Marine protection

The term marine protection comprises measures that serve to protect and restore marine habitats with regard to their functions in the natural balance . Thus, marine protection is a part of nature conservation .

The anthropogenic influence on the oceans is diverse and ranges from direct pollution with pollutants and garbage to the complex warming of the oceans as an effect of global warming . Nevertheless, all influences in diverse interactions of the sea affect the entire ecosystem. In addition to plants and animals, this system also includes oceanographic factors such as currents , water temperature , density and climatic factors. Over 40 percent of the world's population today lives no further than 100 kilometers from a coast. For many people, the sea is the most important source of protein. While at the beginning of the 20th century there was still talk of the ocean's infinite resources, it is clear today that human activity is changing the function of the oceans forever. Various non-governmental organizations have been campaigning for marine protection since the early 1970s . Various international agreements were also concluded.

Protected property and function

Carbon cycle diagram . The black numbers show how many billions of tons of carbon are in the various storage facilities. The purple numbers show how much carbon is exchanged between the individual storage facilities per year.

Marine habitats are the ecosystems of the seas and oceans and their coasts. They fulfill an essential function in global material cycles, such as the carbon cycle , the nitrogen cycle and the carbonate pump. The global climate budget is also largely determined by the water masses of the world's seas and oceans. As a natural resource, the sea provides animal protein (marine animals) for more than a billion people on earth, making it the world's largest source of food. In addition, the biological diversity of marine ecosystems is particularly high. After all, the oceans and seas have an intrinsic value (“value in itself”) for many people . For this reason, the biotic and abiotic components of marine habitats in the natural balance and their interactions should be protected through marine protection measures .

Endangered habitats

Due to the flowing transition, the oceans are more difficult to divide into different areas than terrestrial systems. Nevertheless, the concept of protection often depends on the level of detail (resource protection, biodiversity protection, coastal protection, etc.).

Habitats that are particularly threatened are:

• Coral reefs : Coral reefs are primarily endangered by the phenomenon of coral bleaching . From an ecological point of view, coral reefs are particularly valuable due to their high biological diversity. Due to the corals' dependence on warmer water, coral reefs are found relatively close to the equator. This can lead to shifts due to the effects of large ocean currents (e.g. Humboldt Current from South America).
• marine mangrove forests : mangrove forests in many parts of the world mainly through investment and expansion of intensively farmed shrimp farms ( " shrimp farms at risk"). Often the ponds are heavily contaminated with chemicals after three to ten years and have to be abandoned after only a few years. Reforestation with mangroves is almost always impossible afterwards. Further sources of danger are pollution by oil ( Panama , Persian Gulf ), but also the draining of mangrove areas in the course of the settlement development in the coastal area. The yields of coastal fishing fell drastically wherever large areas of the mangrove forests were cut down, as they are also considered to be the "nursery" for various types of fish. Efforts to reforest mangroves are z. Taken for example in Vietnam , Thailand , India , Sri Lanka and the Philippines . Despite these efforts, the destruction of mangrove areas continues; the loss over the past 20 years amounts to 25% of the area available in 1980.

Marine protection instruments

The protection of marine systems is usually implemented through a combination of education and communication of the people affected, legal regulations, voluntary commitments and political measures. A key tool in the protection of marine habitats are protected marine areas . In order to protect coastal habitats, the aim is to achieve integrated coastal zone management based on the cooperation of various actors , by means of which economic interventions by humans in the marine environment can be regulated and, if necessary, controlled.

Marine Protected Areas (MPA)

Larger MPAs

Marine protected areas serve as recreational and retreat areas for various marine animal and plant species. Reefs and coral banks are particularly important here . The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources , IUCN defines a marine reserve as follows:

"[An] area within or below the tidal range, including its overlying water column and associated flora, fauna, and historical and cultural values, all or part of which is protected by law or other effective means."

The positive effects of marine protected areas were confirmed by studies by Australian marine biologists in 2008: In protected areas around the Great Barrier Reef where fishing is prohibited , the populations of various fish species grew by 31 to 75 percent within just two years.

The first German marine protected areas on the high seas were designated on the basis of the European NATURA 2000 program . With the entry into force of the European Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive for the conservation of natural habitats, the member states of the European Union committed themselves in 1992 to creating a coherent network of protected areas on land and at sea.

