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HELSINKI COMMISION HELCOM HOD 34/2010

Heads of Delegation 34th Meeting Helsinki, Finland, 8-9 December 2010

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MINUTES OF THE 34TH MEETING OF HEADS OF DELEGATION (HELCOM HOD) TABLE OF CONTENTS MINUTES OF THE 34TH MEETING OF HEADS OF DELEGATION

(HELCOM HOD) ........................................................................................ 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 2 Agenda Item 1 Adoption of the Agenda .............................................................................. 2 Agenda Item 2 Preparations for HELCOM 32/2011 and the high-level segment ................ 2 Agenda Item 3 Matters arising from the HELCOM Groups ................................................. 3 Agenda Item 4 HELCOM Institutional and Organisational Matters ....................................11 Agenda Item 5 Information and Communication Strategy .................................................12 Agenda Item 6 Any other business....................................................................................13 Agenda Item 7 Next Meeting(s) .........................................................................................13 Agenda Item 8 Outcome of the Meeting ............................................................................14 Annexes: Annex 1 List of Participants .....................................................................................15 Annex 2 Mandate for the joint, co-chaired Working Group on Maritime Spatial

Planning between HELCOM and VASAB .................................................18 Annex 3 Baltic Sea Broad-scale Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) Principles .........21 Annex 4 Terms of Reference for the ad hoc Expert Working Group on

Shoreline Response ..................................................................................24 Annex 5 Terms of Reference of the HELCOM MONAS Expert Group on

Monitoring of Radioactive Substances in the Baltic Sea (HELCOM MORS EG) ..............................................................................25

Annex 6 Continuation of the Baltic-wide assessment of coastal fish communities in support of an ecosystem-based management (HELCOM FISH-PRO) ...27

Annex 7 Terms of Reference for a Cooperation Platform on Port Reception Facilities in the Baltic Sea .........................................................................31

Annex 8 Project description “Pilot risk assessments of alien species transfer on intra-Baltic ship voyages” .....................................................................33

Annex 9 Terms of Reference of the HELCOM Baltic Agricultural and Environmental Forum ................................................................................37

Annex 10 Terms of Reference for the HELCOM ad hoc Expert Group on dumped chemical munition (HELCOM MUNI) .........................................................39

List of Documents……………………………………………………………….40

MINUTES OF HELCOM HOD 34/2010

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MINUTES OF THE 34TH MEETING OF HEADS OF DELEGATION

(HELCOM HOD)

INTRODUCTION

0.1 The 34th Meeting of HELCOM Heads of Delegation was convened at the premises of HELCOM Secretariat in Helsinki, Finland, on 8-9 December, in accordance with the decision of HELCOM HOD 33/2010 (LD 39).

0.2 The Meeting was attended by participants from all Contracting Parties, except the European Union, as well by Observers from ICES, CCB and WWF. The List of Participants is contained in Annex 1.

Agenda Item 1 Adoption of the Agenda

Documents: 1/1, 1/2

1.1 (LD 1) The Meeting adopted the Agenda as contained in document 1/1.

Agenda Item 2 Preparations for HELCOM 32/2011 and the high-level segment

Documents: 2/1, 2/2, 2/3

2.1 (LD 2) The Meeting adopted the provisional agenda for HELCOM 32/2011, including the high-level segment and took note of the tentative time schedule for the meeting as in document 2/2.

2.2 (LD 3) The Meeting took note of the information by the majority of the Contracting Parties on their expectations for participation of their ministers in the high-level segment of the annual Commission meeting.

2.3 (LD 4) The Meeting took note of the adopted description for the HELCOM project to implement the decision of the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Declaration to facilitate the identification of projects, including bankable projects (NIP Project) as contained in document 2/1. The Meeting expressed its gratitude to Sweden and Finland for their financial contribution to the implementation of the project.

2.4 (LD 5) The Meeting took note of the presentation by Project Manager Sif Johansson, Sweden, on the progress of the NIP Project (Presentation 1, document 2/3).

2.5 (LD 6) The Meeting agreed that the outcome of the NIP Project should form the basis for the discussion of the high-level segment of HELCOM 32/2011, and therefore it should deliver clear and concise messages and discussion points, including a list of prioritised project ideas to reach the goals of the BSAP.

2.6 (LD 7) The Meeting urged all the Contracting States to make the NIPs available by the high-level meeting and to the extent possible covering all components of the BSAP.

2.7 (LD 8) The Meeting underlined that the NIP Project should focus its work on assisting the countries in identifying the concrete actions and projects to be implemented both nationally as well as regionally, including the support to matching the projects and funding sources.

2.8 (LD 9) The Meeting noted that the outcome of the Project specifically can bring added value by addressing measures that are needed in addition to the EU and global frameworks.

2.9 (LD 10) The Meeting also pointed out that the NIP Project team should be actively engaged in the dialogue with countries in order to communicate with potential project owners. In this respect, the Meeting welcomed the offer of Sweden to the Contracting Parties


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as well as the NIP Project team to visit the municipality of Trelleborg in Southern Sweden on 21 January 2011 to get acquainted with various activities by the local stakeholders contributing to the implementation of the BSAP.

2.10 (LD 11) The Meeting encouraged the Contracting Parties to make use of the available resources of the BSAP Fund co-managed by NIB and NEFCO as presented by Mr. Jon Kahn, Sweden (Presentation 2). The Meeting welcomed that the BSAP Fund could provide support to projects and other promising actions to be identified by the NIP Project.

Agenda Item 3 Matters arising from the HELCOM Groups

3.1 Documents: 3/1, 3/2, 3/3, 3/4, 3/5, 3/5/Add1, 3/6, 3/7, 3/8, 3/9, 3/10, 3/11, 3/12, 3/13, 3/14, 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20/INF, 3/21, 3/22, 3/23

3.2 (LD 12) The Meeting took note of the outcome of the first meeting of the joint HELCOM-VASAB Maritime Spatial Planning Working Group as contained in document 3/1 and adopted

- the Mandate for the joint, co-chaired Working Group on Maritime Spatial Planning between HELCOM and VASAB, as contained in Annex 2,

- the Baltic Sea Broad-scale Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) Principles, as contained in Annex 3, noting that the adoption process under the VASAB framework is on-going simultaneously. 1)

3.3 (LD 13) The Meeting noted that a joint HELCOM-VASAB letter will be send to BONUS, underlining the importance of covering the issue of Maritime Spatial Planning in the Strategic Research Agenda for 2012 onward currently under development.

3.4 (LD 14) The Meeting took note of the Minutes of the 13th Meeting of the HELCOM Response Group (document 3/2) and specifically:

- approved the establishment of the Expert Working Group on Shoreline Response, co-led by Poland and Germany, to deal with implementation of the HELCOM BSAP, and adopted its Terms of Reference as contained in Annex 4;

- adopted the Working Programme for HELCOM RESPONSE 2011-2013 as included in Annex 5 of document 3/2;

- noted the progress in the BRISK project, including in the risk assessment of shipping accidents and environmental pollution in the Baltic Sea as well as in the developing/extending bi- and multilateral agreements in response to pollution at sea;

- congratulated Lithuania for the successfully organized BALEX DELTA 2010 Exercise, held in Klaipeda, Lithuania, on 23-25 August 2010;

- noted that BALEX DELTA 2011 will be organized by Denmark on 30-31 August 2011 off Bornholm, and will involve search and rescue, oil recovery, oiled wildlife response, shoreline clean up, and emergency towing; and that BALEX DELTA 2012 will be organized by Finland;

- thanked Germany for their two-year chairmanship of the Informal Working Group on Aerial Surveillance to continue until the end of 2010, and welcomed the incoming chairmanship of Latvia for the years 2011-2012;

- took note that the next IWGAS meeting will take place on 16-17 March 2011 in Riga;

- thanked Estonia and the participating countries for organizing/contributing to CEPCO North in 2010, and welcomed the organization of SuperCEPCO aerial surveillance operation by Finland in 2011;

1)

VASAB adopted both the “Mandate for the Joint, Co-chaired Working Group on Maritime Spatial Planning between HELCOM and VASAB” and the “Baltic Sea Broad-scale Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) Principles” at their CSPD/BSR meeting on 13-14 December 2010, in Stockholm, Sweden.


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- took note that the next meeting of the Response Group will be held on 13-15 September 2011;

- welcomed the election of Mr. Bernt Stedt, Sweden, as Chairman and re-election of Mr. Kalervo Jolma, Finland, and Mr. Marek Reszko, Poland, as Vice-Chairmen of HELCOM RESPONSE for the next two-year period starting from March 2011;

- thanked the outgoing Chairman of HELCOM RESPONSE, Mr. Peter Søberg Poulsen, Denmark for his work.

3.5 (LD 15) The Meeting took note of the comment of the Russian Federation on the need to present the activities of the BRISK-RU project in line with overall activities of the BRISK Project both at HELCOM MARITIME and RESPONSE.

3.6 (LD 16) The Meeting took note of the outcome of HELCOM MONAS 13/2010 in general (document 3/3) and more specifically of the updated overview tables of the implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (HELCOM BSAP) (Annex 1 of document 3/3) and the Moscow Ministerial Declaration (Annex 2 of document 3/3) for the actions and decisions that are relevant for HELCOM MONAS.

3.7 (LD 17) The Meeting welcomed:

- the publishing of the EMEP annual report on atmospheric supply of nitrogen, lead, cadmium, mercury and dioxins/furans to the Baltic Sea in 2007 on the EMEP and HELCOM websites,

- the publication of the 2010 HELCOM Indicator Fact Sheets on the HELCOM website, together with a summary of the latest pressures and status of the Baltic Sea,

- the progress of the Report on disposal of dredged material at sea for 2007-2008 and 2009 data and adoption in principle of the revised Guidelines and reporting format of the Guidelines for the disposal of dredged material at sea,

- the progress of work of the HELCOM Zooplankton Expert Network (HELCOM ZEN) and HELCOM Phytoplankton Expert Group (HELCOM PEG).

3.8 (LD 18) In relation to compilation and assessment of nutrient loads to the Baltic Sea, the Meeting:

- endorsed that the Load Expert Group replaces the role of the PLC Group, including tasks related to atmospheric loads, and that one of the tasks of the Load Experts will be to finalize the criteria for assessing “reaching the BSAP targets of a country” and that another tasks will be to initiate the development of a core set pressure indicators on nutrient load that can be used to assess the progress in implementing BSAP actions,

- welcomed the nomination of Mr. Lars Svendsen, Denmark, as the Chair of the Load Expert Group and endorsed the organising of the first meeting of the Load Expert Group on 29-30 March 2011, at the HELCOM Secretariat in Helsinki, Finland.

3.9 (LD 19) The Meeting took note of the situation of PLC-5 data submissions for year 2008 as presented by Project Manager of PLC-5, Mr. Seppo Knuuttila, Finland, and regretted the information that all data from the Russian Federation is still missing for 2008 and that some crucial data from Poland were still pending, and that there is still missing data from other Contracting States as well. The Meeting stated that the Fifth Pollution Load Compilation project is a priority project for HELCOM and completing the assessment is of major importance for further HELCOM work, such as the revision of the BSAP nutrient reduction targets.

3.10 (LD 20) The Meeting noted the information by the Russian Federation and Poland that the missing data on total nitrogen and phosphorus will be submitted to the PLC Data Consultant by the end of 2010. The Meeting pointed out that the Load Expert Group will continue to work on assessing nutrient loads, including 2008 loads, even after the completion of the PLC-5 report (cf. para 3.8, LD 18).


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3.11 (LD 21) The Meeting agreed that the PLC-5 report should be completed by the end of January 2011 taking into account only the available data, including the data from 2007 and to the extent available data from 2008, and sent for approval by HELCOM MONAS by correspondence and subsequently submitted to HELCOM 32/2011 for adoption.

3.12 (LD 22) The Meeting approved the arranging of a PLC-5 core group meeting in January 2011 to finalise the conclusions and recommendations section of the PLC-5 report.

3.13 (LD 23) The Meeting welcomed the development of a separate technical background report that describes in detail the methodologies used in PLC-5.

3.14 (LD 24) The Meeting supported the plan to reconsider the establishing of the HELCOM macrophytobenthos expert network (HELCOM PHYTOBEN).

3.15 (LD 25) The Meeting approved the organising of a one-day workshop partly as a joint meeting with HELCOM TARGREV on 31 March 2011 at the Finnish Environment Institute in Helsinki, Finland, to update the core eutrophication indicators, to check the status of missing indicators (macrophytobenthos, phytoplankton, oxygen), to ensure good coordination with the work of HELCOM TARGREV, and to consider how to secure the data flow in order to automate the annual updating of the core set indicators.

