Baltic Sea ecosystem still lacks attention of the Baltic Sea region states
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Baltic Sea ecosystem will be protected from harmful effect, and the existing
fish resources will be saved if ecosystem monitoring and fisheries control will
be enhanced. Such a common position was reached in national audits on monitoring
of ecosystem and fisheries control in the Baltic Sea conducted by the National
Audit Office of Lithuania and eight other Supreme Audit Institutions from the
Baltic region. |
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in all the Baltic Sea, because although they apply uniform criteria analysing
and evaluating the Baltic Sea ecosystem, however, communication of the national
research data to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)
is not timely or is not happening at all. In the opinion of the auditors, there
is a risk that the status of the Baltic Sea ecosystem and its regional changes
will not be timely evaluated, and appropriate measures will not be taken to
counter the arising threats.
National audits detected that monitoring and analysis of biodiversity in the
Baltic Sea performed by individual states is not sufficient. It is necessary to
identify with the help of scientific research where, when, and what indicators
should be monitored. Development of an efficient Baltic Sea monitoring network
will need additional financial and human resources, without which Baltic Sea
ecosystem will not be properly monitored.
Having evaluated fisheries management and control in the Baltic Sea in Denmark,
Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Russia, Sweden it was detected that these states
need to methodically control fishery while taking into account the identified
risks. During the audits only Denmark, Finland, and Sweden partially controlled
fishery along risk factors. The auditors recommended the states to improve the
catch control. The audits revealed that although logbooks are kept and the
fisheries control data are cross-hecked, however, such cross-checking of
fisheries control data is not done systematically and is not effectively
supported by electronic fisheries information systems. It is important to focus
on development and implementation of electronic logbooks and support of
cross-checking of fisheries control data by well functioning electronic
fisheries information systems. In order to establish a sensible and effective
co-operation in the area of fisheries and conservation of fisheries stocks in
the Baltic Sea, it is necessary that the Russian Federation and the European
Union sign an agreement on co-operation in the area o fisheries and conservation
of living marine resources in the Baltic Sea.
Joint Final Report on the Audit of Environmental Monitoring and Fisheries
Management and Control in the Baltic Sea was drawn up by the National Audit
Office of Denmark having summarized audits conducted by National Audit Offices
of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and
Sweden.
Joint Final Report on the Audit of Environmental Monitoring and Fisheries Management and Control in the Baltic Sea