These marine areas are protected for various reasons: in some cases they are “nurseries” for marine mammals (especially porpoises ), resting areas for seabirds or they have a valuable habitat on the sea floor ( benthos ). In 2005, Germany was the first European country to designate two marine protected areas in its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Four areas in the North Sea and six areas in the Baltic Sea are now under protection.

In November 2008 the EU Commission presented proposals for securing the supply of raw materials to European industry. It also considered using sustainable raw materials in NATURA 2000 areas. In the long term, this could mean that sand and gravel can be mined again or oil and gas can be extracted in the areas. In the German NATURA 2000 area Fehmarnbelt , a 19 km long bridge is to be built according to the will of Denmark, Germany and Schleswig-Holstein .

IUCN "Hope Spots"

The IUCN introduced the category of so-called "Hope Spots". There are currently 76 (as of 2016) marine areas with special protection needs, but without a mandatory protection status. The concept is based on the hotspots network that has existed for terrestrial habitats for a long time. The current Ocean Warming Report was presented at the IUCN 2016 World Conservation Congress. One result of this is the expansion of the list by 14 more "Hope Spots".

Coastal national parks in Germany

With the establishment of the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park on October 1, 1985, an area within the 12-mile zone was designated that falls dry depending on the tide . In addition, coastal zones (including salt marshes ) are protected. Since nature conservation is a matter of the federal states, a Wadden Sea National Park was designated in Lower Saxony ( Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park ) in 1986 and in the Elbe estuary ( Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park ) in 1990. The responsibilities and the policies pursued in the parks differ depending on the country. The Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park and the relatively small Jasmund National Park on Rügen have been designated on the Baltic Sea coast .

Agreement on marine protection

Reykjavík on the coast of Iceland . The Atlantic around Iceland is protected by the OSPAR Agreement.

Since seas and oceans connect countries and continents, it was quickly recognized that measures to protect them are only effective if all residents work together to protect the respective sea. A number of other regional and supra-regional agreements are included in the list of international environmental agreements .

• MARPOL : The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships wasadoptedby the IMO in 1973and amended in 1978. First of all, the legal basis for the prevention of oil pollution in the seas should be created. Today MARPOL is the most important international agreement for the protection of the marine environment in commercial shipping. MARPOL should in principle be enforced by the state under whose flag the ship is sailing. However, since flagging out merchant ships is now common practice and some of these ships never call at a port in their flag country, the authorities of the port country are also allowed to monitor and enforce compliance with the regulations.
• OSPAR : Forerunners of the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Northeast Atlantic came into force with the Oslo Convention, OSCOM of 1972 and the Paris Convention, PARCOM of 1974. The agreement is intended to regulate all major interventions in the marine environment of the North Atlantic. This includes, for example, the installation of wind turbines or drilling rigs, as well as all substances that are discharged into the North Atlantic and the North Sea.
• HELCOM : The Helsinki Commission, HELCOM, was founded as an intergovernmental organization by the Baltic Sea countries to improve the natural state of the marine environment in the Baltic Sea. Members are the nine neighboring countries and the European Community. After the amendment to the agreement in 1992, the adjacent inner waters and their entire catchment area will also be included. That is why Norway, the Czech Republic and other countries signed the agreement in 1992.
• Biodiversity Convention : The Biodiversity Convention, CBD ("Convention on Biological Diversity") is an international environmental agreement for the conservation of worldwide biological diversity. Theagreement negotiatedat the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, UNCED 1992 in Rio de Janeiro , obliges the contracting parties to take appropriate measures to conserve and protect their biological resources on land and in the sea. At the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Conference of the Parties in Bonn in 2008, global networked marine protected areas were called for.
• International convention on the regulation of whaling : The convention regulates the worldwide catch quotas and thus also the protection of this species of marine mammals. The permanent body is the International Whaling Commission , IWC.
• EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive : The EU adopted this directive in 2008 in order to bring the European seas to or maintain good environmental status by 2020. As of 2011, the draft law will be legally embedded in the member states. In Germany, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation is entrusted with the implementation.

Hazards to marine systems

The following overview indicates some factors that threaten the seas. Details are presented in the relevant specialist articles.

Eutrophication

Plankton distribution in the world's oceans (averaged data from records from 1998 to 2004)

Algal bloom off Cornwall , 1999. In contrast to the calcareous alga Emiliania huxleyi involved here, other algae are threatened by acidification, including Gephyrocapsa oceanica , which is of great importance for the ocean ecosystem.

