Opportunities for Cooperation between Estonia and ... - Valitsus

APPENDIX 5
GULF OF FINLAND AND THE BALTIC SEA
Created approximately 10,000 to 15,000 years ago after the latest Ice Age,
the Baltic Sea is one of the youngest seas in the world. At the same time,
it is the world’s largest brackish water basin inhabited both by sweet-water
and salt-water organisms. Being relatively shallow, the Baltic Sea is highly
sensitive. In the late1950s, the state of the sea was still considered good.
Subsequent changes have even had economic consequences on fishing,
tourism and the provision of recreational services. At the same time, the risk
of maritime accidents and the probability of environmental damage have been
heightened.
Many scientists have declared that today the Baltic Sea is the world’s most
polluted sea. The biggest problem is eutrophication due to phosphates and
nitric compounds. Dense aquatic vegetation and its degradation processes
decrease the oxygen content of sea water and its quality, which, in turn, has
an adverse impact on the habitat of fish and other water fauna. According to
scientific estimates, the Baltic Sea now contains four times more nitrogen and
eight times more phosphorous compared with the situation at the beginning
of the 20th century. Additionally, 42,000 km2 of the seabed is practically
biologically dead because of oxygen depletion. This type of area affects the
food chain in the sea and may, according to researchers, even cause the entire
ecosystem to collapse. Each summer, we can witness how sizeable portions of
the Baltic Sea are unfit for swimming when the toxic blue-green algae form
blooms.
Pollution from agriculture, forestry, industry, transport and shipping has pushed
the Baltic Sea into a corner. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has
declared the entire Baltic Sea, except for the Russian territorial waters, a highly
sensitive sea area. Today, all the Baltic Rim countries, with the exception of
Russia, are members of the European Union.
Aside from the pollutants from land, one of the biggest risks is posed by
shipping. Carriage by sea accounts for nearly half of all the goods transported
to and from the Baltic Rim countries. Over the past ten years, the volume of
shipping in the Baltic has increased 50%. According to 2007 statistics, over
60,000 vessels entered or exited the Baltic Sea during one year. At any given
time, over 1,350 freighters are in transit in the Baltic. Simultaneously, there are
150 to 200 oil tankers moored in some 20 ports around the Baltic Sea.
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