WWF demands:
“Change all traffic to south of Hoburg’s bank in the central Baltic Sea”

SWEDISH MARITIME ADMINISTRATION

In the follow up of the PSSA decision for the Baltic Sea taken by the IMO in April 2004, the deep-water route proposed by all countries except Russia is a step forward, but it is not enough. If the proposed route is to be effective, WWF demands that it needs to be compulsory for all ships and not only those with a draft exceeding 12 meters.

WWF has long worked to reduce oil pollution in the Baltic Sea. One of the measures WWF has been advocating is to move all current traffic south of Gotland, except those calling at harbours on Gotland, to a route located south and east of Hoburg’s bank. Hoburg’s bank is a shallow offshore area just south of Gotland. The area is of great importance for several seabird species, such as guillemot and long tailed duck and is repeatedly exposed for oil pollution. WWF finds it completely unacceptable that every year tens of thousands, some years even hundreds of thousands, of seabirds die due to oil spills only in this area. The impacts on marine and bottom dwelling species have to be added to these effects, among them several diseases and malformation found on flatfish.

The distribution of wintering birds in the Baltic Sea is focused on a specific area, 90 per cent of the birds wintering in the Baltic Sea use only less than 5 per cent of the sea area. Therefore these areas are more sensitive and suffer hugely from oil accidents or other incidents. One such area is Hoburg’s bank, where nearly 20 per cent or nearly one million of the entire regional population of long-tailed ducks winter.

The importance of Hoburg’s bank for several bird species is widely known. The area is of international importance for birds and it is also important for mammals such as grey seals. It has a dense flora (algae) and fauna (mussels) and a deep photic zone, which is the well-lit surface layer of the sea where plants synthesises. The area is also a significant nursing area for fish.

It is an area of international importance and it is designated as a Natura 2000 according to the EU Birds- and Habitat Directive. It is also proposed to be included in the HELCOM network of Balic Sea Protected Areas (BSPAs) and identifies as an important Bird Area by Birdlife International.

In the aftermath of several oil accidents with catastrophic consequences on the sensitive marine environment and shore communities in the Baltic Sea, all the Baltic countries except Russia submitted a joint application to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to designate the Baltic Sea as a Particular Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA).

The decision taken by IMO in April 2004 to approve the application and classify the Baltic Sea as a PSSA represents a historical step towards sustainable development in the region.

Recently, the Baltic countries supporting the PSSA designation of the Baltic Sea submitted a joint proposal for Associated Protective Measures. One of the APM’s is a deep-water route south and east of Hoburg’s bank. This proposal is aligned with long term WWF demands and we welcome this decision. However, the route is proposed only for ships with a draft exceeding 12 meters.

Since the majority of the ships using the Baltic Sea, have a draft between 5 and 8 m, the proposal will not have the preventive and precautionary effect that WWF desires. WWF stresses that the route should be proposed for all ships regardless of the draft. Then the measures would truly reduce the risk for damages of oil pollution on the valuable wildlife in Hoburg’s bank.

Unfortunately oil pollution is a major problem in the Baltic Sea and it is not only pollution caused by accidents that pose a great threat to the environment of the Baltic Sea. The daily illegal oil discharges in the Baltic Sea is also a tremendous problem. Annually the Coast Guards around the Baltic Sea register approximately 500 cases of illegal oil discharges.

The species on the Hoburg’s bank represent a powerful symbol for our natural heritage. It is essential to protect them in order to safeguard their continuance and to create sustainable prerequisites for their livelihood. To make the proposed deep-water route a route for all traffic would be a major step toward achieving that goal.

//Soheil Haghbayan
wwf sweden