This study assessed the impact of secondary hard substrate, as being introduced into marine ecosystems by the establishment of wind farm pillars, on the occurrence and distribution of the moon jelly Aurelia aurita in the southwestern Baltic Sea. A two-year data sampling was conducted with removable settlement plates to assess the distribution and population development of the scyphozoan polyps. The data collected from these samples were used to set up a model with Lagrangian particle technique. The results confirm that anthropogenic created hard substrate (e.g. offshore wind farms) has the potential to increase the abundance of the A. aurita population. The distribution of wind farm borne jellyfish along Danish, German and Polish coasts indicates conflicts with further sectors, mainly energy and tourism.

The European seas are under anthropogenic pressures impacting the state of water quality, benthic habitats and species. The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires the Member States to assess the impacts of pressures and make a programme of measures leading to good environmental status (GES) by 2020. This study presents a method for assessing the quantity and distribution of anthropogenic impacts on benthic habitats in the Baltic Sea by using spatial data of human pressures and benthic habitats. The southern sub-basins were more extensively impacted than the northern sub-basins. Over the entire sea area, deep sea habitats were more impacted than shallower infralittoral and circalittoral habitats. Sand and coarse sediments were the seabed types relatively most impacted in the Baltic Sea scale. A comparison against tentative thresholds for GES showed that in the sub-basin scale only one third of the habitat types was in GES.

The environmental condition of the Baltic Sea is not only of concern for natural scientists. The awareness of the deteriorating state of the ecosystem has become an issue of interdisciplinary interest, and the amount of organizations with the marine environment and ecosystem health on the agenda is large. To present holistic and sustainable solutions and results of the actions taken, an active cooperation between all stakeholder groups and levels are needed. How different stakeholders in the northern Baltic Sea perceive the structures and assessments of the eutrophication were analyzed by semi-structured interviews with 17 stakeholders representing authorities, scientists, NGOs and national interest organizations. The focus was the view of the governance structures, risk assessment, management and communication. There was an overall consensus that eutrophication is a serious problem. Still variations in the opinions both within and between the stakeholder groups were seen. The scientists were most divergent from the rest.

The possibility of current-driven propagation of contaminants released along a major fairway polluting the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea, is examined using a 3D circulation model, a Lagrangian transport model and statistics. Not surprisingly, the number of hits to the MPA decreases almost linearly with its distance from the fairway. In addition, the potential pollution released during a ship accident with the pollutants carried by currents may affect MPAs at very large distances. Typically, a fairway section approximately 125km long (covering about 1/3 of the approximate 400-km-long gulf) may serve as a source of pollution for each MPA. The largest MPA (in the Eastern Gulf of Finland) may receive pollution from an approximately 210-km-long section (covering about 1/2 of the entire length of the gulf). This information may be useful in assisting maritime management.

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyl (dl-PCBs) concentrations in Baltic herring (Clupea harengus) have been relatively stable since the mid to late 1990s. It is unclear why concentrations in Baltic herring are not following the observed decreases in other environmental matrices. Here, changes in long-term temporal trends in Baltic herring were examined. A number of biological variables were examined alongside the temporal trends to investigate whether fish biology e.g., growth (length, weight, age), lipid content, reproductive phase or fishing date may provide an explanation for the temporal trends observed.Significant (p<0.05) decreasing trends were observed for PCDD/F toxic equivalents (TEQPCDD/F) at three of the four sites (lipid weight (lw) and wet weight (ww), Swedish west coast lw only); however, other TEQ values e.g., TEQPCDD, TEQPCDF, TEQdl-PCB, TEQPCDD/F+dl-PCB were inconsistent, decreasing at some sites but not others. In the most recent 10years of data, fewer significant decreases were seen overall. Over the examined time period, significant decreases (Bothnian Bay, p<0.01, southern Baltic Proper, p<0.02) and increases (Swedish west coast, p<0.02) in lipid content, growth dilution or lack thereof, and significant changes in age were observed. However herring were not randomly selected which biases this result. Continual efforts to decrease PCDD/F and dl-PCB emissions and to locate/reduce hotspots are necessary, while bearing in mind that herring biology may be impeding faster decreases of these chemicals.