Dead seal on Hallig Langeness / Schleswig-Holstein. Because of the high concentration of heavy metals in the fat of the animals, the animal carcasses must be disposed of as hazardous waste.

→ Main article : Eutrophication

While nitrogen and phosphorus have a limiting effect on biomass formation in water bodies, this factor is shifted by the increase in trophies . This increases the potential, i.e. “fertility”, through human influences. Usually this leads to increased growth of diatoms , but not to an increase in biomass formation overall. Phytoplankton usually increases and the range of species shifts. The poisonous algae blooms , which are also attributed to the eutrophication of sea areas, are harmful to humans . Eutrophication is mostly caused by the fertilizers used in agriculture and has a negative effect on large parts of the marine ecosystem due to the increased growth of algae .

Pollutants

Pollutants enter marine systems

• through wastewater (industry, households, agriculture),
• made of marine paint ,
• in the improper dismantling of ships in ship- breaking yards or on flat beaches (e.g. in India , Pakistan , Bangladesh and China )
• and by dumping waste and contaminated sites . The substances can be divided into the following pollutant groups (classification proposed in 1992 by R. B. Clark):
• Metals : The discussion centers on the heavy metals cadmium , mercury , lead , zinc , nickel and copper . The highly toxic tributyltin hydride (TBT) inparticularhas long been used in large quantities in ship paints to prevent colonization by barnacles and mussels. TBT is carcinogenic, mutagenic and disrupts the hormonal balance of living things.
• Radioactivity : Seas and oceans are polluted by radioactively contaminated sewage and submerged waste. In Europe, 90 percent of these discharges come from two reprocessing plants : La Hague and Sellafield . From there, the liquid nuclear waste is distributed in the north-east Atlantic and the North Sea and also reaches the German Bight . According to Greenpeace (2011), the state-owned company operating the Sellafield reprocessing plant, British Nuclear Fuels ,pumpsaround eight million liters of radioactive waste water into the Irish Sea every day, oralmost 3 billion liters a year. According to this, around 500 million liters a year enter the English Channel from the plant in La Hague. According to the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ), 9 statesdumped a total of 114,726 tons of nuclear waste in 222,732 barrelsin 15 locations in the north-east Atlantic by 1982. ( Contaminated sites in the seas )
• Hydrocarbons: Halogenated hydrocarbons damage the fertility of many marine life. Their exact effect has not yet been adequately researched. Chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHC) are practically not broken down by organisms. This is why there is extreme accumulation in the food chain .
• Persistent substances
• Ammunition : Only for the German North and Baltic Seas 1.6 million tons of old munitions are believed introduced during Seekriegshandlungen in exercise activities of the navies and for the purpose of disposal .
• Solid waste: The Joint Group of Experts on Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) found that 80 percent of the litter in the sea comes from the mainland and 20 percent from locations in the sea (e.g. from ships). In the Pacific a “ garbage carpet ” floats on an area that is comparable to the area of ​​Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Luxembourg, Hungary and Switzerland combined. Most of the garbage consists of plastics . Sea birds (for example albatrosses) mistake the garbage for prey and eat it. The situation is similar with marine mammals. The IUCN estimates that one million seabirds, 100,000 marine mammals and an unquantifiable number of fish die of plastic waste every year.
• Petroleum : Oil pollution, including oil spills, is a recurring threat to ecosystems in and around the sea. After an oil tanker accident (see e.g. Exxon Valdez ), major oil spills sometimes occur.

See also : Lists of serious marine accidents

In order to reduce the likelihood and extent of similar accidents, the 1990 Oil Pollution Act stipulated that only double-hulled oil tankers were allowed to dock in US ports. Since spring 2001, according to a resolution of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), tankers with simple hulls may no longer be built. From 2015 these should generally no longer be used.

The dumping of heavy fuel oil is contributing to the creeping oil pollution of the seas. For cost reasons, the ships dump fuel residues into the sea instead of having them properly disposed of in port. Until the 1990s, it was hardly possible to prove that the ships were polluted. The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency , BSH, uses gas chromatography to compare the “fingerprint” of oil samples from the sea with those from suspicious ships and can thus convict “polluters” and impose fines on them.

overfishing

→ Main article : Overfishing

→ Main article : Illegal fishing

The excessive depletion of fish stocks in a body of water by fishing is known as overfishing. By instruments of fisheries management authorities, the maximum sustainable yield try ( catch quota , Eng. Maximum sustainable yield , MSY) be determined. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), founded in 1997, awards a seal for products from sustainable fishing companies.

