Baltic Sea Pilot Project BALSAM

Testing new concepts for integrated environmental monitoring of the Baltic Sea

• Supports HELCOM work on coordinated monitoring of the Baltic and the MSFD monitoring work (Art 11) of EU Member States

• Supports the development of the HELCOM Monitoring Manual (online in October 2014)

• Provides recommendations for coordinated monitoring of environment and fisheries, seals and seabirds, non-indigenous species and benthic habitats, as well as further coordinated use of research vessels.

BALSAM – EU co-funded ”New Knowledge” pilot project (460 000€)

1. Coordinator HELCOM Secretariat2. Aquabiota, Sweden (non-profit research institute)3. Baltic Environmental Forum, Latvia (NGO)4. Estonian Fund For Nature, Estonia (NGO)5. Estonian Marine Institute, Estonia (public research institute)6. Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, Germany (public

research institute)7. Finnish Environment Institute, Finland (public research institute)8. Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute (public research

institute)9. Instytut Meteorologii I Gospodarki Wodnej – PIB, Poland (public

research institute)10. Klaipeda University, Lithuania (university)11. Latvian Fund for Nature, Latvia (NGO)12. Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Latvia (public research

institute)13. Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemuende, Germany

(public research institute)14. Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Sweden

(SMHI)15. Swedish Museum of Natural History, Sweden (public research

institute)16. Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia (university)17. University of Gdansk, Poland (university)18. WWF Finland (NGO)19. Århus University, Denmark (university, public research institute)

WP1 Project Coordination and cooperation for integrated monitoringWP lead: HELCOM Secretariat, Project CoordinatorPartners: - Aquabiota (Sweden), Baltic Environmental Forum Latvia (BEF LV), Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Estonian Marine Institute (EMI), Klaipeda University (KUCORPI, Lithuania), Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology (LIAE), Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW, Germany), Polish Institute of Meteorology and Water Management from Gdynia (IMGW), Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), Tallinn University of Technology (TUT, Estonia), Århus University (AU, Denmark) Stakeholders: Roshydromet, State Oceanographic Institute (SOI)

WP2 Fisheries and environmental monitoring

WP lead: HELCOM SecretariatPartners:Institute of Meteorology and Water Management from Gdynia (IMGW), SMHI,SYKE Stakeholders:Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries (TI-OF) External assistance: ICES

WP6 Baltic Sea benthic biotopes and habitats,

WP Lead: Baltic Environmental Forum Latvia (BEF LV)Partners: Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology (LIAE), AquaBiota Water Research ABWR AB (AquaBiota), Estonian Marine Institute (EMI), Klaipeda University (KUCORPI)

WP3 Marine mammals and seabirds

WP Lead: Århus University (AU)Partners:Latvian Fund for Nature (LFN), Swedish Museum of National History (SMNH), Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute (FGFRI),WWF Finland, Estonian Fund for Nature (EFN),

WP4 Non-indigenous species

WP Lead: HELCOM SecretariatPartners:Estonian Marine Institute (EMI), University of Gdansk (UG), Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology (LIAE), SYKE

External assistance: BSH, HELCOM, UG

WP5 coordinated international use of research vessels for monitoring

WP Lead: Tallinn University of Technology (TUT) Partners:SYKE, IMGW, Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology (LIAE), SMHI, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW)

6 (A3.1, 3.2, An overview of existing monitoring and a gap analysis for marine mammals and seabirds

C A document reviewing existing monitoring and recommendations for methodology of seal monitoring has been prepared. Information for seabird monitoring has been updated.

Information collected is presented in the interim report.

WP3

7 (3.2) A common database for seal monitoring data

P The format for seal database has been prepared.

WP3

8 (3.2) Integrated distribution data from available telemetry studies of harbour seals, grey seals and ringed seals

P A format for at-sea-distribution data from telemetry equipped seals is under development.

WP3

9 (3.2) Updated framework and methodology for coordinated monitoring of seals, living up to current challenges

NS Not started. The work will be started during autumn 2014.

WP3

WP3 seal deliverables – next report by end of November 2014

SEAL meeting will be invited to :

-discuss and agree on update interval, hosting and data collection arrangements for the seal abundance and offshore distribution databases

-discuss possibilities to have data compliant with European data formats (ODV Biology/Darwin Core formats compatible with Seadatanet/Emodnet) (Request from SYKE/ RSC Marine wise project)

-discuss and agree on how/if the data can be made publicly available and to what aggregation level

Document 4/2 on Seal databases developed in BALSAM

• Results to be presented?

• Final report in March 2015

• Timetable for results and division of tasks

• Joint final conference with the other two pilot projects (JMP NS/CS and IRIS-SES)

Next progress report by end of November 2014

Thank you!