3.16 (LD 26) The Meeting endorsed the updated HELCOM MONAS work programme for 2009-2011 as contained in Annex 5 of document 3/3.

3.17 (LD 27) The Meeting thanked Ms. Tove Lundeberg, Sweden, for acting as Vice-Chair of HELCOM MONAS during 2009-2010 and welcomed the election of Ms. Barbara Frank, Germany, as the new Vice-Chair of HELCOM MONAS for the two year period of 2010-2012.

3.18 (LD 28) The Meeting noted the renewed demands on HELCOM work and in this respect supported the idea that it would be more efficient for HELCOM MONAS to meet twice a year for two and a half days, with more thematic and focused meetings, agreed that MONAS should evaluate the feasibility of the new meeting arrangements after a two-year trial period and to this end decided to hold the next meeting, HELCOM MONAS 14/2011, in Ispra, Italy, on 13-15 April 2011 and the meeting of HELCOM MONAS 15/2011 in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 5-7 October 2011.

3.19 (LD 29) The Meeting took note of the information by the Chair of MONAS, Ms. Anna-Stiina Heiskanen that HELCOM MONAS 14/2011 will focus at least on the finalisation of the preliminary core indicators and targets as well as nutrient load assessment –related issues.

3.20 (LD 30) The Meeting considered the draft Background document on the method, data and testing of the Baltic Sea Pressure and Impact Indices of the HELCOM Initial Holistic Assessment (as contained in document 3/13), decided to insert “and differences in the applied assessment methodologies” in the end of the disclaimer, to be included in the inside cover of the report (document 3/23) and approved publishing the report as a web version in the Baltic Sea Environment Proceedings series on the HELCOM website.

3.21 (LD 31) The Meeting took note of the outcome of the First Meeting of the Joint Advisory Board of the HELCOM CORESET and TARGREV projects (document 3/6) and welcomed the information by Denmark that Danish experts will now also take part in the Advisory Board.

3.22 (LD 32) The Meeting noted the information that HELCOM CORESET project will, in addition to developing core set indicators for the state of the marine environment, also be responsible for developing core set pressure indicators that represent the intensity of anthropogenic activities.

3.23 (LD 33) The Meeting endorsed in principle the common principles for the HELCOM core indicators and target levels as contained in document 6/3 of HELCOM MONAS 13/2010 and those common principles for indicator integration methodologies already agreed upon by HELCOM MONAS 13/2010 (contained in Table 3 of Annex 4 of document 3/3), taking note that Denmark maintained its study reservation on all principles. The Meeting tasked the


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second meeting of the Joint Advisory Board to address the rest of the common principles for indicator integration methodologies in order to find an agreement on them and invited Denmark to clarify its study reservation at that meeting at the latest.

3.24 (LD 34) The Meeting agreed that in line with the Terms of Reference adopted by HOD, the tasks of the Joint Advisory Board include:

- overall coordination of the work of implementing the GES descriptors, addressing all GES descriptors of the MSFD,

- facilitation of regional cooperation and coordination on the national initial assessments of the EU MSFD for the assessments to be produced by July 2012 and functioning as an information exchange platform,

- supervision of the updating of the HELCOM holistic integration of the indicators within the HELCOM CORESET project, with the results to be presented on the HELCOM web site for BSAP follow-up by 2013.

3.25 (LD 35) The Meeting welcomed the involvement of ICES in its capacity as a HELCOM Observer in the work of the Joint Advisory Board as well as the HELCOM CORESET project.

3.26 (LD 36) The Meeting welcomed the election of Ms. Anna-Stiina Heiskanen, Finland, as the Chair of the Joint Advisory Board for HELCOM CORESET and TARGREV projects.

3.27 (LD 37) The Meeting approved the organizing of the second meeting of the Joint Advisory Board for HELCOM CORESET and TARGREV projects on 22-23 March 2011 in Berlin, Germany. The Meeting observed that this date clashes with the Baltic Sea Days and asked the Secretariat to investigate the possibility to change the date of the meeting.

3.28 (LD 38) The Meeting took note in general of the outcome of the first HELCOM CORESET Expert Workshop on Hazardous Substances Indicators, held on 20-21 October 2010 in Hamburg, Germany, as well as the outcome of the first meeting of the Expert working group on biodiversity of the HELCOM CORESET project, held on 3-4 November 2010 in Helsinki, Finland (document 3/7).

3.29 (LD 39) The Meeting welcomed the progress made in both expert groups in general, and specifically the progress made in selecting and prioritising core indicators, and setting the timetables and plans for work to be carried out in order to deliver the preliminary indicators and targets by September 2011.

3.30 (LD 40) The Meeting welcomed the information that almost all Contracting Parties had increased the number of their expert nominations to the biodiversity expert working teams since 19 November 2010 (attachment of document 3/7) and welcomed the information that Denmark also intends to make nominations. However, the Meeting regretted that nominations for team leaders for birds, seabed habitats and communities, pelagic habitats and communities, alien species, marine litter and underwater noise teams were still missing and urged the Contracting Parties to make nominations for leaders of those teams.

3.31 (LD 41) The Meeting discussed the potential contribution by ICES to the work of the Joint Advisory Board, pointed out the scientific-political role of the work of the Board, and welcomed the information by ICES stating that ICES is ready to make experts available to the HELCOM Joint Advisory Board as well as HELCOM CORESET work and that ICES finds scientific review of the HELCOM outcomes a relevant part of its work.

3.32 (LD 42) The Meeting welcomed the election of Ms. Ulla Li Zweifel, Project Researcher of HELCOM CORESET, as chair of the Expert working group on biodiversity and approved the organizing of the second Expert Workshop on Hazardous Substances on 2-3 February 2011 in Helsinki, Finland, and the second meeting of the Expert working group on biodiversity on 16-18 February 2011 in Gothenburg, Sweden.

3.33 (LD 43) The Meeting thanked HELCOM MONAS for the comments and suggestions on the environmental part of the Joint Final Report on the Audit of Environmental Monitoring and Fisheries Management and Control in the Baltic Sea (document 3/4) and requested the


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Secretariat to draft a HELCOM feedback letter on the basis of the HELCOM MONAS considerations to be sent by HELCOM to the Supreme Audit Institutions of Germany, Latvia, Poland and Denmark.

3.34 (LD 44) The Meeting supported the inclusion of a scientific analysis on the optimisation of the HELCOM monitoring network as a part of the revision of HELCOM monitoring programmes (HELCOM MORE, document 3/11) and endorsed the view of HELCOM MONAS that the ecosystem approach of the BSAP and EU MSFD should be the starting point for the monitoring revision, and that the revision should take into account the result of the HELCOM CORESET and HELCOM TARGREV projects.

3.35 (LD 45) The Meeting urged the Contracting Parties to carefully follow the agreed reporting deadlines of HELCOM COMBINE to avoid the time delays in data reporting to ICES and problems related to reporting format and requested Contracting Parties to use the agreed data formats and encouraged the adjustment, in dialogue of the Contracting Parties and ICES, of the current data formats to ease the data reporting.

3.36 (LD 46) The Meeting encouraged HELCOM MONAS to change the COMBINE manual and PLC guidelines by adding a request that the Contracting States should agree that all laboratories involved in monitoring must be accredited or working according to ISO 17025.

3.37 (LD 47) The Meeting agreed on making the participation in regular Baltic-wide or other relevant international chemical and biological intercomparison exercises part of the monitoring programmes and on making the regular participation in those intercomparison excercises mandatory to the representative laboratories of the HELCOM countries submitting data.

3.38 (LD 48) The Meeting considered the project proposal for the revision of HELCOM monitoring programmes (HELCOM MORE, document 3/11) and emphasized the importance of the project for accomplishing a full review and revision of HELCOM‟s monitoring programmes, including the use of satellite data. The Meeting approved the project in principle, pointing out that there is a need to further define the project proposal.

3.39 (LD 49) The Meeting agreed to hold a kick-off meeting of the project in January 2011 in Copenhagen, Denmark, to clarify the scope and timing of the project and to prepare a workplan and to finalize the project proposal to be submitted to HELCOM 32/2011 for its decision.

3.40 (LD 50) The Meeting thanked Denmark for taking the responsibility for hosting the kick-off meeting of the HELCOM MORE project and asked Denmark to come back and confirm their possibility to prepare the meeting substance-wise. Pending the feedback of Denmark, the invitation will be sent out.

3.41 (LD 51) The Meeting pointed out that this meeting should serve as a start for the actual project group which should steer the revision process.

3.42 (LD 52) The Meeting recommended inviting ICES also to take part in the meeting.

3.43 (LD 53) The Meeting welcomed the draft outline for a workshop on interregional cooperation between the North East Atlantic and the Baltic (OSPAR and HELCOM) within the framework of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) as contained in document 3/22 and invited Sweden to come up with further elaborated programme for this event. The Meeting welcomed the participation of ICES in the proposed workshop.

3.44 (LD 54) The Meeting considered the proposal for establishment of HELCOM MONAS Expert Group on Monitoring of Radioactive Substances in the Baltic Sea (HELCOM MORS EG) as contained in document 3/8.

3.45 (LD 55) Recalling the decisions of the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Meeting (2010) on the importance of continuing monitoring of radioactive substances in the Baltic Sea, the Meeting established the HELCOM MONAS Expert Group on Monitoring of Radioactive Substances in the Baltic Sea (HELCOM MORS EG) and adopted its Terms of Reference as attached in Annex 5.


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3.46 (LD 56) The Meeting approved the project proposal for the continuation of the Baltic-wide assessment of coastal fish communities in support of an ecosystem-based management (HELCOM FISH-PRO) for the period 2010-2013 as contained in document 3/12 (Annex 6).

3.47 (LD 57) Recalling the experience from the Baltic Sea Regional Project, the Meeting expressed the wish for continuation of ICES involvement in the work of HELCOM FISH-PRO. The Meeting noted the proposal by Finland to consider in the future the possibility of diverting this project into a permanent expert group.

3.48 (LD 58) The Meeting took note of the outcome of HELCOM MARITIME 9/2010 as contained in document 3/5. The Meeting welcomed the decision of the International Maritime Organization (MEPC 61) to approve the amendments to MARPOL Annex IV, including the designation of the Baltic Sea as a special area for discharges of sewage from passenger ships, as proposed by the HELCOM countries, to be adopted at MEPC 62 in 2011.

3.49 (LD 59) The Meeting adopted the draft Terms of Reference for the Cooperation Platform on Port Reception Facilities (PRF) to facilitate the implementation of the HELCOM Roadmap for upgrading PRF for passenger ports in the Baltic Sea (as contained in document 3/18, cf. Annex 7).

3.50 (LD 60) The Meeting noted that the outcome of the HELCOM study “Baltic NECA – economic impacts” by the Centre of Maritime Studies of the University of Turku has been incorporated into the draft IMO submission and has been published on the HELCOM website.

3.51 (LD 61) The Meeting further noted the satisfactory progress in developing the joint submission to IMO to designate the Baltic Sea as an NOx Emission Control Area (NECA), including the impact of ship NOx emissions on human health and environment being sufficiently covered and the economic part to be further developed, e.g. based on the comments to be submitted by the Contracting Parties as agreed in HELCOM MARITIME 9/2010. The Meeting welcomed the offer by Poland to inform about the HELCOM work on reduction of NOx emissions from shipping within the Executive Body of the CLTRAP to be held on 13-14 December 2010 in Geneva.

3.52 (LD 62) The Meeting took note of the comments by Denmark pointing to the outcome of the study on economic impact of NECA in the Baltic Sea revealing that the costs of NECA would be marginal as only new ships would be subject to new requirements and that the NECA is a very cost-efficient measure to reduce NOx emissions.

3.53 (LD 63) The Meeting further took note of the comments by Russia that the economic study indicates additional costs to the industry and that further investigation needs to continue regarding economic impact of possible modal shift and technical capacities to keep large amounts of urea onboard ships in connection to the use of Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology.

3.54 (LD 64) The Meeting took note of the information by Finland, leading the work of the NECA Correspondence Group, that some new information on NECA costs has already been received from the Contracting Parties and will be included in the amended draft submission by mid-January 2011 to be submitted to HELCOM 32/2011 for a decision.

3.55 (LD 65) The Meeting recalled the decision of the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Meeting that the NECA submission to IMO should be done preferably in 2011 taking into account the results of the HELCOM study on economic impacts of a Baltic Sea NECA.

3.56 (LD 66) The Meeting adopted a project proposal “Pilot risk assessments of alien species transfer on intra-Baltic ship voyages”, as contained in Annex 8, and welcomed the special contribution of Finland and Sweden to the project as well as that Denmark and Germany are considering possible in-kind contributions.