Illegal fishing , “Illegal, unreported and unregulated” for short IUU, is illegal, undocumented and unregulated fishing in all seas. Sometimes it is colloquially referred to as "pirate fishing". It contributes to a large but difficult to quantify part of the overfishing of the world's oceans. According to estimates by the UNEP's World Conservation Monitoring Center, it accounts for 30 percent of global catches of marine animals (as of 2014). The order of magnitude of the landings from this practice is between 11 and 26 million tons of fish. The WCMC sees this practice as the most important reason why the international community cannot manage or protect fish stocks on the high seas. The trawlers operate outside of existing regional management arrangements. The illegally operating fishermen observe neither fishing quotas nor restrictions on fishing techniques or protected areas. Illegal fishing also takes place in the territorial waters of many countries that are unable to establish effective fisheries controls. The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) estimates that the coastal state of Guinea loses $ 100 million annually to illegal fishing trawlers poaching in its waters . Local fishermen are losing their livelihoods, which has a negative impact on the social structure of entire regions.

Bycatch

Bycatch: White-flanked porpoise caught in a fishing net

→ Main article : Bycatch

Bycatch is the term used to describe the marine animals that are caught that are not useful fish, but are caught nonetheless. These marine animals are usually so damaged that they do not survive and are often thrown back into the sea. According to estimates, 22 percent of the fish and invertebrates caught in the North Sea are not landed but are thrown overboard as waste. Since around four percent of the total fish biomass in the North Sea is fish and other animal waste, this also significantly changes the structure of the food web in the North Sea.

In the technique of longline fishing , sea birds perish in large numbers. The baits placed near the surface of the water while the lines are being set attract sea birds in search of food. They get caught and are drowned when the lines sink. According to estimates by BirdLife International , one dead albatross must be counted for every 2,500 hooks .

Extraction of raw materials and offshore energy generation

The mining of sand and gravel as well as the extraction of crude oil and natural gas disrupt marine ecosystems in the benthos . Oil platforms on the open sea endanger marine ecosystems due to operational leaks in the production systems. The only German oil platform is Mittelplate, operated by RWE Dea and Wintershall Holding , on the southern edge of the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park off Büsum . The operating license was issued a few days before the National Park Act was passed. The land connection is made with pipelines that were buried in the tidal flats .

In 1995 Greenpeace ran a publicity campaign against the disposal of industrial waste in the sea. They denounced the planned sinking of a floating oil tank owned by Shell ; an activist group occupied it. In 1998 the 15 participating states of the OSPAR conference decided to ban oil platforms in the North Atlantic . Since then, these have been towed to a shipyard for scrapping or dismantling and dismantled there.

Renewable energy sources also include the use of strong and relatively constant sea ​​winds on the open sea. Offshore wind farms change the benthos through their foundations and the submarine cables. The level of exposure to migratory birds and seabirds that winter in the areas is currently still a matter of dispute. For the approval of such systems in the German exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the future operators must submit a detailed environmental impact assessment to the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH).

In December 2004, the BSH rejected two planned offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea off Rügen for the first time. The Adlergrund and Pomeranian Bay parks were not approved . The decision was justified with the possible ecological effects. In August 2009, the first offshore wind farm in the German EEZ alpha ventus went into trial operation. It is located 43–45 kilometers northwest of Borkum . In September 2009, shortly before the 2013 federal election, the federal government ( Merkel I cabinet ) went public with a plan to build 40 offshore wind farms in the German EEZ of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The 2500 wind turbines should therefore have a total output of 12 GW.

In October 2009 the BSH announced that it had approved three further wind farms in the North Sea: "Delta Nordsee 2" (applicant for offshore wind farm Delta Nordsee GmbH ), "MEG Offshore I" (applicant for North Sea Offshore MEG I GmbH ) and "Veja Mate “(Applicant Cuxhaven Steel Construction GmbH ). The wind farms "Delta Nordsee 2" (32 wind turbines) and "MEG Offshore I" (80 wind turbines) are planned around 40 km north of the East Frisian Islands in a suitable area for wind turbines. The “Veja Mate” wind farm (80 wind turbines) is to be built around 90 km north of Borkum and around 129 km west of Helgoland . The wind farms are located outside the main concentration area of ​​the species group loons . With these plans, the BSH has approved a total of 28 wind farm projects in the German EEZ (25 North Sea, 3 Baltic Sea).

tourism

Gray seals off Amrum in the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea . Young animals are repeatedly disturbed by tourists at the rest areas in the winter months.

