Marine Environment Protection for the North and Baltic Seas

The North Sea and Baltic marine environment remains heavily at risk. Overfishing, pollution, excessive nutrient run-off and intensive use of the region for shipping, raw material extraction and tourism all put marine ecosystems under massive pressure. Effective marine environment protection thus requires radical political action and fundamental policy correctives in fisheries, agriculture and chemicals regulation. These are the findings of the German Advisory Council on the Environment in its latest special report, Marine Environment Protection in the North and Baltic Seas. The report: . Surveys the key problem areas and the current situation. . Identifies action needed in fisheries, chemicals, agricultural and shipping policy. . Proposes an integrated European and national marine environment protection policy framework, including a marine planning regime. The German Advisory Council on the Environment has advised the German Federal Government on environment policy issues since 1972. The current report follows on from a number of earlier studies on marine environment protection. The Council's membership, comprising university professors from a range of disciplines, ensures an academically neutral and comprehensive approach to the subject matter from natural science, economic, legal, political science and ethical perspectives.