Impact of bottom trawling on marine protected areas in the North Sea and Baltic Sea

Action-oriented research to implement the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive

Through the pilot missions, marine research is contributing to the implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), signed in 2008, for the German areas of the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Germany is obligated to improve the environmental status of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, said Christiane Paulus, Head of the Department for Nature Conservation and Sustainable Use of Nature at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, in her welcome address. “The German Marine Research Alliance is an important ally for our work. This is why I am very happy about this new launch. The DAM’s action-oriented findings from the research into the sustainable use of our oceans will help us to live up to Germany’s responsibility for species and habitats in its own seas and in the oceans around the world.”

Klaus Jürgens, project manager of the Baltic Sea pilot mission at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), expects the pilot missions to provide new insights into the importance of marine protected areas for the conservation of communities of species that are typical of the habitat, as well as sediment functions and ecosystem processes in the Baltic Sea, providing a basis for issuing recommendations on the management of nature reserves. “In our studies, we examine all the components, from bacteria and organic matter turnover through to the fish fauna, thereby obtaining for the first time a comprehensive picture of the effects of bottom fishing on the ecology of the marine protected areas in the Baltic Sea,” he explained during the panel discussion.

Suitable protection measures need to be developed so as to improve the environmental status of the North Sea and Baltic Sea and to counteract the possible loss of biodiversity, explained Karen Wiltshire, project manager of the North Sea pilot mission and Deputy Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). “The future of humankind is closely linked to preserving intact marine ecosystems. We need knowledge, effective knowledge transfer and suitable precautions in order to combine the use of these systems with their protection. The pilot missions are an important part of this indispensable process.”

Using knowledge effectively, managing marine protected areas more effectively

Biodiversity needs to be preserved and restored in marine protected areas. To this end, management plans are agreed for each area, which enumerate the measures for protecting the species and habitats that occur there. The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) is responsible for implementing the management plans in the marine protected areas of the EEZ. Britta Knefelkamp, head of the BfN department responsible for marine nature conservation, hopes that the pilot missions will produce scientifically sound results that can be used in the political process and facilitate the coordination and concrete implementation of fisheries measures. “In addition to the official monitoring, this data will also provide us with information on the current status of the marine protected areas. In order to gain a better understanding of marine ecosystems, recognise changes in their status in plenty of time and to be able to take efficient measures, we need to ramp up the cooperation between nature conservation and research even further in the future.

The kick-off event will be followed by a meeting of experts on 1–2 December, again online.

The pilot missions on bottom trawling in the North Sea and Baltic Sea

The pilot missions are scheduled to extend for 3 years (1 March 2020 to 28 February 2023). The Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) will be in charge of the project management for the pilot mission "MGF North Sea" ("MGF" stands for "mobile grundberührende Fischerei“, i.e. mobile bottom-contact fishing), while the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) will be in charge of the project management for the pilot mission "MGF Baltic Sea". The pilot missions are being conducted in close cooperation with the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and both are part of the planned research mission “Protection and Sustainable Use of Marine Areas”. Within this setting, the DAM is working with its member institutions and bringing in stakeholders from public authorities, politics, business and civil society to establish potential courses of action for decision-makers based on science.

The first research voyages being conducted as part of the pilot missions have been taking place in the North Sea and Baltic Sea since May. The next Baltic Sea expedition is planned for January 2021, followed by North Sea expeditions in April.

Project partners for the pilot mission “MGF North Sea”:
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Helmholtz Centre for Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB), Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Sea of the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg (ICBM), Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute (Thünen), Senckenberg am Meer, Senckenberg Society for Nature Research (SGN) and the Helmholtz Centre Geesthacht, Centre for Materials and Coastal Research (HZG).

Project partners for the pilot mission “MGF Baltic Sea”:
Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research (IOW), University of Rostock (University of Rostock), Senckenberg am Meer, Senckenberg Society for Nature Research (SAM), University of Cologne (University of Cologne), Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute (Thünen), GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ).

Further information
https://www.allianz-meeresforschung.de/en/dam-pilotmissionen/