Tourism can affect coastal ecosystems indirectly and directly: a coastal habitat is usually degraded by sealing. In many countries hotels and tourist facilities dispose of their waste directly in the sea and discharge sewage. In many countries that are frequented by tourists, the environmental standards are low and often not complied with. A landscape in which little human influence is recognizable is considered “untouched” and is generally understood to have a high recreational value. Here human influences have a direct effect, for example by disturbing turtles , marine mammals , sea birds and wading birds ( Limikolen ). In many areas there are beaches where windsurfing and kite surfing are practiced right next to bird sanctuaries , which leads to conflicts of use.

Climate change

→ Main article : Ocean warming

The consequences of anthropogenic global warming have a major impact on the seas and oceans. The melting of large ice masses in polar regions plays an important role. Since 1985, the average temperature in the Baltic Sea inland has increased by 1.4 ° C in the period from July to September.

Annual mean sea ​​surface temperature (SST) for 2005

The thermal expansion of the water makes a significant contribution to the current rise in sea level . However, this rise in sea level primarily has an impact on the coastal regions of the continents and in particular on the people living there. Much more serious for the ocean ecosystem are the numerous other effects associated with increased water temperature. On a global average, the oceans have warmed by 0.04 ° C since 1955. This slight warming is due to the fact that so far only a few hundred meters of the uppermost water layers have become warmer. If you only consider the surface temperatures, the warming of 0.6 ° C is already much more pronounced. It is still less than the increase in surface temperatures on land, since land areas generally warm up faster. Between 1993 and 2005 the total rate of warming of the uppermost 750 m sea depth is calculated to be 0.33 ± 0.23 W / m².

The warming of the oceans has consequences for their inhabitants such as fish and marine mammals: They migrate towards the poles, in which they resemble land animals. The cod populations in the North Sea are shrinking more than can be explained by overfishing alone; they are already migrating northwards as a result of the rising temperatures. Northern regions benefit from this development: For the Arctic Ocean it can be assumed that fishing will improve overall and the composition of the catch will change as long as warming is limited to 2-4 ° C. No forecasts can be made for any further increase rates and their consequences, as the uncertainties are too great.

The coral reefs are particularly badly affected . The warming of the sea water causes so-called coral bleaching in them , which is reversible, but leads to the death of the corals with prolonged exposure. Since the 1950s, 20% of all coral reefs have been destroyed (also by problematic fishing methods such as trawls and the like). Another 24% are on the verge of collapse, 26% are at risk. Tropical corals have little tolerance for rising temperatures; they begin to bleach at 1–2 ° C above the summer temperature maximum. It is doubted that the corals can adapt quickly enough to the rise in sea temperatures, although this cannot be ruled out.

Coastal zones are being shifted due to the real and expected rise in sea level, and more frequent storm surges are feared in populated areas . Flat archipelagos in the Pacific Ocean, such as the Tuvalu archipelago with the highest point 5 meters above sea ​​level , will be flooded in the medium term (50 to 200 years).

Acidification

Estimated decrease in the pH of the sea surface due to anthropogenic carbon dioxide in the atmosphere between around 1700 and the 1990s

→ Main article : Acidification of the seas

The carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ), which accelerates climate change, also has a direct effect on marine systems and leads to acidification of the oceans, i.e. to a decrease in the pH value . The oceans have now absorbed half of the man-made CO ₂ emissions since 1800.

It is caused by the absorption of carbon dioxide from the earth's atmosphere. In addition to global warming, this process is one of the main consequences of human emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. If the increase in carbon emissions remains unchanged, the pH value of the oceans will drop by 0.4 units by 2100, according to scientists from IFM-GEOMAR. In seawater, the carbon dioxide has an exclusively chemical effect.

Carbon dioxide from the air can dissolve in seawater and is then largely in the form of various inorganic compounds . Inorganic carbon is found in the ocean to about 91 percent in hydrogen carbonate ions (HCO ₃ ^- ). Carbon dioxide dissolved in water is in equilibrium with hydrogen carbonate (as well as carbonate and oxonium ions) via the following reaction equations:

${\displaystyle \mathrm {CO_{2}+2\ H_{2}O\ \rightleftharpoons \ H_{3}O^{+}+HCO_{3}^{-}} }$

${\displaystyle \mathrm {HCO_{3}^{-}+H_{2}O\ \rightleftharpoons \ CO_{3}^{2-}+H_{3}O^{+}} }$

The oxonium ions (H ₃ O ⁺ ) produced in this process cause the pH value to drop.