3.57 (LD 67) The Meeting took note that OSPAR is developing a simplified risk assessment scheme to identify and mitigate, as an interim measure, the high risk ballast water movements within the OSPAR Region, which will be expanded to selected routes


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between the North East Atlantic and the Baltic Sea, based on the input by the Correspondence Group on HELCOM Ballast Water Roadmap led by Germany in cooperation with the Secretariat.

3.58 (LD 68) The Meeting approved organizing a meeting of experts on maritime safety tasked to deal with the relevant commitment of the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Meeting, e.g. to give advice on risk-reducing measures in the Baltic Sea, to be hosted by Sweden in February 2011, and the preparation of which will be assisted by Sweden in cooperation with Denmark.

3.59 (LD 69) The Meeting adopted in principle the draft submission by the Baltic Sea countries regarding sewage from passenger ships to the 55th session of the IMO‟s Design and Equipment Sub-Committee as contained in document 3/19, and mandated the Correspondence Group on amendments to Annex IV of MARPOL to finalize the submission based on some fine-tuning technical comments by Russia.

3.60 (LD 70) The Meeting further mandated Finland to submit the document to IMO on behalf of all Baltic Sea countries.

3.61 (LD 71) The Meeting approved the draft Voluntary Guidance on ballast water exchange for ship routes between Mediterranean and the North East Atlantic/Baltic Sea as contained in document 3/5/Add1 with view to its adoption at HELCOM 32/2011, pending the clarification of the study reservation by Denmark by 14 January 2011.

3.62 (LD 72) The Meeting thanked Mr. Jorma Kämäräinen, Finland, for his professional work in leading the Correspondence Group on amendments to Annex IV of MARPOL and the NECA Correspondence Group.

3.63 (LD 73) The Meeting took note that the next meeting of the Maritime Group (HELCOM MARITIME 10/2011) will be held on 15-17 November 2011 and will be hosted by Finland.

3.64 (LD 74) The Meeting congratulated Ms. Lolan Eriksson, Finland, and Mr. Jorma Kämäräinen, Finland, for the re-election as Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively, and Ms. Natalia Kutaeva, Russia, for the election as Vice-Chair of HELCOM MARITIME for the next two-year period, and thanked Mr. Rolf von Ostrowski, Germany, for acting as Vice-Chair of HELCOM MARITIME during 2009-2010.

3.65 (LD 75) The Meeting took note of the Minutes of the First Meeting of the HELCOM Baltic Agriculture and Environment Forum (HELCOM AGRI/ENV FORUM 1/2010) as contained in document 3/9.

3.66 (LD 76) The Meeting approved the draft Terms of Reference of the HELCOM Baltic Agriculture and Environment Forum (Annex 9) and agreed to hold the HELCOM AGRI/ENV 2/1011 back-to-back with HELCOM LAND 16/2011 in Dessau, Germany, in May 2011.

3.67 (LD 77) The Meeting stressed the importance of the start of the work of the Forum dealing with implementation of the agriculture-related action of the HELCOM BSAP (2007) and HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Declaration (2010). The Meeting also advised that broader involvement of relevant national and regional stakeholders should be ensured for the success of this work.

3.68 (LD 78) The Meeting took note of the outcome of the first meeting of the ad hoc expert group to update and review the existing information on dumped chemical munitions in the Baltic Sea (HELCOM MUNI 1/2010) as contained in document 3/14.

3.69 (LD 79) The Meeting expressed its concerns with regard to inclusion of conventional munition into the scope of the work of the HELCOM MUNI at this stage.

3.70 (LD 80) The Meeting took note of the request by Denmark to HELCOM MUNI to clarify the situation with the Lead Country for reporting on the issues related to the dumped chemical munitions within HELCOM framework at the next meeting of the Group.

3.71 (LD 81) The Meeting took note of the information by Lithuania on the draft resolution “Co-operative measures to assess and increase awareness of environmental


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effects related to waste originating from sea-dumped chemical munitions” presented at the Second Committee of the 65th UN General Assembly and that some additional activities are carried out to raise public awareness on the issue (cf. www.seadumpedcw.org).

3.72 (LD 82) The Meeting agreed to update the Terms of Reference on HELCOM MUNI in line with the proposals of the Russian Federation as contained in Annex 10.

3.73 (LD 83) The Meeting re-confirmed its decision from 2003 (HOD 14/2003, para 7.5. LD 35) on regular reporting by the Contracting Parties, including status reports and verification of the previous year‟s findings and other latest available information on dumped chemical munitions to be submitted to HELCOM HOD on an annual basis and forwarded the request of HELCOM MUNI to the Contracting Parties to submit national reports reflecting relevant information in accordance with the list of tasks of HELCOM MUNI by 1 April 2011 to the Secretariat ([email protected]) with a view to discuss the reports at the meeting of HELCOM MUNI 2/2011.

3.74 (LD 84) The Meeting approved the arrangement of the meeting of HELCOM MUNI 2/2011 in the Sopot area, Poland, on 12-13 April 2011, back-to-back with the Third Meeting of the International Dialogue on Underwater Munitions.

3.75 (LD 85) The Meeting welcomed the invitation by Poland to the Contracting Parties and the Secretariat to participate in the Third Meeting of the International Dialogue on Underwater Munitions and to provide inputs to its work.

3.76 (LD 86) The Meeting took note of the information on the flagship project under the Priority Area 3 of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region “Make the Baltic Sea Region a lead in sustainable development for pharmaceuticals” as contained in document 3/20/INF.

3.77 (LD 87) The Meeting invited the Contracting Parties to participate in the kick-off meeting of the project to be arranged in Stockholm or Uppsala, Sweden, on 25 March 2011 and requested Sweden to provide more detailed information on the proposed meeting well in advance.

3.78 (LD 88) The Meeting took note of the Minutes of the Fifth Baltic Fisheries/ Environmental Forum (HELCOM FISH/ENV FORUM 5/2010) as contained in document 3/10.

3.79 (LD 89) The Meeting stressed the importance of activities of the HELCOM Baltic Fisheries and Environment Forum providing good ground for implementation of fisheries-related issues in the HELCOM BSAP and pointed out the need for close coordination of activities of the Forum with other relevant frameworks and institutions, e.g. Priority Areas 2 and 9 under the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.

3.80 (LD 90) The Meeting also welcomed the good examples of cooperation between ICES and HELCOM as demonstrated through the work of the HELCOM Baltic Fisheries and Environment Forum, e.g. on collection of scientific information on eel and flatfish to back up the development of possible management measures.

3.81 (LD 91) The Meeting mandated the Secretariat to approach DG MARE for possible extension of the HELCOM SALAR Project. The Meeting took note of the information by CCB that they had given comments to the final report of HELCOM SALAR.

3.82 (LD 92) The Meeting urged that the documents should be distributed well in advance before the meetings for efficient management of the meetings.

3.83 (LD 93)The Meeting considered the Draft Project proposal for the development of fisheries measures in Marine Protected Areas in the Baltic Sea, to ensure achieving the conservation objectives (document 3/17).

3.84 (LD 94) The Meeting took note of the comments by the Contracting Parties on the project proposal, expressing their general support to the project idea, but also reflecting the need for better involvement of ICES in this work as well as the need for further clarification of the proposed budget and time line.

3.85 (LD 95) The Meeting requested the Secretariat to send out the revised draft Project Proposal by 17 December 2010 to the Contracting Parties with a view to receive their

http://www.seadumpedcw.org/

mailto:[email protected]


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comments, which are not automatically restricted to the abovementioned issues, by 31 January 2011.

3.86 (LD 96) The Meeting took note of the increased demand for scientific support for HELCOM work and in this respect considered the proposal for a roadmap towards cooperation between HELCOM and ICES on the implementation of the good environmental status (GES) as given in the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan and the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) as well as other activities related to the protection of the Baltic Sea marine ecosystem and its biological diversity as contained in document 3/21.

3.87 (LD 97) The Meeting noted the current cooperation between ICES and HELCOM, covering both contractual and institutional cooperation and considered the suggestions for a wider cooperation between ICES and HELCOM covering:

- achieving good environmental status in the Baltic, specifically for commercial fish but also generally in relation to biodiversity with the aim to deepen expert cooperation;

- revision of the HELCOM monitoring programmes and especially the contribution by ICES in relation to monitoring of biodiversity, specifically for fish stocks but also more generally;

- identification of needs and possible fisheries management measures in marine protected areas to achieve their conservation objectives (cf. para 3.83-3.84, LD 93-94).

3.88 (LD 98) The Meeting expressed the willingness for enhanced cooperation between HELCOM and ICES, taking into account the growing demand for scientific support to the work of HELCOM.

3.89 (LD 99) The Meeting took note of that the recent ICES Council meeting had also expressed a wish and need for an improved cooperation with HELCOM. The Meeting recalled the possibility also for countries in their capacity as both HELCOM and ICES parties to influence this cooperation.

3.90 (LD 100) The Meeting took note of the information by ICES on the need to formalise the cooperation between ICES and HELCOM.

3.91 (LD 101) The Meeting requested that comments to the draft roadmap on the cooperation of ICES and HELCOM should be submitted by the HELCOM and ICES Parties as well as the ICES Secretariat to the HELCOM Secretariat by the end of January 2011 with a view to further discuss this issue at HELCOM 32/2011.

3.92 (LD 102) The Meeting took note of document 3/15 on HELCOM RED LIST project expert resources and invited the Contracting Parties to allocate more expert working time to the project, especially regarding the biotope work. The Meeting further noted that Danish waters may need to be left out of the assessments for those parts of the RED LIST assessment, where no Danish expertise is available.

3.93 (LD 103) The Meeting welcomed the information by Sweden on the allocation of additional experts to the work of the RED LIST project.

Agenda Item 4 HELCOM Institutional and Organisational Matters

Documents: 4/1, 4/2, 4/3

4.1 (LD 104) The Meeting took note of the Explanatory Memorandum on the Accounts as contained in document 4/1 and advised the Executive Secretary to submit it to HELCOM 32/2011 in order to have the accountables officially discharged from responsibility.

4.2 (LD 105) The Meeting considered the draft budget for financial period 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012 and budget estimate for 2012-2013 as contained in document 4/2 and took note of the following points raised by the countries:

- basic concerns about a permanent increase of the budget from budget year to budget year;


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- a need to justify any increase stemming from new scientific / political inevitable tasks and challenges, as for instance is the case with the work currently carried out within the HELCOM CORESET and TARGREV Projects.

4.3 (LD 106) In reply to the above, the Meeting specifically pointed out:

- that from a technical point of view, it should be noted, that apart from an annual 1% increase in the budget, the budget has stayed at the same level throughout the last five budget years. The reason for the increase in the national contributions is due to the decrease in the transfers from the Working Capital Fund, now reaching the size as outlined in the Financial Rules (11%); and

- that from a political point of view, the work of HELCOM is facilitating not only the implementation of the Helsinki Convention, but also the work carried out under various global (e.g IMO) as well as European frameworks (Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region), and therefore HELCOM has seen a considerable increase in the amount of work performed over the last years while maintaining the budget on the same level.

4.4 (LD 107) Based on this the Meeting agreed on the submission of the draft budget for the period 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012, to the HELCOM 32/2011 for adoption, with one amendment, that the budget line indicated under 3.3 “Other expertise” will be transferred to 3.2/1 “Cooperation with ICES”.

4.5 (LD 108) Denmark and Germany especially recalled their firm decision to start paying equal shares as from the budget year 13/14 and onwards. The Meeting therefore requested the Secretariat to circulate by 17 December 2010 a document outlining the steps towards achieving equal contributions from all countries, as well as an outlook of the situation in 13/14 taking into account the statement by Denmark and Germany. The Contracting Parties were requested to provide their comments to the outline to the Secretariat by the end of January 2011.

4.6 (LD 109) The Meeting approved the vacancy announcement for the Recruitment of an Information Secretary and the timetable as contained in document 4/3. The Meeting requested the Executive Secretary to display the vacancy announcement on the HELCOM website as well as to make it available for national distribution. The Meeting expressed its appreciation to the excellent work done by the Information Secretary Mr. Nikolay Vlasov.

4.7 (LD 110) The Meeting welcomed the interest of the Russian Federation, Poland, Finland and Germany to participate in addition to the ex officio members, i.e., the Chairlady and the Executive Secretary of the Commission, in a Recruitment Panel for the Information Secretary. With reference to the adopted recruitment procedure, the Meeting tasked the Executive Secretary to contact the countries in order to decide on the three members of the Recruitment Panel.

4.8 (LD 111) The Meeting welcomed the information by Finland about their efforts to solve the since long outstanding issue of pensionable remuneration and re-iterated the importance of finding the solution to this issue, which eventually will impact all Finnish staff members in the HELCOM Secretariat, who have chosen the state pension and which for more than two years have had an impact on the size of the pensions of a retired HELCOM staff member.

