Information & Meetings
	Conferences & Events
	Support needed for integrated management of Spanish bay

Organisations
	New hyperlinks

Environment
	Finland plans further Baltic Sea emission cuts
	New virus outbreak in Danish seal population

Policy
	Commission supports drastic changes in European fisheries policy
	Regulation for European Maritime Safety Agency drafted
	Recommendations of high level ICZM meeting published
	Moratorium on commercial whaling kept up, but no sanctuaries

Events recently announded

Please note:
The overview of the Coastal Guide conference and event  meeting list can be found at http://www.coastalguide.org/meetings/

Support needed for integrated management of Spanish bay

The Bay of Algerias in the South of Spain provides habitat for a multitude of species, from whales and dolphins to migratory birds. Quite some efforts have been taken by the Spanish government to preserve the Bay's biodiversity through the creation of natural sanctuaries, but the measures are not integrated with other uses of the coast such as expanding human settlements, heavy industry and maritime traffic. A group of researchers has put a paper together which gives an overview of the natural treasures of and the human pressures on the area, and aims at attracting support from international institutions for the development of an integrated management plan.
If you are interested, please contact Sandra Kloff and Juan Manuel Ballestra Gomez, srkloff@hotmail.com and ask for the paper

New hyperlinks

First European ICZM High Level Forum on Community Strategies for Integrated Coastal Zone Management
http://www.gizc.com
To promote the integrated management of coastal zones in the EU Member States and in regional seas, facilitate stakeholder dialogue and exchange of information

Fair Isle Marine, Environment & Tourism Initiative
http://www.fairisle.org.uk/FIMETI/index.htm
To establish the long term protection and sustainable management of the marine resources around Fair Isle (Shetlands)

Firth of Clyde Forum, Scotland, UK
http://www.clydeforum.org
The Forum is a voluntary partnership of local authorities, organisations, businesses and communities committed to working towards integrated, sustainable management of the Clyde's environmental, economic and community resources

National Aquatic Litter Group
http://www.nalg.org.uk
To achieve a quantifiable reduction in the amount of litter in rivers and the sea around the United Kingdom from domestic and international sources and to enhance the quality of local aquatic environments through systematic programmes of work.

OceanNet UK Marine Environmental Data Network (UKMED)
http://www.oceannet.org
To develop, maintain and make available inventories of data, guidelines for data management, facilitate data exchange (including contributing UK data to global databases), and raise the visibility of the UK Marine Environmental DataNetwork.

Finland plans further Baltic Sea emission cuts

Conditions at 22 Finnish and Swedish pollution hot spots were re-assessed during the Eighth HELCOM PITF (Programme Implementation Task Force) Regional Workshop in Stockholm on 27-28 May 2002, ten years after the launch of the Hot Spot Restoration Programme. The PITF prepatory group within HELCOM concluded that four pollution hot spots might be deleted from the list later this year, including metal smelters at Outokumpu in Finland and Boliden/Rönnskär in Sweden, Stockholm's wastewater treatment plants, and Finnish fish farms in the Archipelago and the Åland Sea. However, the farms still give rise to local eutrophication problems, and are currently the main source of nutrients in that area. Helsinki's wastewater treatment plant could also be removed from the hot spots list within the next few years, since further investments are in place to improve the efficiency of nitrogen- removal. Agricultural Hot Spots remain the significant source of pollution by nutrients. As Bluetooth News (http://www.us-reo.dk) reported, the Finnish government has approved the Baltic Sea Protection program - measures to improve the state of the Baltic Sea and protect the marine life. The measures have been designated to halve Finland's own nutrient emissions into the Baltic. They will be carried out over the next 10-15 years and are expected to require investment amounting to EUR 300-370 million. Most will be spent on improvements in the removal of nitrogen, from municipal wastewater, on water protection in sparsely populated rural area, and on improvements in maritime safety and the capability to deal with oil spills. The largest sum consists of environmental subsidies for agriculture. A total of EUR 6.7 million is to be budgeted for the completion of construction work at St. Petersburg wastewater treatment plant over the period 2003-2004.
For further information, contact Claus Hagebro, PITF coordinator, claus.hagbro@helcom.fi, or Tapani Kohonen, Ministry of the Environment, tapani.kohonen@ymparisto.fi

New virus outbreak in Danish seal population

The number of seals that have been found dead off the coast of the Danish islands of Anholt and Laeso has increased to over 225. A team of Danish and Dutch experts have concluded that the death is caused by the same virus that caused massive mortality among seal populations in Western Europe in 1988. This first outbreak of the Phocid Distemper Virus started in Danish waters and in about one year 60% of the Common Seals in the Wadden Sea died. Grey Seals suffered much less from the DTV epidemic. In 2001, the total Danish population of Common Seals was estimated 2380, the population near Anholt around 250.
For background information on the Common seal: http://www.coastalguide.to/commonseal