The solution of carbon dioxide has serious consequences for animals with a protective coat made of calcium carbonate, among other things : With aragonite, corals produce the most common form of lime in the sea alongside calcite . Aragonite is a form of lime that is particularly easy to dissolve through carbonic acid, which increases the risk to corals from the increasingly acidic oceans. A more acidic habitat has also shown negative effects on sea urchins (reduced growth) and on blue mussels.

The drop in pH also has a negative effect in the planktonic area, especially with calcareous algae .

Acidification also leads to a decrease in the oxygen content of the sea. Scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research have determined that the oxygen content in the Arctic Seas will decrease significantly at a depth of 200 to 800 m. Your simulation assumes a development in carbon dioxide emissions from the status of 2009 for 100 years.

Marine protection actors

A number of governmental and non-governmental organizations are committed to protecting the seas. However, the premises are different for the individual actors.

Government organizations

Significant measures for the protection of the seas were demanded by small states with sea access as early as the late 1960s. Binding regulations were first adopted at the Conference on the Law of the Sea in Caracas , which lasted eight years and ended with the adoption of a new Convention on the Law of the Sea on December 10, 1982.

Germany

In Germany, the competencies for marine protection essentially lie with three ministries and their specialist authorities. The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and its specialist authorities, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) are responsible for marine nature conservation . The BfN is responsible for nature conservation in the areas of the German exclusive economic zone. The federal states and their authorities are responsible for marine protection within the 12-mile zone . The UBA monitors the chemical, physical and biological state of coastal waters and seas, assesses the effects of the use of the seas and climate change.

The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVI) is responsible for shipping. The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) is assigned to him. The BSH is primarily entrusted with mapping and geobiological data collection in the German exclusive economic zone. The office operates the marine environmental report system MURSYS , which provides and documents biological parameters, chemical and physical conditions as well as hydrological boundary conditions of the German North and Baltic Seas.

The Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV) is responsible for matters relating to fisheries. The Federal Research Institute for Fisheries (BFAFi), which deals with problems in fishing, is assigned to him.

On January 1, 2003, the German Havariekommando was opened in Cuxhaven as a joint agency of the federal government and the five coastal states. Its task is to ensure coordinated and joint accident management in the event of accidents in the North and Baltic Seas.

Europe

Politically, marine protection as part of nature conservation is the responsibility of the EU Environment Commissioner and the General Environment Directorate of the EU Commission . In the European Parliament , several committees deal with issues related to the European seas.

Decisions relevant to marine protection are taken primarily by the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, but also by the Committee on Transport and Tourism and the Committee on Fisheries .

In 2007 the EU Commission presented a so-called Blue Book of Maritime Policy ("Bluepaper") with which the guidelines for future maritime policy are to be laid down. For the first time, the Commission is attempting to bring together all the economic uses of the European seas, from fishing to shipping, in one program. The stated goals are to strengthen maritime industries and a sustainable maritime policy. Environmental protection associations criticize the fact that responsibilities for fishing , ports and transport, as well as energy generation and raw material extraction, remain fragmented. There is no uniform “marine spatial planning”, criticizes the WWF.

Worldwide

The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a UN organization, deals primarily with international agreements on marine protection. A standing committee of the IMO ( Marine Environment Protection Committee , MEPC) deals with the implementation and amendments of the MARPOL agreement. As part of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), the Regional Seas Program works with 140 coastal states for sustainable regional marine protection. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) also includes marine animals and plants on the Red List it publishes . The internationally applicable categories and guidelines for marine protected areas are defined by the IUCN.

Non-governmental organizations

Casting-off maneuvers of the Albin Köbis , action ship of the Habitat Mare 2007 marine protection campaign in Kappeln . The NAJU and the Swedish Fältbiologerna campaigned for a more sustainable Baltic Sea protection.

A number of foundations , associations and associations work on various aspects of marine protection around the world. For example, development cooperation initiatives also initiate local marine protection projects. The organizations listed below are representative of a number of other non-governmental organizations (NGOs from English "non-governmental organizations"), which can not be shown in their entirety.