Agenda Item 5 Information and Communication Strategy

Documents: 5/1

5.1 (LD 112) The Meeting considered and approved the Progress report on the annual HELCOM Plan of Information and Communication Activities (2010) as contained in document 5/1. The Meeting congratulated the Information Secretary, Mr. Nikolay Vlasov for the excellent work done.


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Agenda Item 6 Any other business

Documents: 6/1, 6/2, 6/3, 6/4, 6/5, 6/6, 6/7/INF

6.1 (LD 113) The Meeting took note of the draft document on Baltic monitoring commissioned by ICES (document 6/1) and noted that HELCOM MONAS 13/2010 also had considered the document and referred this to the discussions on the cooperation between HELCOM and ICES (cf. para 3.86-3.87, LD 96-LD 101).

6.2 (LD 114) The Meeting took note of the information on meetings and exercises within HELCOM in 2011 as contained in document 6/2 and requested the Secretariat to update the list with some missing meetings, including the meetings of HELCOM projects and to include it to the HELCOM website.

6.3 (LD 115) The Meeting took note of an overview of on-going and planned projects within HELCOM as contained in document 6/3 and requested the Secretariat to update the list with some missing projects, including the NIP project, and to include it to the HELCOM website.

6.4 (LD 116) The Meeting took note of the idea for the Baltic Sea Information on Acoustic Status (BIAS) project (document 6/4). The Meeting noted that the majority of the Contracting Parties, being also EU Member States, supported the project idea and considered that it contributes to the implementation of the Moscow Ministerial Declaration‟s paragraph related to co-ordinated monitoring of noise and the MSFD GES descriptor on underwater noise. The Meeting invited the project initiators to engage all Baltic Sea countries to the project and to further develop the project idea into a proper project and to submit a complete request for support for the consideration of HELCOM 32/2011.

6.5 (LD 117) The Meeting took note of the development of the MyOcean second phase project and pointed out the importance of ensuring that the project‟s second phase fully contributes to HELCOM‟s monitoring and assessment activities and agreed to send a support letter to the MyOcean project (document 6/6).

6.6 (LD 118) The Meeting took note of the information on nomination of Vodokanal of St. Petersburg for the Stockholm Water Prize as contained in document 6/7/INF, taking also into account that many other water utilities around the Baltic Sea have improved their performance in waste water treatment and provision of safe drinking water supply.

6.7 (LD 119) The Meeting took note of the information on two reports launched this year by WWF, namely “Baltic Sea Farmer of the Year Award 2010” and “Future trends in the Baltic Sea” (document 6/5).

6.8 (LD 120) The Meeting took note of the information by Mr. Anders Alm leaving his position as the Swedish Head of Delegation, thanked him for his significant input to the work of HELCOM and wished him all the best in his career.

6.9 (LD 121) The Meeting also took note of the official launch of the State of the Environment Report 2010 published by the European Environmental Agency available on the website of the agency: http://www.eea.europa.eu/pressroom/newsreleases/butterflies-or-business-europe-can.

6.10 (LD 122) The Meeting took note of the information by Poland on a meeting of the Priority Area 1 of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region to be arranged back-to-back with HELCOM 32/2011 on 8 March 2011.

Agenda Item 7 Next Meeting(s)

Documents: None

7.1 (LD 123) The Meeting decided to hold the next HOD meeting (HELCOM HOD 35/2011) starting at 14.00 hrs on 14 June 2011 and terminating at 16.00 hrs on 15 June 2011 in Helsinki, Finland.

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/baltic/publications/?197079/Baltic-Sea-Farmer-of-the-Year-Award-2010

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/baltic/publications/?194764/Future-trends-in-the-Baltic-Sea

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/baltic/publications/?194764/Future-trends-in-the-Baltic-Sea

http://www.eea.europa.eu/pressroom/newsreleases/butterflies-or-business-europe-can

http://www.eea.europa.eu/pressroom/newsreleases/butterflies-or-business-europe-can


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Agenda Item 8 Outcome of the Meeting

Documents: 8/1

8.1 (LD 124) The Meeting adopted the draft List of Decisions of the Meeting as contained in document 8/1.

MINUTES OF HELCOM HOD 34/2010 ANNEX 1

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ANNEX 1

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

*) Head of Delegation

CHAIR

Ms. Gabriella Lindholm

Chair of HELCOM

Ministry of Environment

SE-103 33 Stockholm

Dir.Phone: +46 84051000

Fax:

Email: [email protected]

DENMARK

Mr. Tonny Niilonen *)

Ministry of the Environment

Agency for Spatial and Environmental Planning

Nature Unit

Haraldsgade 53

DK-2100 Copenhagen Ö

Dir.Phone: +45 72544866

Fax: +45 39279899


ESTONIA

Mr. Harry Liiv *)

Ministry of the Environment of Estonia

Narva mnt 7a

EE-15172 Tallinn

Dir.Phone: +372 6262850

Fax: +372 6262928


FINLAND

Ms. Eeva-Liisa Poutanen *)

Ministry of the Environment of Finland

P.O. Box 35

FI-00023 Government

Dir.Phone: +358 505719333

Fax: +358 916039318


Ms. Lolan Margaretha Eriksson

HELCOM MARITIME Chair

Ministry of Transport and Communications

Transport Policy Department

Eteläesplanadi 16-18

Helsinki

FI-00023 Government

Dir.Phone: +358 916028493

Fax: +358 916028592


Ms. Anna-Stiina Heiskanen

HELCOM MONAS Chair

Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)

P.O. Box 140

Helsinki

Dir.Phone: +358 408258188

Fax: +358 204902291


Mr. Seppo Knuuttila

PLC-5 Project Manager

Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)

P.O. Box 140

FI-00251 Helsinki

Dir.Phone: +358 407609232

Fax: +358 204902291


Mr. Jorma Kämäräinen

Finnish Transport Safety Agency (TraFi)

Marine Environment Protection Unit

Porkkalankatu 5

FI-00180 Helsinki

Dir.Phone: +358 206186440

Fax:


GERMANY

Ms. Heike Imhoff

by phone/Email

Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

Robert-Schuman-Platz 3

D-53175 Bonn

Dir.Phone: +49 228993052527

Fax: +49 228993052396



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LATVIA

Ms. Baiba Zasa *)


Unit of Water Resources

Department of Environmental Protection

25 Peldu Str.

LV-1494 Riga

Dir.Phone: +371 67026910

Fax: +371 67820442


LITHUANIA

Ms. Viktorija Vaskeviciene *)

Ministry of Environment of Lithuania

Water Department

Water Policy Division

A. Jaksto Str. 4/9

LT-01105 Vilnius

Dir.Phone: +370 52191851

Fax:


POLAND

Mr. Andrzej Jagusiewicz *)


Chief Inspectorate for Environmental Protection

52/54 Wawelska Str.

PL-00 922 Warsaw

Dir.Phone: +48 228253325

Fax: +48 228250465


Ms. Katarzyna Biedrzycka

Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection

ul. Wawelska 52/54

PL-00 922 Warsaw

Dir.Phone: +48 225792542

Fax: +48 225792547


Mr. Leszek Dybiec

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

Department of Fisheries

Wspolna Street No. 30

PL-00 930 Warsaw

Dir.Phone: +48 226232214

Fax: +48 226232204


Ms. Barbara Lewkowska

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

Department of Fisheries

Wspolna Street No. 30

PL-00 930 Warsaw

Dir.Phone: +48 226231599

Fax: +48 226232204


RUSSIA

Ms. Natalia Tretiakova *)

Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment of the Russian Federation

4/6, Bol. Gruzinskaya Str.

RU-123995 Moscow, D-242, GSP-5

Dir.Phone: +7 4952547947

Fax: +7 4952548283


Mr. Leonid Korovin

HELCOM LAND Chair

Saint-Petersburg Public Organization "Ecology and Business"

P.O. Box 66

(Sabirovskaya str. 37-304)

RU-197342 St. Petersburg

Dir.Phone: +7 8124306860

Fax: +7 8124309305


Ms. Natalia Kutaeva

State Marine Pollution Control, Salvage and Rescue Administration of the Russian Federation (SMPCSRA)

Marine Environment Protection Division

Ul. Petrovka 3/6

RU-125993 Moscow

Dir.Phone: +7 4956261806

Fax: +7 4956261809


Mr. Denis Oksenenko

Embassy of the Russian Federation

Tehtaankatu 1 B

FI-00140 Helsinki

Dir.Phone: +358 9607050

Fax: +358 9661006


SWEDEN

Mr. Anders Alm *)


Department for Natural Resources

S-103 33 Stockholm

Dir.Phone: +46 84052389

Fax:



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Mr. Björne Olsson

Swedish Environmental Protection Agency

(Valhallavägen 195)

S-106 48 Stockholm

Dir.Phone: +46 86988548

Fax: +46 86981042


Ms. Sif Johansson

HELCOM NIP Project Manager

Swedish Environmental Protection Agency

(Valhallavägen 195)

S-106 48 Stockholm

Dir.Phone: +32 22993681

Fax: +32 22979697


Mr. Jon Kahn


Division for International Affairs

SE-103 33 Stockholm

Dir.Phone: +46 703230563

Fax: +46 8103807


OBSERVERS

ICES

Mr. Gerd Hubold

International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)

H.C. Andersens Boulevard 44-46

DK-1553 Copenhagen V

Dir.Phone: +45 33386701

Fax: +45 33934215


CCB

Mr. Gunnar Norén

Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB)

Östra Ågatan 53, 5tr

SE-753 22 Uppsala

Dir.Phone: +46 18711170

Fax: +46 18711175


WWF

Mr. Sampsa Vilhunen

World Wide Fund for Nature

WWF Finland

Lintulahdenkatu 10

FI-00500 Helsinki

Dir.Phone: +358 405503854

Fax: +358 977402139


HELCOM SECRETARIAT

Ms. Anne Christine Brusendorff

Executive Secretary

Helsinki Commission

Katajanokanlaituri 6 B

FI-00160 Helsinki

Dir.Phone: +358 468509194

Fax: +358 207412645

Email: anne [email protected]

Mr. Mikhail Durkin

Professional Secretary

Helsinki Commission


FI-00160 Helsinki

Dir.Phone: +358 468509195

Fax: +358 207412645


Ms. Maria Laamanen


Helsinki Commission


FI-00160 Helsinki

Dir.Phone: +358 468509198

Fax: +358 207412645


Ms. Monika Stankiewicz


Helsinki Commission


FI-00160 Helsinki

Dir.Phone: +358 408402471

Fax: +358 207412645


Mr. Nikolay Vlasov

Information Secretary

Helsinki Commission


FI-00160 Helsinki

Dir.Phone: +358 468509196

Fax: +358 207412645


Ms. Satu Raisamo

Administrative Officer

Helsinki Commission


FI-00160 Helsinki

Dir.Phone: +358 468509201

Fax: +358 207412645



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ANNEX 2

MANDATE FOR THE JOINT, CO-CHAIRED WORKING GROUP ON MARITIME SPATIAL PLANNING

BETWEEN HELCOM AND VASAB 2)

1. The Rationale

The Baltic Sea is an important common resource for the Baltic Sea Region countries and further neighbouring countries. It represents an important economic potential and at the same time a vulnerable ecosystem. The current environmental status requires intensive efforts towards stabilisation and improvement. Many sea use conflicts call for a wise management and coordinated introduction of continuous Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP). Development potential for future uses needs to be preserved.

2. Political Context

The HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (2007) commits the HELCOM Contracting Parties to jointly develop by 2010, as well as test, apply and evaluate by 2012, in cooperation with other relevant international bodies, broad-scale, cross-sectoral, MSP principles based on the Ecosystem Approach that reflect the specific conditions and needs in the Baltic Sea Region.

The VASAB Long Term Perspective for the Territorial Development of the Baltic Sea Region (2009) has specified concrete activities towards developing the Baltic Sea Region into a European Model Region for MSP.

In its Green Paper on the future Maritime Policy (2006) and its Blue Book/Action Plan “An integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union” (2007), the European Commission has emphasised the need for MSP. In the Communication on a "Roadmap for Maritime Spatial Planning: Achieving common principles in the EU" (2008), the European Commission has outlined relevant issues, steps and principles. The European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive (EU MSFD, 2008) promotes spatial measures as one of the means to reach Good Environmental Status of European Seas. The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (2009) has attributed HELCOM and VASAB a prominent role in promoting maritime spatial planning in the region together with other stakeholders.

The “Maritime Doctrine of the Russian Federation to the year 2020” supports cooperation similar to MSP in fields like integrated management of sea resources, conflict resolution, future-oriented use of sea space, research, information, legislation and education.

