Working together for more marine protection

As Germany’s “home seas”, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea are popular vacation destinations. They supply fish and seafood and are set to become Europe’s “green power plant”, generating climate-friendly electricity from offshore wind energy. To ensure that future generations can also benefit from the “services” provided by the oceans, they must be protected and used as sustainably as possible. This is why the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) aims to achieve a good state of the marine environment. Unfortunately, neither the North Sea nor the Baltic Sea are currently in such good environmental status.

These challenges can only be mastered by society as a whole if science, politics, administration, business and civil society work together to develop solutions. The DAM and the Federal/State Working Group on the North and Baltic Seas (BLANO), which is responsible for implementing the MSFD, have therefore agreed to cooperate closely. The heads of department of the ministries and senate administrations responsible for marine protection are represented in BLANO, with the Coordination Council (KORA) acting as the technical body.

“In our various working groups, we deal with all important topics of marine protection and sustainable use of the sea, including with experts from marine research. With the DAM, we can intensify this exchange across the board and strategically, i.e. interlink science and practice more closely,” emphasizes Vera Knoke, representative for marine protection and national park, Ministry for Energy Transition, Climate Protection, Environment and Nature Schleswig-Holstein, which currently holds the chairmanship of BLANO.

“The cooperation with BLANO is a real benefit for research and transfer,” says Joachim Harms, Chairman of the DAM Executive Board, ”in particular our DAM research mission sustainMare, which deals with the protection and use of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, can provide essential knowledge for action and work together with BLANO in a truly demand-oriented manner.”

Further information on BLANO’s work for marine protection and the implementation of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive can be found on the website meeresschutz.info

An overview of the current status report for the German marine areas of the North Sea and Baltic Sea can be found on the Meere Online information portal.