Germany

The organizations and associations are of different sizes and work partly more locally in practical nature conservation on the coast, partly internationally in development cooperation or politically and campaign-oriented.

• Action Conference North Sea e. V.
• Association for the Environment and Nature Protection e. V. (Marine Protection Office in Bremen)
• Deepwave e. V.
• Society for the rescue of dolphins e. V.
• Naturschutzbund Deutschland e. V. (marine protection department at the federal association in Berlin)
• SEA e. V.
• Project Blue Sea e. V.
• Protection Wattenmeer e. V.
• Sharkproject e. V.
• Jordsand e. V.

Switzerland

• OceanCare
• Sea Shepherd Switzerland

Europe

• Federation Seas at Risk ; Seas at Risk is an association of European NGOs whose common goal is to protect the marine environment of the European seas and the North Atlantic.

Worldwide

• International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN
• BirdLife International
• Greenpeace
• WWF
• Sea Shepherd
• Reefcheck International
• International Ocean Institute
• Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society WDCS
• Surfrider Foundation

Scientific actors in marine protection

In Germany, various university facilities and research institutes research and teach on marine science topics that are relevant to marine protection in the narrower sense. Research areas relevant to marine protection are usually located in special working groups.

Further institutes that do not conduct research directly on marine protection can be found in the list of oceanographic research institutes .

With the CeDAMAR project (part of the Census project), all marine life is to be recorded and documented through an international science program. Targeted protection programs can then be designed on the basis of this data.

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES, German: International Council for Marine Research), founded in 1902 by eight European countries , now unites marine research institutes around the world and gives its opinion on the most serious environmental problems of the seas. The development of 110 selected fish species is constantly being researched globally.

Marine protection personalities

Jacques-Yves Cousteau , 1976

• Elisabeth Mann Borgese , German marine lawyer, ecologist and writer. She was the only female founding member of the Club of Rome in 1970 and was instrumental in the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea.
• Jacques-Yves Cousteau , French marine explorer.
• Jean-Michel Cousteau , French marine documentary filmmaker.
• Nikolaus Gelpke , Swiss marine biologist and editor of the magazine mare
• Hans Hass , Austrian diving pioneer and marine researcher, who is best known for his documentaries about sharks and his commitment to environmental protection.
• Katherine Richardson , marine biologist, textbook author, teaches at Aarhus University and Copenhagen University .
• Paul Watson , militant whale conservationist and former Greenpeace activist, founded Sea Shepherd in 1977.

literature

• H. J. Müller: Ecology. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena 1991, ISBN 3-334-00398-1 .
• R. B. Clark: Sick Seas? Pollution and its consequences. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 1992, ISBN 3-86025-049-3 .
• PH Kemp, pollutant influences and interactions in the landscape. Geoecodynamics, Vol. 2,121-136, Darmstadt 1981, ISSN  0720-454X .
• Stefan Rahmstorf , Katherine Richardson: How threatened are the seas? Biological and physical aspects. Fischer paperback, 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-17277-1 .
• A legal scenario analysis for marine protected areas in areas beyond national jurisdiction . In: IDDRI Study . No 06. Paris November 11, 2011 (English, online (PDF; 1.0 MB) [accessed January 30, 2014]).

Web links

• MURSYS Environment Report System ( M eeres u mwelt- R REPORT sys tem). Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, accessed on January 30, 2014 . 
• Marine protection. NABU Schleswig-Holstein, accessed on January 30, 2014 . 
• Marine protection. Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND), accessed on January 30, 2014 . 
• MPA Global. UNEP-WCMC & WWF, accessed on January 30, 2014 (database of protected marine areas worldwide). 
• Regional Seas Programs. United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), accessed January 30, 2014 . 
• Seas at Risk. Seas At Risk, accessed on January 30, 2014 (English, European umbrella organization of various NGOs for marine protection). 
• The oceans - globalized plundering . INKOTA letter , 154, December 2010.
• Exploitation of the Seas - Capital on Course . In: iz3w , 346, January / February 2015