3. The Joint Working Group and its overall aims

In order to address these challenges the VASAB Committee on Spatial Planning and Development of the Baltic Sea Region (CSPD/BSR) and Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) sets up a joint co-chaired Working Group on Maritime Spatial Planning to ensure cooperation among the Baltic Sea Region countries for coherent regional Maritime Spatial Planning processes. It will:

Provide a forum for regional, trans-boundary and cross-sectoral dialogue on Integrated Coastal Zone Management and Maritime Spatial Planning -enabling a common approach

Assist the CSPD/BSR and its member states in implementing the actions decided 2009 in VASAB Long Term Perspective for the Territorial Development of the Baltic Sea Region towards the next Ministerial Conference

Assist HELCOM and its member states to implement the Maritime Spatial Planning relevant actions decided in HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan 2007 and its follow-up

2)

VASAB CSPD/BSR adopted this document at their meeting on 13-14 December 2010 in Stockholm, Sweden.


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Provide Baltic Sea Region countries a platform to discuss the links between relevant International Agreements, EU legal instruments and policies, Baltic Sea Region and national policies,

Assist the Baltic region in profiling itself as a global and European forerunner in maritime spatial planning

4. Anticipated Tasks

In order to achieve these goals the Group will:

Promote the development of maritime spatial planning in the region and follow up its implementation as outlined in VASAB Long Term Perspective as well as HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan and relevant HELCOM Recommendations, including supporting the setting-up of governing structures, legislative basis, transboundary consultations as well as developing concepts for common Maritime Spatial Planning Principles.

Propose to organize workshops and events as well and information material on maritime spatial planning.

Follow and examine as well as make use of the outcomes and findings of regional project activities relevant to MSP, such as BaltCoast, East-West Window, PlanCoast, BaltSeaPlan, PlanBothnia

Promote the development of compatible datasets and information relevant to BSR maritime spatial planning and thus ensure keeping HELCOM GIS and other regional GIS data portals up to date with best available information.

Prepare decision proposals on Maritime Spatial Planning in the BSR for the forthcoming VASAB Ministerial Conferences and HELCOM Ministerial meetings.

The Group will develop a Working Programme, for adoption by VASAB CSPD and HELCOM HOD.

5. Membership

Participation is open to representatives from relevant ministries or government agencies in all VASAB and HELCOM Member Countries/Contracting Parties as well as for experts delegated by them. The members should be nominated by the Member Countries/Contracting Parties. A representation of all VASAB and HELCOM countries with sea coast is envisaged.

VASAB and HELCOM observers can participate. Other guests, organisations and initiatives from around the Baltic Sea and from other parts of Europe with a substantial maritime spatial planning interest can be invited as observers.

6. Organisation

The Working Group will be jointly co-chaired by a VASAB CSD/BSR chair (nominated by group and adopted by VASAB CSD/BSR) and HELCOM chair (nominated by group and adopted by HELCOM HOD). The two chairs will, with the assistance of both HELCOM and VASAB secretariats, jointly prepare meetings and Agendas for the Working Group.

The Working Group will document its meetings. A concise outcome will be adopted before the end of each meeting. The outcome is agreed by consensus. All meeting documents and the outcome will be made freely available to the public shortly after the meeting trough the HELCOM and VASAB websites.

Meetings will take place up to three times a year. The Group may change the frequency of meetings according to need. In addition to meetings, exchange of e-mails will be used for intersessional work. The Group will send its outcomes and progress reports for approval both to the CSPD-BSR and HELCOM, including proposals for creation of sub-groups. The working language is English.


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7. Timeframe

The mandate of the Group is valid for three years, starting from its first meeting. The Group may request a prolongation jointly from the CSPD/BSR and HELCOM.

8. Resources

Costs for the participants including travel costs to meetings will be covered by the delegating institutions. Direct costs for meetings will be borne by the host country if not arranged within HELCOM or VASAB Secretariat premises. Staff support from the VASAB and HELCOM Secretariats will be provided for technical support (e.g. preparation of meeting documents including minutes, registration of participants, etc.) and Secretariat attendance at meetings.


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ANNEX 3

BALTIC SEA BROAD-SCALE MARITIME SPATIAL PLANNING (MSP) PRINCIPLES 3)

HELCOM and VASAB, RECALLING the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan commitment to jointly develop by 2010, as well as test, apply and evaluate by 2012, in co-operation with other relevant international bodies, broad-scale, cross-sectoral, marine spatial planning principles based on the Ecosystem Approach: whereby all Contracting Parties and relevant HELCOM bodies shall co-operatively participate; thereby giving guidance for the planning and ensuring the protection of the marine environment and nature, including habitats and seafloor integrity; securing sustainable use of marine resources by reducing user conflicts and adverse impacts of human activities, RECALLING the “HELCOM Recommendation 28E/9 on development of broad-scale marine spatial planning principles in the Baltic Sea area” adopted to facilitate the protection and sustainable use of the Baltic Sea. RECALLING that Maritime Spatial Planning is promoted and called for by the VASAB Long Term Perspective, Nordic Council of Ministers, the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region and its objectives, The European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union, including its roadmap with Maritime Spatial Planning Principles, and the work of UNESCO. AWARE that while management and regulation of human activities is divided into sectoral frameworks, the Baltic Sea ecosystem hosting these activities and enabling economic and social prosperity, is a single entity which has limits in terms of ecological integrity and available space, and is inherently connected to activities and processes on land. AWARE that there is an increasing need and competition for marine space of the Baltic Sea which requires an integrated, cross-sectoral approach of managing human activities. AWARE that Maritime Spatial Planning is an instrument for analysing, coordinating and allocating the spatial and temporal distribution of human activities in marine areas to achieve a balance between economic, environmental, social and any other interests in line with internationally and nationally agreed objectives. AWARE that the Baltic Sea is in great need of a developed, well adapted and coherent Maritime Spatial Planning to accomplish long term trade-offs between different and sometimes competing human activities, thereby providing a predictable framework for maritime economic investment and activities, for creating job opportunities and at the same time ensuring compatibility with good environmental status, thus promoting sustainable development of the marine areas and the Baltic Sea Region. AWARE that according to sustainable development the needs of the present generation should be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. ACKNOWLEDGE that although substantial work has already been carried out in the Baltic Sea Region as regards Maritime Spatial Planning and Management, still great differences exist between the Baltic Sea Region countries in terms of Maritime Spatial Planning systems.

3)

VASAB CSPD/BSR adopted this document at their meeting on 13-14 December 2010 in Stockholm, Sweden.


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AGREE that this document, including the following ten principles, will provide valuable guidance for achieving better coherence in the development of Maritime Spatial Planning systems in the Baltic Sea Region:

1. Sustainable management

Maritime Spatial Planning is a key tool for sustainable management by balancing between economic, environmental, social and other interests in spatial allocations, by managing specific uses and coherently integrating sectoral planning, and by applying the ecosystem approach. When balancing interests and allocating uses in space and time, long-term and sustainable management should have priority.

2. Ecosystem approach

The ecosystem approach, calling for a cross-sectoral and sustainable management of human activities, is an overarching principle for Maritime Spatial Planning which aims at achieving a Baltic Sea ecosystem in good status -a healthy, productive and resilient condition so that it can provide the services humans want and need. The entire regional Baltic Sea ecosystem as well as sub-regional systems and all human activities taking place within it should be considered in this context. Maritime Spatial Planning must seek to protect and enhance the marine environment and thus should contribute to achieving Good Environmental Status according to the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive and HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan.

3. Long term perspective and objectives

Maritime Spatial Planning should have a long term perspective in relation to the goals it seeks to attain and to its environmental, social, economic and territorial effects. It should aim for long-term sustainable uses that are not compromised by short term benefits and be based on long term visions strategies and action plans. Clear and effective objectives of Maritime Spatial Planning should be formulated based on these principles and national commitments. The establishment of a legal basis for Maritime Spatial Planning in the Baltic Sea countries should be investigated including vertically and horizontally well-coordinated decision making processes concerning sea space uses to ensure efficient implementation of maritime spatial plans and to provide for an integrated sea space allocation process when such plans do not yet exist.

4. Precautionary Principle

Maritime Spatial Planning should be based on the Precautionary Principle. This implies planning has an obligation to anticipate potential adverse effects to the environment before they occur, taking into account Article 3 of the Helsinki Convention, and take all precautionary measures so that an activity will not result in significant harm. A similar, but distinct, forward looking perspective should be applied with respect to the economic and social dimensions.

5. Participation and Transparency

All relevant authorities and stakeholders in the Baltic Sea Region, including coastal municipalities as well as national and regional bodies, should be involved in maritime spatial planning initiatives at the earliest possible stage and public participation should be secured. Planning processes should be open and transparent and in accordance with international legislation.


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6. High quality data and information basis

Maritime Spatial Planning should be based on best available and up to date comprehensive information of high quality that to the largest extent possible should be shared by all. This calls for close cooperation of relevant GIS and geo-statistical databases, including the HELCOM GIS, monitoring and research in order to facilitate a trans-boundary data exchange process that could lead to a harmonised pan-Baltic data and information base for planning. This base should cover historical baselines, present status as well as future projections of both environmental aspects and human activities. It should be as comprehensive, openly accessible and constantly updated as possible and compatibility with European and Global initiatives should be ensured.

7. Transnational coordination and consultation

Maritime spatial planning should be developed in a joint pan-Baltic dialogue with coordination and consultation between the Baltic Sea states, bearing in mind the need to apply international legislation and agreements and, for the HELCOM and VASAB EU member states, the EU acquis communitaire. Such dialogue should be conducted in a cross-sectoral context between all coastal countries, interested and competent organizations and stakeholders. Whenever possible maritime spatial plans should be developed and amended with the Baltic Sea Region perspective in mind.

8. Coherent terrestrial and maritime spatial planning

Spatial planning for land and for the sea should be tightly interlinked, consistent and supportive to each other. To the extent possible legal systems governing spatial planning on land and sea should be harmonised to achieve governance systems equally open to handle land and sea spatial challenges, problems and opportunities and to create synergies. Synergies with Integrated Coastal Zone Management should be strengthened in all BSR countries and in a cross-border setting.

9. Planning adapted to characteristics and special conditions at different areas

Maritime spatial planning should acknowledge the characteristics and special conditions of the different sub-basins of the Baltic Sea and their catchments. Consideration should be taken of the need for separate sub-regional planning adapted to such areas including sub-regional objectives supplementing regional objectives specified in principle 3. In general maritime spatial plans should seek coherence across ecosystems.

10. Continuous planning

Maritime spatial planning should reflect the fact that planning is a continuous process that will need to adapt to changing conditions and new knowledge. Monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of maritime plans and its environmental, as well as socio-economic, effects should be carried out with a view to identify unforeseen impacts and to improve planning data and methods. This monitoring and evaluation should, particularly in its trans-boundary dimensions and in addition to national and transboundary monitoring schemes, build on, and if possible be part of, regional monitoring and assessments carried out by regional organisations.


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ANNEX 4

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE AD HOC EXPERT WORKING GROUP ON SHORELINE RESPONSE

Background

The Contracting Parties have agreed in HELCOM Recommendation 28E/12 “Strengthening of sub-regional co-operation in response field” to take necessary steps to assess the risk of oil and chemical pollution and on that basis review emergency and response resources on a sub-regional basis in order to ensure that there is adequate response capacity to enable effective shoreline response.

The Recommendation also requires the Contracting Parties to integrate shoreline response into national contingency plans, and cooperate by conducting trainings and organizing exchange programmes to ensure swift and adequate response capacity and to develop best practices.

The Contracting Parties are also to identify by 2013, based upon sensitivity mapping, the need for and to finalize the quantification of countermeasures for shoreline response, and to prepare concrete plans/programmes for fulfilling them by 2013.

Tasks of the EWG:

In order to contribute to the implementation of the above mentioned actions, an ad hoc Expert Working Group on Shoreline Response under HELCOM RESPONSE is established. The task of the Group is to:

1. Based on the outcome of the BRISK project, e.g. risks of oil pollution, environmental sensitivity maps, information on impacts of oil on the shore, as well as other relevant projects to consider adequacy of existing resources to respond to shoreline pollution and to give recommendations how these capabilities could be improved;

2. Develop a proposal for a HELCOM Recommendation on integrating shoreline response into national contingency plans and improving response capacities, e.g. based on the gaps in the national shoreline response systems as identified in document HELCOM RESPONSE 11/2009, 7/6, as well as suggestions for improvements of shoreline response capacities in the Contracting Parties;

3. Consider the need for developing a new Volume to the HELCOM Response Manual on shoreline response, e.g. based on the existing national and international manuals, and to develop a relevant proposal for further consideration by the HELCOM Response Group.