Commission supports drastic changes in European fisheries policy

Dr. Franz Fischler, European Commissioner responsible for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, presented the Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) to the European Parliament on 29 May 2002 and announced further proposals and reports on the conservation of stocks in the Mediterranean, fishing outside EU waters, the control of fisheries, aquaculture, the integration of economic elements into the CFP and on the restructuring of the fleet in coastal areas. He admitted that the existing fisheries policy is a failure. According to the proposed reform programme, multi-annual stock recovery and stock management plans will be drawn up. With the help of those plans, the Commission will establish the level of fishing effort that each of these stocks can tolerate and the technical measures to be used. Consequently, in the future, ever smaller annual quotas will be set, and the Commission will determine how many boats may fish for how many days in certain zones and what kind of nets they will be allowed use. The total time EU trawlers spend at sea will consequently be cut by between 30 and 60 percent, depending on the fish species and region. Public funds will be used to help those who leave the profession. In order to finance this concept, the existing structural programmes will be restructured to allocate funds for social measures. If necessary, the Commission intends to make additional funds for scrapping and social assistance available. It is expected that the result will be a smaller but more competitive fleet, whose fishing effort will be better adapted to the available resources. In order to strengthen uniform control and enforcement of fisheries, the reform plan proposes to establish a common fisheries control structure. It is intended to co-ordinate the national and EU control activities and to combine the funds that are allocated to this purpose. Inspections will be carried out in future by teams of inspectors from several Member States. Those Member States who do not respect the common rules, will be faced with quota or fishing effort reductions or cuts in funds allocated to them. The Commission also wants to promote dialogue at an international level, particularly between the European Union and those countries with which we have concluded fisheries agreements. The timetable foresees measures coming into force before 1 January 2003. The plans have been heavily criticised by Mediterranean countries led by Spain, the biggest beneficiary of the EUR one billion a year EU fisheries policy and home to an industry that still directly employs 65,000 fishermen - much more than in other coastal nations.
For more information, visit http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?e39249371&e=6347 http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/16174/story.htm

Regulation for European Maritime Safety Agency drafted

The European Council of Ministers recently adopted the text of a Common Position on the establishment of a European Maritime Safety Agency. It is intended that this Agency will represent the technical body that provides the European Union with the necessary means to enhance maritime safety and ship pollution prevention rules. It should advise on respective legislation and support its implementation, organise training activities, provide know-how, information and data to the Member States, and develop technical solutions and an appropriate information system. The proposed Regulation of the Agency has to be signed by the Presidents of the European Parliament and the Council.
For the complete text, visit http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/oj/2002/ce11920020522en.html

Recommendations of high level ICZM meeting published

The declaration of the 1st European ICZM High Level Forum held in Alicante, Spain from 18 to 20 April is now on-line. These recommendations put forward by the Spanish Ministry of Environment and representatives of EU Member States and accession countries, include the development of common indicators for the status of the coast, advances in information management, the compilation of a Guide of Good Practices, promotion of ICZM on a local scale and a continuation of the EU ICZM Demonstration Programme. Sea level rise, depletion of fish stocks and population growth in coastal areas are highlighted as top priority.
The Recommendations can be downloaded from http://www.gizc.com

Moratorium on commercial whaling kept up, but no sanctuaries

Two whaling management plans proposed during the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) were rejected by the IWC, one of them put forward by Japan. The surprise in the voting came when one of Japan's traditional whaling allies abstained from the vote. Norway said Japan's proposal was not strong enough even though it would eliminate sanctuaries. Russia also abstained. An alternative proposal put forward by Sweden, the Netherlands, Ireland, Oman, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and Finland also failed to gain the three quarters majority approval of the 48 member IWC and so did another one on the establishment of whale sanctuaries.
More news on the annual meeting: http://www.wdcs.org, http://www.highnorth.no, http://whales.greenpeace.org/iwc2002.html

Deadline for submitting contributions to Coastal Guide News No 12: 12 June, 2002

COASTAL GUIDE NEWS is a biweekly newsletter published by the EUCC - The Coastal Union with financial support of Stichting DOEN, the foundation of the Dutch lottery "Postcode Loterij" and the Department of International Nature Affairs of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries. For free subscriptions, comments or contributions to this newsletter, please contact news@coastalguide.org. 

Members of the Coastal Guide News editorial team: Erik Devilee, Marijke Kooijman, Irene Lucius, Piet Lansbergen, Hanneke Mesters, Albert Salman, Stephanie Spijkerman, Virginie Terrier.
 

Established in 1989, the EUCC - The Coastal Union is an association involving the largest coastal network in Europe with 750 members and member organisations in 40 countries. For more information please contact EUCC International Secretariat, POBox 11232, NL-2301 EE Leiden, the Netherlands, tel.: +31-71-5122900, internet: http://www.eucc.nl
 

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