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The sea ​​as a food source. Retrieved June 2, 2015 . 
2. ↑ Vietnam: Mangrove protection is coastal protection. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 10, 2008 ; Retrieved June 2, 2015 . 
3. ^ Measures of the Post Tsunami Project. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 21, 2014 ; accessed on February 21, 2014 . 
4. ↑ FAO (2003): Status and trends in mangrove area extent worldwide. Forest Resources Assessment Working Paper - 63.
5. ↑ WBGU special report 2006. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 13, 2009 ; Retrieved June 2, 2015 . 
6. ↑ A ban on fishing in the Barrier Reef brings rapid stock recovery. Retrieved June 2, 2015 . 
7. ↑ National Marine Protected Areas. Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, October 2017, accessed on May 1, 2019 .  
8. ↑ "Resource-hungry EU casts its eye on protected areas", Umwelt aktuell (oekom Verlag) 12/2008, p. 23
9. ↑ br.de
10. ^ RB Clark (1992): Sick Seas? Pollution and its consequences. Spectrum Academic Publishing House, Heidelberg, ISBN 3-86025-049-3 .
11. ^ Atomic waste dump Sea - Greenpeace, article on the subject of the oceans. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on April 14, 2009 ; Retrieved June 2, 2015 . 
12. ↑ Leaking nuclear waste cans worry MPs and environmental groups , November 1, 2011
13. ↑ Böttcher, et al. Ammunition pollution in German marine waters - inventory and recommendations, status 2011
14. ↑ Plastic Ocean - plastic islands in the sea. Retrieved June 2, 2015 . 
15. ↑ Short film about albatrosses on Midway Island
16. ↑ Endangered Seas - Deadly waste. Retrieved June 2, 2015 . 
17. ↑ Karsten Smid: Exxon Valdez disaster - 16 years later. Greenpeace Germany, March 17, 2005, accessed May 1, 2019 .  
18. ↑ Mario Gundlach: 'Weapon' against illegal dumping designed March 11, 2003
19. ↑ Güven Purtul: The oil detectives WDR 25 November, 2008
20. ^ High Seas. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 1, 2014 ; Retrieved June 2, 2015 . 
21. ↑ Pirate fishing. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 29, 2011 ; Retrieved June 2, 2015 . 
22. ↑ Stefan Rahmstorf, Katherine Richardson: How threatened are the seas? Biological and physical aspects. Fischer Taschenbuch 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-17277-1 , p. 195.
23. ^ War in the North Sea , in Der Spiegel , one day spiegel-online
24. ^ Offshore power: Government plans 40 offshore wind farms. Retrieved June 2, 2015 . 
25. ↑ The North and Baltic Seas are extremely warm. Retrieved June 2, 2015 . 
26. ↑ ^{a b c d} Scientific Advisory Council of the Federal Government on Global Change (2006): The future of the seas - too warm, too high, too acidic . Special report, Berlin (PDF, 3.5 MB) ( Memento from January 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
27. ↑ Mojib Latif in the opening speech at the 2009 ICES Conference Marine Research and Fisheries: How the Oceans Respond to Climate Change
28. ↑ ocean acidification. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 4, 2009 ; Retrieved June 2, 2015 . 
29. ↑ Gazeau, Frédéric, Christophe Quiblier, Jeroen M. Jansen et al. (2007): Impact of elevated CO2 on shellfish calcification , in: Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 34, L07603, online
30. ↑ Frankfurter Rundschau, page 12: Climate change robs marine animals of oxygen (from February 10, 2009)
31. ^ The IOI story - Elisabeth Mann Borgese and the protection of the seas. Marine protection - a global task. (No longer available online.) International Ocean Institute , 2014, p. 3 , archived from the original on November 12, 2014 ; accessed on May 1, 2019 .  
32. ^ Marine - Environment - European Commission. Retrieved August 20, 2019 . 
33. ↑ Environmental, Public Health, and Food Safety - Of Special Interest. In: European Parliament - Committees. Retrieved August 20, 2019 . 
34. ↑ Green Paper - Future EU Maritime Policy: A European Vision for Oceans and Seas (Part II, Appendix). (PDF; 652 kB) (No longer available online.) Commission of the European Community, June 7, 2006, archived from the original on November 23, 2009 ; accessed on May 1, 2019 .  
35. ↑ WWF: Hope for Europe's seas? WWF misses EU maritime policy from a single source. , October 10, 2007.
36. ↑ Protect the oceans and use them carefully. Retrieved June 2, 2015 . 
37. ↑ SEA e. V. Accessed June 2, 2015 . 
38. ↑ Oceans give life. Retrieved June 2, 2015 . 
39. ^ Census of the Diversity of Abyssal Marine Life. Retrieved June 2, 2015 .