Working mode

The Group will arrange two meetings in 2011 to conduct their work. The first meeting will be held in February 2011 in Poland and the second meeting in June 2011 in Germany. The EWG will report to HELCOM RESPONSE on the progress made.

Members of the Group

The work of the Group is co-led by Poland and Germany. The Group consists of:

- Marek Reszko, Poland

- Karsten Petersen, Germany

- Karl-Erik Kulander, Sweden

- Heli Haapasari, Finland

- Vanessa Klötzer, WWF


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ANNEX 5

TERMS OF REFERENCE OF THE HELCOM MONAS EXPERT GROUP ON MONITORING OF

RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES IN THE BALTIC SEA (HELCOM MORS EG)

1. Introduction

The 2010 HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Declaration recalls that although annual doses are below safety limits, the Baltic Sea has the highest concentrations of 137Cs of any regional sea around the world due to radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident, and that the Baltic Sea ranks third in the world with respect to 90Sr in seawater, with only the Irish Sea and the Black Sea showing higher concentrations.

Development in the energy supply sector within both HELCOM Contracting Parties and in the Baltic Sea Region in general, shows growing trend for use of nuclear energy. This requires enhanced cooperation between the countries of the Region on matters related to prevention of environmental impacts on the Baltic Sea ecosystem from operating, as well as planned nuclear installations.

Therefore HELCOM reconfirmed at the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Meeting in 2010 its task to continue monitoring programmes on radioactive substances in the Baltic Sea and to keep under observation trends of the export of radionuclides from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea and vice versa, especially the inflows of radioactivity from Sellafield to the Baltic Sea and the outflow of Chernobyl radioactivity from the Baltic Sea to the Skagerrak.

The HELCOM Expert Group on Monitoring of Radioactive Substances in the Baltic Sea (hereinafter – HELCOM MORS EG) aims to implement this task within the scope of work as described below. The HELCOM MORS EG will base its work on the expertise and knowledge of the HELCOM MORS Group collected since 1986 and will take over the responsibilities from the HELCOM MORS-PRO Project 2008-2011.

2. Overall objectives of the Expert Group

The overall objective of the HELCOM MORS EG is to implement the Helsinki Convention on matters related to monitoring and assessment of radioactive substances in the Baltic Sea. The work is based on relevant HELCOM Recommendations and will support the Monitoring and Assessment Group (HELCOM MONAS).

More specifically the HELCOM MORS EG aims:

to coordinate basic monitoring programmes on radioactive substances in the Baltic Sea carried out by the Contracting Parties in accordance with relevant HELCOM Recommendations and the valid Guidelines;

to compile annually data on discharges of radioactivity from civil nuclear facilities to the Baltic Sea reported by the Contracting Parties;

to compile annually data on discharges and environmental levels of radioactivity in the Baltic Sea submitted to the HELCOM databases, in accordance with relevant HELCOM Recommendations,

to validate annually all data in the HELCOM MORS databases of environmental and discharge data and to make them available on relevant electronic media to MORS EG;

to update annually HELCOM Indicator Fact Sheets on radioactive substances in the Baltic Sea;

to keep the Guidelines on the monitoring of radioactive substances in the Baltic Sea updated;

to coordinate and organise intercomparison exercises on seawater, sediments and biota to assure high quality of the monitoring data;

to keep under observation the development of trends of export of radionuclides from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea and vice versa, especially the inflow of radioactivity (e.g. 99Tc) from Sellafield to the Baltic Sea and the outflow of Chernobyl radioactivity from the Baltic Sea to the Skagerrak;


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to produce thematic reports, e.g. on naturally occurring radionuclides in the Baltic Sea, releases of man-made radionuclides from non-nuclear activities (e.g. hospitals), simple procedures for assessing doses to man from radioactivity in the Baltic Sea;

to produce periodic assessments on radioactivity in the Baltic Sea. These assessments will include levels, inventories and trends for radioactivity in the Baltic Sea and the radiological impact on man and environment.

3. Expected results

The Group will be subordinate to HELCOM MONAS and will provide

annual reporting to the Monitoring and Assessment Group (HELCOM MONAS) in order to keep the Commission and the Contracting Parties informed on:

collection, validation and evaluation of the environmental data and discharge data on radioactivity submitted to the HELCOM databases;

the risks to humans and marine life caused by direct discharges to the Baltic Sea as well as long-range transport of radioactive substances;

to ascertain that all aspects of quality assurance of analytical data are covered within the monitoring activities. This will be done in close co-operation with the IAEA;

to maintain expertise for the Contracting Parties on monitoring and assessment of radioactivity in the Baltic Sea taking into account the fact that 137Cs concentrations in the Baltic Sea are high compared to those of the other shelf seas in the world;

annual updates of the Indicator Fact Sheets.

4. Working procedure of the HELCOM MORS EG

4.1 The HELCOM MORS EG will consist of experts representing

national authorities and/or monitoring institutions that are i.a. responsible for protection of marine environment from contamination by radioactive substances within HELCOM Contracting Parties,

the European Commission,

the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Data Consultants responsible for maintenance of HELCOM MORS databases of environmental and discharge data;

4.2 The Chairperson of the HELCOM MORS EG shall be elected by the participants of the Group for a two-year period.

4.3 The Rules of Procedure applicable to the conduct of the business of the Helsinki Commission shall apply mutatis mutandis to the work of the HELCOM MORS EG (cf. para 7.7 of the Rules of Procedure of the Helsinki Commission).

4.4 The Contracting Parties will be responsible to carry out the monitoring programme according to relevant HELCOM Recommendations and to cover the expenses for the participation of members in the work of the HELCOM MORS EG.

4.5 The HELCOM Secretariat will organize and make sure that services are provided for the HELCOM MORS EG Meetings.

4.6 The Secretariat may, in consultation with the Chairperson, invite additional experts on a case by case basis to the HELCOM MORS EG; to give presentations or to participate in its work;

4.7 Meetings shall be held at appropriate intervals and at least once a year in accordance with the Working Programme to be approved by HELCOM MONAS/HELCOM HOD.

4.8 The HELCOM MORS EG shall regularly report to the HELCOM MONAS as concerning monitoring and trends of the radioactive substances at sea as well as regarding inputs of radioactive substances to the Baltic from land-based sources.

4.9 The work of HELCOM MORS EG will be supervised and guided by the HELCOM Heads of Delegation through the reports of the HELCOM MONAS.


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ANNEX 6

CONTINUATION OF THE BALTIC-WIDE ASSESSMENT OF COASTAL FISH COMMUNITIES IN SUPPORT

OF AN ECOSYSTEM-BASED MANAGEMENT (HELCOM FISH-PRO)

1. Title of Project: Continuation of the Baltic-wide assessment of coastal fish communities in support of an ecosystem-based management (HELCOM FISH-PRO) 2. Project Manager: Magnus Appelberg, Sweden 3. Proposing Party:

Contracting Party: _______________ Commission: _______________ Subsidiary body: HELCOM MONAS Heads of Delegation: _______________ Executive Secretary: _______________

4. The body supervising the Project: HELCOM HABITAT and HELCOM MONAS 5. Target and activities

Policy background

The Baltic Sea has a unique combination of marine and freshwater species and habitats adapted to brackish conditions. A favourable conservation status of Baltic Sea biodiversity is a prerequisite for the marine ecosystems to be resilient and able to adapt to changing environmental conditions.

Coastal fish populations are important components of the Baltic Sea biota. On one hand, they reflect the general environmental status, such as eutrophication, climate changes and hazardous substances, the direct human impact through fisheries and on the other hand they modify other components of the ecosystem through ecological interactions. The dramatic changes in the Baltic Sea during the late 20th century, calls for increased focus on this ecosystem component.

With the overall vision of achieving a healthy Baltic Sea with a balanced and functioning ecosystem that supports sustainable social and economic human activities, the 2007 HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) aims at aligning the goal “favourable conservation status of marine biodiversity” with corresponding goals and objectives of already existing regulations which also address biodiversity and nature conservation.

In order to reach a favourable conservation status of biodiversity, HELCOM has adopted Ecological Objectives covering topics referring to:

- the restoration and maintenance of sea floor integrity at a level that safeguards the functions of the ecosystems;

- that habitats, including associated species, show a distribution, abundance and quality in line with prevailing physiographic, geographic and climatic conditions; and

- a water quality that enables the integrity, structure and functioning of the ecosystem to be maintained or recovered.

In the BSAP, the HELCOM Contracting Parties have agreed that coastal fish constitute an imperative part of the Baltic Sea total biodiversity and have a structuring role in coastal food webs. Furthermore, coastal fisheries are of great importance to the society from both a socio-economic and a cultural point of view. The Contracting Parties furthermore acknowledge that a substantial part of the coastal fish community of the Baltic Sea consists of freshwater species, only managed at a national level.

Most importantly concerning coastal fish, the HELCOM Contracting Parties agreed and invited competent authorities:


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- to establish an international co-operation network to agree on guidelines to promote the ecosystem-based management of coastal fisheries in the Baltic region;

- to develop long-term plans for protecting, monitoring and sustainably managing coastal fish species, including the most threatened and/or declining, including anadromous ones (according to the HELCOM Red list of threatened and declining species of lampreys and fishes of the Baltic Sea, BSEP No. 109), by 2012,

- develop a suite of indicators with region-specific reference values and targets for coastal fish as well as tools for assessment and sustainable management of coastal fish by 2012.

History of the expert network on coastal fish in the Baltic

The activities of the network of experts on coastal fish monitoring started in 2003 under the umbrella of the World Bank/GEF funded Baltic Sea Regional Project and subsequently continued under the HELCOM FISH Project during 2008-2010. During the past years of cooperation the experts have established the COBRA database (Coordination Organ for Baltic Reference Areas), developed a HELCOM Indicator Fact Sheet on temporal changes in coastal fish populations and communities, produced a thematic assessment on coastal fish communities (Baltic Sea Environment Proceedings 103a and 103b), contributed to the HELCOM Red list of threatened and declining species fish and lamprey of the Baltic Sea (BSEP 109), and updated common guidelines for the monitoring of coastal fish in the HELCOM COMBINE Manual. At present the group is working on a thematic assessment on the conservation status of non-commercial fish species4 in the Baltic Sea.

Objectives of the project

The objectives of the proposed continuation of the HELCOM FISH Project are: a) Knowledge: to update and improve knowledge about occurrence, distribution,

population and threat and/or decline of coastal fish1 based on all relevant data. b) Assessment: further development of different assessment methodologies for coastal

fish1, including indicators with setting target and reference values. c) Recommendations: provide advise to national authorities and ongoing HELCOM work

on implementation of coastal fish1 related actions in the BSAP, 6. Expected results

HELCOM acknowledge the EC competence on commercial fisheries. The project will provide added value in relation to activities carried out within the EU framework. The outcomes of the project are expected to not only benefit and contribute to the work within HELCOM, but also to various international frameworks and activities carried out at the national level.

The project is expected to deliver the following products/outcomes:

Assessment report on the state of coastal fish1, making use of indicators

Periodic update of HELCOM Indicator Fact Sheets on coastal fish1 and establishment of targets reflecting good environmental status for those indicators with the aim to develop them into HELCOM core indicators supporting continuous follow-up of the implementation of the HELCOM BSAP as well as the EU MSFD.

Input on fish and lamprey species to the HELCOM Red List Project

Expert proposals for restoration programmes and measures for the most threatened and/or declining coastal fish1 species,

Common ground for development of assessment procedures for elaboration of scientific advise on coastal fish1 to be considered at national level

Dissemination of project outcomes

4 Hereinafter, the term “coastal fish” refers to “internationally non-assessed fish species within the

territorial waters of the Contracting Parties”


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The products/outcomes will be coordinated with activities on implementation of the HELCOM BSAP and other corresponding international activities, e.g. the implementation of the EU WFD, EU Habitats Directive and EU MSFD and the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. 7. Consistency with HELCOM priorities __X__ yes ____ no

The project is executed in close coordination with the HELCOM activities dealing with:

Implementation of the fish/fisheries related actions within the HELCOM BSAP (cf. Attachment)

HELCOM CORESET project (2010-2013) for the development of a HELCOM core set of indicators with targets (reflecting good environmental status) suitable for indicator-based assessments and subsequent revision of the COMBINE programme

HELCOM Red List project (2009-2013) on the development and updating of Red lists of species and biotopes

Production of thematic assessment of eutrophication and biodiversity. 8. Timetable

The project will extend over the period 2011-2013. The work will be coordinated through annual (or more, if needed) workshops. The Indicator Fact sheets will be updated periodically.

