marine Strategy Framework Directive obligations by those Contracting Parties being EU Member States that wish to do so”. Regarding testing of indicators Note that some indicators and/or their associated threshold value are still being tested in some countries and may be further developed in HELCOM as a result of the outcome of the testing. In some cases the results may show that the indicator is not suitable for use in a specific sub-basin. These indicators are marked in the assessment report and the results should be considered as intermediate. Editors: Lena Bergström, Heini Ahtiainen, Lena Avellan, Sara Estlander, Laura Hoikkala, Marta Ruiz, Ulla Li Zweifel Contributors: Juris Aigars, Mathias Andersson, Ditte Mandøe Andreasen, Hermanni Backer, Julia Carlström, Magda Chreptowicz- Liszewska, Ulrich Claussen, Sara Danielsson, Willem Dekker, Volker Dierschke, Margit Eero, Silke Eilers, Anders Galatius, Bo Gustafsson, Anna-Stiina Heiskanen, Tero Härkönen, Norbert Häubner, Joni Kaitaranta, Magdalena Kaminska, Samuli Korpinen, Axel Kreutle, Jarosław Krogulec, Wlodzimierz Krzyminski, Aiste Kubiliute, Leena Laamanen, Maria Laamanen, Vivi-Fleming Lehtinen, Maiju Lehtiniemi, Maria Linderoth, Urmas Lips, Andreas Lunn, Jaakko Mannio, Malgorzata Marciniewicz-Mykieta, Göran Marsh, Georg Martin, Lydia Martin-Roumégas, Michael Naumann, Elisabeth Nyberg, Henrik Nygård, Katarina Oganjan, Soile Oinonen, Tobias Porsbring, Minna Pyhälä, Henna Rinne, Nina Schroeder, Peter Sigray, Lars Sonesten, Monika Stankiewicz, Neringa Stoncaitiene, Agata Święcka, Lone Søderberg, Heidi Tuhkanen, Agnes Unnuk, Norbert Wassmund, Andrea Weiss, Juliane Wendt, Karin Wesslander, Agnes Ytreberg For bibliographic purposes, this document should be cited as: HELCOM (2017): First version of the ‘State of the Baltic Sea’ report – June 2017 – to be updated in 2018. Available at: http://stateofthebalticsea.helcom.fi Information included in this publication or extracts thereof are free for citing on the condition that the complete reference of the publication is given as above. Copyright 2017 by the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission – HELCOM Language revision: Kate Ravilious Layout: Janne Tuononen (Yksinolla), Sara Estlander Foodweb illustration: Sebastian Dahlström Cover photo: Cezary Korkosz Photo credits, summary: NASA’s Earth Observartory (eutrophication), Cezary Korkosz (hazardous substances, waterbirds, food web aspects, impacts on human well-being), OCEANA / Carlos Minguell (marine litter), Bengt Wikström (underwater sound, seabed loss and disturbance), Žilvinas Pūtys (non-indigenous species), Wolf Wichmann (species removal, habitats, fish), Christof Herrmann (mammals), OCEANA / Pitu Rovirosa (cumulative impacts) Photo credits, content: Esa Lehtinen (salmon, Ch 1), Nicklas Wijkmark (bladderwrack, Ch 1), Wolf Wichmann (ghost nets, Ch 4) STATE OF THE BALTIC SEA – FIRST VERSION 2017 i Introductory note This report contains the first version of the ‘State of the Baltic Sea’ report, presenting the assessment of status, pressures and impacts on the Baltic Sea marine environment as well social and economic analyses of the use of marine waters and costs of degradation. The report has been prepared by HELCOM during 2015–2017, and covers the period 2011–2015. The report will be further updated and consolidated and a finalized version of the report will be published in June 2018. In that process, a number of revisions and improvements are planned, including addition of new and complementary data, in particular for the year 2016, extending the assessment period to 2011–2016. During the preparation of the report, a number of additions and improvement to the report have also been identified as desired by the Contracting Parties, HELCOM working groups, and experts, but have not been feasible to fully implement and accommodate in this first version of the report. The identified remaining issues have been specified and noted. A non-exhaustive list of additional improvements is provided in the last chapter of this report. In the updated report, HELCOM also aims to include a chapter on the conclusions and a future outlook, based on an analysis of the first results and on considerations within HELCOM, in particular in association to the upcoming HELCOM Ministerial Meeting on 6 March 2018. HELCOM is carrying out a regional consultation of the first version of the ‘State of the Baltic Sea’ report, encouraging international and intergovernmental organizations to give feedback on the report. The report is also available for use by the HELCOM countries in national consultation. The comments received through the regional consultation will be considered in parallel with the updating of the report or material thereof. STATE OF THE BALTIC SEA – FIRST VERSION 2017 ii Table of Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1. Our Baltic Sea ....................................................................................... 12 1.1 Physical description of the Baltic Sea .......................................................................................................................................13 1.2 Climate and hydrology .................................................................................................................................................................16 1.3 Environmental management and the ecosystem approach ............................................................................................. 20 1.4 Regional cooperation ................................................................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 2. Overview of the holistic assessment .................................................... 26 Chapter 3. Human activities and the ecosystem .................................................... 28 3.1 Activities, pressures, and welfare impacts ............................................................................................................................. 30 3.2 Use of Baltic marine waters ........................................................................................................................................................ 37 Chapter 4. Pressures .............................................................................................. 46 4.1 Eutrophication ............................................................................................................................................................................... 47 4.2 Hazardous substances .................................................................................................................................................................61 4.3 Marine litter .................................................................................................................................................................................... 77 4.4 Underwater sound .........................................................................................................................................................................81 4.5 Non-indigenous species ............................................................................................................................................................. 86 4.6 Species removal by fishing and hunting ................................................................................................................................ 90 4.7 Seabed loss and disturbance .................................................................................................................................................... 97 Chapter 5. Biodiversity ........................................................................................ 105 5.1 Benthic habitats ........................................................................................................................................................................... 108 5.2 Pelagic habitats ............................................................................................................................................................................ 114 5.3 Fish .................................................................................................................................................................................................