The Baltic Sea was contaminated by radioactivity following global nuclear fallout and later by the Chernobyl accident. Despite the decrease of radioactivity caused by radioactive decay, radionuclides have a prolonged residence time in the water of the Baltic Sea due to slow water exchange and relatively rapid sedimentation. Very little is known about the amounts or spatial differences of 90Sr and 241Am in the Baltic Sea sediments. In this study, 20 sediment cores taken around the Baltic Sea were investigated to estimate inventories of these radionuclides. The rough results show that the Chernobyl fallout added the amount of 90Sr in the same areas where the increase of 137Cs can be detected, whereas this is not the case for 241Am which is more evenly distributed in the sea bottom. In addition, local differences occur in the concentrations. These results are an important amendment to the radioactivity baseline of the Baltic Sea.

Eutrophication is a global environmental problem. Better management of this threat requires more accurate assessments of anthropogenic nitrogen (N) inputs to coastal systems than can be obtained with traditional measures. Recently, primary producer N isotopic signatures have emerged as useful proxy of such inputs. Here, we demonstrated for the first time the applicability of this method using the widespread eelgrass (Zostera marina) in the highly eutrophic Baltic Sea. Spatial availability of sewage N across a bay with one major sewage outflow predicted by eelgrass δ15N was high near and downstream of the outflow compared to upstream, but returned to upstream levels within 4km downstream from the outfall. General conclusions were corroborated by traditional eutrophication measures, but in contrast to these measures were fully quantitative. Eelgrass N isotope ratios therefore show high potential for coastal screens of eutrophication in the Baltic Sea, and in other areas with eelgrass meadows.

Despite its EU-wide ban in 2004 the triazine herbicide atrazine (ATR) and its transformation products (TPs) are frequently detected in the aqueous environment. In this study, concentrations of ATR, two of its TPs, and terbuthylazine (TERB) are presented and discussed in coastal waters of the Northern Aegean Sea, the Dardanelles, the Baltic Sea (Germany), the Northern Adriatic Sea (Italy), and the coastline close to Barcelona (Spain). The water samples (n=132) were taken in 2009–2011. Sediment samples (n=7) were taken from Baltic Sea (Germany) and Thermaikos Gulf (Greece). Maximum ATR concentrations (31–41ngL−1) were detected in Istanbul and the Dardanelles. A concentration gradient from East to West in the Aegean Sea was observed, indicating ongoing ATR contamination via the Dardanelles. Low concentrations and detection frequencies were observed at the other locations, indicating the success of the prohibition. However, the presence of TERB in the Northern Adriatic Sea raises concern.

The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ship’s Ballast Water and Sediments sets requirements to prevent organism transfers. Vessels on certain routes can be exempted from such requirements based on risk assessment (RA). As the convention nears its entry into force, the interest in exemptions increases. Such RA should be conducted according to the International Maritime Organization G7 Guidelines. We present a RA study for exemptions applied to intra-Baltic shipping considering different RA methods, i.e., environmental matching, species specific method including target species and species biogeographical aspects. As reliable species data in the ports considered are unavailable and following the precautionary principle, no exemptions should be granted. To ensure data reliability, port baseline surveys and regular monitoring programs should be undertaken during the exemption period as new species found influence the RA result. The RA model prepared is considered as of value to other areas worldwide.

The natural petroleum hydrocarbon degrading capacity of the Archipelago Sea water in S-W Finland was studied in a microcosm experiment. Pristine and previously oil exposed sites were examined. Bacterial community fingerprinting was performed using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and samples from selected microcosms were sequenced. The abundance of PAH degradation genes was measured by quantitative PCR. Bacterial communities in diesel exposed microcosms diverged from control microcosms during the experiment. Gram positive PAH degradation genes dominated at both sites in situ, whereas gram negative PAH degrading genes became enriched in diesel microcosms. The dominant bacterial groups after a 14 days of diesel exposure were different depending on the sampling site, belonging to the class Actinobacteria (32%) at a pristine site and Betaproteobacteria (52%) at a previously oil exposed site. The hydrocarbon degrading bacteria in the Baltic Sea differ from those in the oceans, where most hydrocarbon degraders belong to Gammaproteobacteria.