9. Budget

9.1 Total costs (EUR)

2011 2012 2013 Total

Project management, including data handling and meeting facilitation

5 000 5 000 5 000 15 000

9.2 Costs divided per financial year

2010/2011 EUR 5 000 2011/2012 EUR 5 000 2012/2013 EUR 5 000

9.3 Sources of financing divided per financial year

2010/2011 HELCOM budget 2011/2012 HELCOM budget 2012/2013 HELCOM budget

10. Additional requests (manpower, equipment, facilities, etc.)

10.1 From the Contracting Parties

All Contracting Parties are urged to participate in the project and to submit national contributions.

10.2 From the Secretariat

The Project shall be supported by the Secretariat.

11. Organization of Project

The Project Manager will be Magnus Appelberg, Sweden Every Contracting Party will nominate its national project member(-s).

12. Signature of the Project Manager

Magnus Appelberg


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13. Opinion of the Chairs of the relevant body

The Chairs of HELCOM HABITAT, HELCOM MONAS and Co-Chairs of HELCOM Fisheries/Environmental Forum support the establishment of the Project.

14. Opinion of the Executive Secretary

The Executive Secretary supports the establishment of the Project.

15. Decision of the Heads of Delegation

Minutes of HELCOM HOD 34/2010, LD 56

__x _ to establish ____not to establish


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ANNEX 7

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR A COOPERATION PLATFORM ON PORT RECEPTION FACILITIES IN THE

BALTIC SEA

Background information

The HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) adopted by the Baltic Sea countries and the European Commission in 2007 included a commitment to address discharges of sewage from passenger ships.

The IMO‟s 61st session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) approved the proposal of the Baltic Sea countries to designate the Baltic Sea as a special area under Annex IV of the MARPOL Convention where passenger ships will be required to follow more stringent regulations concerning discharges of sewage, for final adoption at MEPC 62. The sewage will have to be treated onboard to remove nutrients to the agreed standard or will have to be delivered to the port reception facilities (PRF). The new regulations will come into effect when the Baltic Sea countries notify IMO of having adequate port reception facilities for sewage.

The 2010 HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Meeting agreed on upgrading PRF for sewage by 2013, and by 2015 at the latest, and adopted the Road Map indicating the first and second priority passenger ports

(http://www.helcom.fi/stc/files/Moscow2010/PortReceptionFacilities.pdf).

The implementation of the Road Map is a shared responsibility of national administrations, which issue national legislation governing the requirements on PRF and monitor that the established procedures are followed, of the Baltic Sea passenger ports and of the passenger shipping industry, including cruise line industry. Municipal authorities and water and wastewater utilities are also important stakeholders to make sure that the sewage is treated in the land-based wastewater treatment plants according to the relevant HELCOM Recommendations.

A Cooperation Platform on Port Reception Facilities in the Baltic Sea

A Cooperation Platform on Port Reception Facilities in the Baltic Sea is established to promote dialogue on provision of adequate port reception facilities for sewage in passenger ports of the Baltic Sea among the key stakeholders, including Baltic Sea passenger ports, shipping industry, national administrations and agencies of the coastal countries as well as municipal wastewater treatment plants, and other stakeholders.

The Platform‟s aim is to exchange experience on good practices in planning, implementing and operating PRF for sewage, with a view to giving guidance on how to upgrade PRF in the first priority ports to meet the needs of the relevant stakeholders and according to the requirements of Annex IV of MARPOL for the Baltic Sea special area.

The Platform is also to work to further encourage voluntary activities in ports and shipping companies to dispose sewage to PRF before the Baltic Sea special area comes into effect.

There are already three big passenger ports in the Baltic Sea: Stockholm, Helsinki, and St. Petersburg, which serve as good examples on how PRF could be arranged, e.g. to receive large quantities of sewage from ships (fixed link to the sewerage system and treatment in the municipal wastewater treatment plant), and their experience could be shared with other ports.

The Platform will also aim at building necessary partnerships to implement the Road Map.

The Platform will use the HELCOM Road Map for upgrading port reception facilities for sewage in passenger ports of the Baltic Sea area as the basis of their work, and more specifically will:

http://www.helcom.fi/stc/files/Moscow2010/PortReceptionFacilities.pdf


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1. Identify areas for improvement in port reception facilities for sewage in the first priority ports, including in terms of adequacy and availability in relation to ships normally visiting the ports, and based on the IMO Guidelines for ensuring the adequacy of port waste reception facilities (MEPC.83(44). Timetable: by the Meeting of HELCOM on 9-10 March 2011 (HELCOM 32/2011). Lead: Poland and BPO and in cooperation with the HELCOM Project on National Implementation Programmes of BSAP*.

2. Make suggestions for technical improvements on a port level for the first priority ports with the aim to initiate projects, including bankable projects. Timetable: by HELCOM 32/2011. Lead: Poland and BPO and in cooperation with the HELCOM Project on National Implementation Programmes of BSAP*.

3. Identify gaps and propose and implement solutions also regarding the second priority ports. Lead: relevant countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany), e.g. through implementation of national plans for BSAP.

4. Build a common understanding on technical and operational aspects of sewage delivery to meet the needs of ports and shipping industry and in dialogue with municipalities, and based on it, to develop, if possible, a joint guidance or to present the views of the involved stakeholders. Timetable: by HELCOM MARITIME 10/2011 on 15-17 November 2011. Lead: Sweden and WWF.

5. Promote harmonized regional implementation of the “no-special-fee” system for sewage delivery and identify challenges in implementing the system.

6. Follow developments of the technology for onboard sewage treatment to meet the new standards. Lead: Germany.

* HELCOM Project on National Implementation Programmes of BSAP (2010-2011) could be of support in conducting tasks 1 and 2, more specifically in identifying the gaps and suggesting possible partnerships for joint projects based on consultations with national administrations and port authorities.

The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, through its ongoing flagship projects under Priority Area 4 led by Denmark, could give further support to the initiative and contribute to the implementation of the above tasks.

The identified needs/projects should be prioritized nationally within national programmes for the implementation of the Maritime Activities segment of the Baltic Sea Action Plan.

The partnership of the Platform includes, but is not limited to:

- national administrations of the first and second priority ports (Estonia, Germany, Denmark, Latvia, Poland, Sweden, Finland) and the relevant national administration in Russia

- ports of Stockholm and Helsinki - municipal authorities of the first and second priority ports - Baltic Ports Organization (BPO) - European Sea Ports Organization (ESPO) - Cruise Baltic - European Cruise Council (ECC)/Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) - World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) - European Community Shipowners' Association (ECSA) - International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) - BIMCO

The Platform will work via correspondence and will meet when needed.


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ANNEX 8

PROJECT DESCRIPTION “PILOT RISK ASSESSMENTS OF ALIEN SPECIES TRANSFER ON INTRA-BALTIC SHIP VOYAGES”

1. Title of Project

Pilot risk assessments of alien species transfer on intra-Baltic ship voyages.

2. Project Managers

Erkki Leppäkoski and Stephan Gollasch

3. Proposing Party

Contracting Party _____

Commission _____

Subsidiary body __X__

Heads of Delegation _____

Executive Secretary _____

4. The body supervising the Project

HELCOM MARITIME

5. Background, target and activities

Background

HELOM Baltic Sea Action Plan requires the Contracting Parties to ratify the Ballast Water Management Convention (BWMC) by 2013 at the latest. So far, only Sweden has ratified the Convention. According to their announcement, most of the other Contracting Parties have also started the ratification process. Once the Convention has entered into force, it will become a major legal instrument to reduce the risk of transfer of alien species to the Baltic Sea from other sea areas.

However, the BWMC has not been designed to serve small and shallow seas like the Baltic Sea, which may create some challenges for the HELCOM countries. One of the questions is how and if to manage ballast water on intra-Baltic voyages, taking into account that species are likely to spread within the Baltic Sea to proportionally wide areas on their own, without shipping acting as a vector, unless salinity, temperature or other factors limit their natural range of dispersal.

The HELCOM Contracting Parties have agreed that ballast water exchange is not a suitable management option to reduce the risk of alien species‟ transfer within the Baltic Sea. Thus, once the BWMC enters into force, ships will be required to implement the remaining ballast water management options (ballast water treatment or discharge and disposal of ballast water and sediments to port reception facilities) unless an exemption has been granted following a risk assessment to assess whether a ship is on a voyage posing a high or low risk of spreading alien species.

HELCOM Guidance on how to distinguish between high and low risk – a risk of secondary spreading of alien species through ballast water and sediments – by ships engaged in intra-Baltic voyages adopted by the Ministerial Meeting on 20 May 2010 in Moscow, is a tool that can identify routes posing high risk. The Guidance has been developed to support

http://www.helcom.fi/shipping/ballast/en_GB/guidance_risks/




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transparent and consistent risk assessments for regional ship voyages and to allow a unified Baltic Sea system on exemptions from applying ballast water management in accordance with Ballast Water Management Convention Regulation A-4.

The Guidance, however, has not been tested yet on real cases, and there is a growing need to gain the knowledge among national administrations and provide best practices on how to conduct and/or evaluate and consult risk assessments as set in the Ballast Water Management Convention.

Most routes in the Baltic Sea, due to similar environmental conditions, can be expected to be sufficiently low risk to be exempted. The risk assessment and exemption procedure will require a lot of work both from shipowners and administrations.

Practical testing of the HELCOM Guidance on some selected ship routes connecting ports in different Baltic Sea countries would provide concrete examples and best practices for how risk assessments should be done, to be utilized in the work of national administrations dealing with BWMC.

Regulation A-3 of the Convention does not require treatment of ballast water if it is discharged in the same location as it was taken up, provided that it has not been mixed with other ballast water. As the Baltic Sea is one biogeographical region, one interpretation of the Convention could possibly be that no treatment of BW would be needed for intra-Baltic traffic. However, some intra-Baltic routes might still pose a risk. A pragmatic approach could be to have a definition of the “same location”, developed and agreed upon by all HELCOM Contracting Parties.

Target

To test HELCOM Guidance on how to distinguish between high and low risk of secondary spreading of alien species by ships on intra-Baltic voyages, by conducting pilot risk assessments for selected number of ship routes connecting ports in different Baltic Sea countries.

To investigate implications of regulations A-3 (exceptions) and A-4 (exemptions) of the BWMC for intra-Baltic voyages.

Activities

1. The project will conduct pilot risk assessments (RA) for specific voyages on selected routes. If feasible, the project will also conduct pilot RA for specific voyages on selected routes between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The project should take a holistic approach focusing on the HELCOM Guidance, taking into consideration as far as possible other proposed RA approaches (i.e. as proposed in OSPAR and the North Sea Ballast Water Opportunity Project) evaluating practicability and environmental aspects.

2. The project will select routes for conducting risk assessments. The selection will be based on availability of information on alien species, prevailing traffic pattern, and the “representativeness” of a route so the results could be used also for other, similar voyages.

3. The project will gather the necessary information on e.g. ship voyages to be tested, alien species present in donor port (and its vicinity) and recipient port as well as environmental conditions in these ports. The project will make use of readily available information (e.g. HELCOM list of alien species) as far as possible, but will also search for additional information.

4. The project will undertake a comprehensive review of regulations A-3 and A-4 of the BWMC and their implications for intra Baltic voyages, taking into account all practical, environmental, and legal aspects, in particular looking at the concept of “same location”.

5. The project will be implemented in close cooperation with national administrations/institutions dealing with BWMC.


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6. The project will suggest possible improvements to the HELCOM Guidance, based on the results of the risk assessments conducted and the experience gained.

7. A project meeting will be organized in spring, and the results of the project will be presented at HELCOM MARITIME 10/2011.

6. Expected results

Harmonized approach to conducting risk assessments according to the HELCOM Guidance and the Ballast Water Management Convention.

7. Consistency with HELCOM priorities X yes ___ no

The project will facilitate implementation of the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention according to the HELCOM Ballast Water Road Map adopted as part of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan, and will bring the Contracting Parties closer to the ratification of the Convention.

8. Timetable

Project duration: twelve months.

9. Budget (taking into account financial year from 1 July to 30 June)

9.1 Total Costs

€ 60,000

9.2 Costs divided per financial year

Financial period Total amount

2010/2011 € 35,000

2011/2012 € 25,000

9.3 Sources of financing divided per financial year

Special contribution by Finland: 25,000 €

Special contribution by Sweden: 35,000 €

10. Additional requests (manpower, equipment, facilities, etc.)

10.1 From the Contracting Parties

The Correspondence Group on implementation of the Ballast Water Road Map, established under HELCOM MARITIME and led by Germany in cooperation with the Secretariat, will be involved in the project. The Contracting Parties should nominate their member(s) in the Correspondence Group if they have not done yet so.

10.2 From the Secretariat

The Secretariat is already involved in the work of the Correspondence Group and the HELCOM Maritime Group.

11. Procedure of nomination of the Project team members

See 10.1


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12. Signature of the Project Managers

______________________________ ______________________________

Erkki Leppäkoski Stephan Gollasch

13. Opinion of the Chair of the relevant body

The Chair of HELCOM MARITIME supports the establishment of the project

14. Opinion of the Executive Secretary

The Executive Secretary supports the establishment of the project.

15. Decision of the Heads of Delegation

Minutes of HELCOM HOD 34/2010, LD 66

_X_ to establish ____not to establish


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ANNEX 9

TERMS OF REFERENCE OF THE HELCOM BALTIC AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM

1. Introduction

The HELCOM Contracting Parties agreed by adopting the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (herewith referred to as HELCOM BSAP), that the Baltic Sea shall become a model of good management of human activities.

To achieve this the HELCOM Contracting Parties stressed the need for integrated management of human activities and the need to take into account their impacts on the marine environment in all policies and programmes implemented in the Baltic Sea region, as well as the need for integration of environmental objectives with economic and socio-economic goals in order to advance and strengthen the three interdependent pillars of sustainable development.

Human activities, both within and outside the catchment area of the Baltic Sea, create excessive nitrogen and phosphorus loads from land-based sources, which are the main cause of eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. About 75% of the nitrogen load and at least 95% of the phosphorus load enter the Baltic Sea via rivers or as direct waterborne discharges. About 25% of the nitrogen load comes as atmospheric deposition. Up to one third of the provisional nutrient reduction targets, adopted by the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan to reach good ecological status for the Baltic Sea, could be achieved through improvements in municipal waste water treatment. The remaining nutrient loads originate from diffuse sources and atmospheric deposition, with agricultural runoff accounting about 50% of the total nutrient inputs.

Hence, by acknowledging that eutrophication is the major environmental problem for the Baltic Sea and that the agricultural sector is one of its main land-based sources, where major improvements are needed, the Contracting Parties committed themselves to apply necessary management actions. These include e.g. implementation of Part II “Prevention of Pollution from Agriculture” of the revised Annex III of the 1992 Helsinki Convention and promotion of the application of “Examples of measures for reducing phosphorus and nitrogen losses from agriculture” (both being integral parts of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan, see Annex 1 to the Terms of Reference).

Understanding the complexity of these tasks, HELCOM decided to establish a Forum, where the competent agricultural and environmental authorities in the Baltic Sea Region, as well as other stakeholders can jointly discuss the Baltic agriculture in the context of the protection of the marine environment of the Baltic Sea area. The following Terms of Reference define objectives, goals, principles of work and tasks for the HELCOM Baltic Agricultural and Environment Forum (hereby referred to as the Forum).

2. Overall objectives of the Forum

The work of the Forum shall help to improve and share knowledge and experiences towards reaching the agricultural related actions of the HELCOM BSAP (cf. Annex I) and the respective decisions of the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Meeting (2010). In order to facilitate the successful implementation and to contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the HELCOM BSAP, the Forum has the following aims:

2.1 to improve communication and cooperation between the agricultural and environmental administrations of the HELCOM Contracting States as well as HELCOM Observers and with relevant private institutions, agro-industry associations, scientific and research institutions and non-governmental organizations;

2.2 to promote, initiate and follow-up activities and projects to facilitate the implementation of the agriculture related actions in the HELCOM BSAP ;


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2.3 to acknowledge and build upon relevant existing national and international legislative framework and policy instruments5;

2.4 to discuss utilising tools of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to implement the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan and the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Declaration and to discuss and exchange views on the available funding programmes, e.g. the rural development programmes.

It should be recognized that for EU Member States, the European Community has exclusive competence in the matter of agriculture policy.

3. Working procedure of the Forum

3.1 The Forum should consist of representatives from both agriculture and environmental/ nature protection bodies from the HELCOM Contracting Parties and the Observers.

3.2 The Chairperson or Chairpersons of the Forum shall be elected by the Forum participants, with a view that the work shall include both the agriculture and the environmental protection matters and viewpoints.

3.3 The work programme and activities of the Forum shall be elaborated and agreed by the Forum.

3.4 The Rules of Procedure applicable to the conduct of the business of the Helsinki Commission shall apply mutatis mutandis to the work of the Forum (cf. para 7.7 of the Rules of Procedure of the Helsinki Commission).

3.5 The HELCOM Secretariat will organize and make sure that services are provided for the Forum Meetings.

3.6 The Secretariat may, in consultation with the Chairperson(s) of the Forum, invite additional experts on a case by case basis to the Forum; to give presentations or to participate in its work.

3.7 Meetings shall be held at appropriate intervals and at least once a year. 3.8 The Forum should cooperate with HELCOM LAND/HELCOM MONAS when relevant. 3.9 The Forum should also report its activities to the HELCOM Heads of Delegation when

deemed necessary.

5 e.g. taking into account the Ecosystem Approach and the UN Global Programme of Action for the

Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities, the UN ECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, including relevant EC regulations such as the Water Framework, the Nitrate, the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control, the Marine Strategy Framework Directives and Priority Area 1 and 9 of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region


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ANNEX 10

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE HELCOM AD HOC EXPERT GROUP ON DUMPED CHEMICAL MUNITION (HELCOM MUNI)

The work of the ad hoc WG/EG HELCOM MUNI will be based on the following prerequisites:

HELCOM is responsible for monitoring the status of the Baltic Sea Ecosystem and – as deemed necessary - for deciding on respective protective measures;

The HELCOM Final Report of the ad hoc Working Group on Dumped Chemical Munition (HELCOM CHEMU report) which comprises the scientific knowledge and information that has been available at that time and which has been presented to HELCOM 16 in March 1995 constitutes the basis for the work of HELCOM MUNI;

Mindful of the time period since 1995 and in particular of the technical and scientific developments and new available information such as actual investigations and research programmes, further information by other organisations/companies and as well as with regard to reported incidents (including discovery of phosphor on beaches), HELCOM MUNI will update the „CHEMU-report“;

For those HELCOM Member States being also EU Member States a close link will be established between the work of HELCOM MUNI and the implementation process of the EUSBSR Flagship Project „Assess the need to clean up contaminated wrecks and chemical weapons, led by Poland, i.a. as regards possible upcoming need for research funding;

Findings of various relevant projects will be taken into account;

Commitments that have been made in the framework of the Baltic Sea Action Summit on February 10, 2010, in Helsinki will be included into the work of HELCOM MUNI (e.g. commitments from Lithuania and Nord Stream);

HELCOM Contracting Parties are invited to actively participate in the work of HELCOM MUNI;

HELCOM MUNI will:

compile all kinds of additional information on dumping activities after the World War II;

check whether the general conclusions of the „CHEMU-report“ are still valid;

check whether all recommendations as set out in the „CHEMU-report“ are fulfilled in a satisfactory way;

identify obstacles that may have led to unsatisfactory fulfilment;

develop additional recommendations as deemed necessary;

use suitable models in order to assess the ecological risks related to sea dumped chemical munition;

update or as deemed necessary, develop Guidelines for affected groups e.g. fishermen, based on existing national guidelines;

together with lead country Denmark review the existing reporting system with the aim of involving HELCOM Contracting Parties more actively into reporting obligations.

MINUTES OF HELCOM HOD 34/2010 LIST OF DOCUMENTS

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LIST OF DOCUMENTS

HELCOM HOD 34/2010

Date dd.mm.yy

Title Submitted by

1/1 08.11.10 Provisional Agenda Executive Secretary

1/2 08.11.10 Annotations to the Provisional Agenda Executive Secretary

2/1 08.11.10 Project Description for the HELCOM project to implement the decision of the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Declaration to facilitate the identification of projects, including bankable projects

Executive Secretary

2/2 29.11.10 Provisional Agenda for HELCOM 32/2011 and the high level segment (9-10 March 2011)

Executive Secretary

2/3 30.11.10 Information about the progress of the NIP Project

Executive Secretary

3/1 08.11.10 Outcome of the first meeting of the joint HELCOM-VASAB Maritime Spatial Planning Working Group

Executive Secretary

3/2 08.11.10 Outcome of HELCOM RESPONSE 13/2010

Executive Secretary

3/3 19.11.10 Outcome of HELCOM MONAS 13/2010

Executive Secretary

3/4 19.11.10 Reply from HELCOM MONAS to the HELCOM HOD request on the Joint Final Report on the Audit of Environmental Monitoring and Fisheries Management and Control in the Baltic Sea

Executive Secretary

3/5 19.11.10 Outcome of HELCOM MARITIME 9/2010

Executive Secretary

3/5/Add1 19.11.10 Voluntary Guidance on BWE for ship routes between Mediterranean and the North East Atlantic/Baltic Sea

Executive Secretary

3/6 19.11.10 Outcome of the First Joint Advisory Board of the HELCOM CORESET and TARGREV Projects (HELCOM JAB 1/2010) and the views of HELCOM MONAS 13/2010

Executive Secretary

3/7 19.11.10 Progress of the HELCOM CORESET project expert work

Executive Secretary

3/8 26.11.10 Terms of Reference of the HELCOM MONAS Expert Group on Monitoring of Radioactive Substances in the Baltic Sea (HELCOM MORS EG)

Executive Secretary

3/9 26.11.10 Outcome of HELCOM AGRI/ENV FORUM 1/2010

Executive Secretary


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3/10 26.11.10 Outcome of HELCOM FISH/ENV FORUM 5/2010

Executive Secretary

3/11 26.11.10 Project proposal for the revision of the HELCOM monitoring programmes (HELCOM MORE)

Executive Secretary

3/12 29.11.10 Project proposal for the continuation of the Baltic-wide assessment of coastal fish communities in support of an ecosystem-based management (HELCOM FISH-PRO)

Executive Secretary

3/13 29.11.10 Background document on the method, data and testing of the Baltic Sea Pressure and Impact Indices of the HELCOM Initial Holistic Assessment

Executive Secretary

3/14 29.11.10 Outcome of the first meeting of the ad hoc expert group to update and review the existing information on dumped chemical munitions in the Baltic Sea (HELCOM MUNI)

Executive Secretary

3/15 30.11.10 HELCOM Red List project expert resources

Executive Secretary

3/16 30.11.10 Status of PLC-5 and submissions of 2008 data

Executive Secretary

3/17 30.11.10 Draft Project proposal for the development of fisheries measures in Marine Protected Areas in the Baltic Sea, to ensure achieving the conservation objectives

Executive Secretary

3/18 01.12.10 Draft Terms of Reference for a Cooperation Platform on Port Reception Facilities in the Baltic Sea

Executive Secretary

3/19 01.12.10 Draft submission by the Baltic Sea countries regarding sewage from passenger ships to the 55th session of the IMO‟s Design and Equipment Sub-Committee

Finland on behalf of the Correspondence Group on amendments to Annex IV of MARPOL

3/20/INF 03.12.10 Make the Baltic Sea Region a lead in sustainable development for pharmaceuticals

Sweden

3/21 03.12.10 Proposal for a roadmap towards cooperation between HELCOM and ICES on the implementation of the good environmental status (GES) as given in the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan and the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) as well as other activities related to the protection of the Baltic Sea marine ecosystem and its biological diversity

Executive Secretary


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3/22 07.12.10 Draft outline for a workshop on interregional cooperation between the North East Atlantic and the Baltic (OSPAR and HELCOM) within the framework of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)

Sweden

3/23 08.12.10 Addendum to the disclaimer in the HOLAS technical background document

Germany

4/1 29.11.10 Explanatory Memorandum on the Accounts of the Helsinki Commission for the Financial Period from 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010

Executive Secretary

4/2 29.11.10 Draft budget for financial period 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012 and budget estimate for 2012-2013

Executive Secretary

4/3 30.11.10 Recruitment of an Information Secretary

Executive Secretary

5/1 01.12.10 Progress report on the annual HELCOM Plan of Information and Communication activities (2010)

Executive Secretary

6/1 08.11.10 Draft document on Baltic monitoring by ICES

Executive Secretary

6/2 29.11.10 Meetings and exercises within HELCOM in 2011

Executive Secretary

6/3 30.11.10 Ongoing and planned HELCOM Projects

Executive Secretary

6/4 30.11.10 Request for HELCOM support for the BIAS project idea to model underwater noise in the Baltic Sea

Executive Secretary

6/5 01.12.10 Information on two reports launched this year by WWF

WWF Baltic Ecoregion Programme

6/6 01.12.10 Request for HELCOM support for the second phase of the MyOcean GMES marine core services project

Executive Secretary

6/7/INF 07.12.10 Nomination of Vodokanal of St. Petersburg for the Stockholm Water Prize

Russia

8/1 09.12.10 Draft List of Decisions Executive Secretary

8/1/Rev.1 09.12.10 List of Decisions Executive Secretary