Ambassadors engaged with Baltic Sea research at Askö  

Ambassadors Doris Danler and Christina Beinhoff at Askö with professor Christoph Humborg.

The winds were cold and the sun was hiding behind the clouds on the quay in Uttervik outside Trosa when the dark German embassy car slid in. Out of the car stepped Christina Beinhoff, Germany's ambassador to Sweden, and Doris Danler, Austria's ambassador to Sweden. They were welcomed by Christoph Humborg, professor and deputy director of the Baltic Sea Centre, for a demonstration of the activities that take place at Stockholm University's field station Askö Laboratory and for information about the state of research around the Baltic Sea.

Electra – a well-equipped vessel 

Christoph Humborg describes the equipment onboard the vessel Electra for ambassador Christina Beinhoff.

As soon as the ambassadors had boarded the Askö Laboratory's largest ship, Electra, Christoph Humborg began to talk about the Askö Laboratory's 60-years plus history and how the island was saved from intensive forestry and became a gift to the Swedish king Carl XIV Gustaf. But during the crossing to the island, the focus was on the ship Electra and the equipment on board, which is used, among other things, to take bottom samples and measure oxygen levels. In addition, he talked about the labs on the ship and the advanced instrumentation to maneuver the ship.
 

PhD student Moritz Nusser shows experiment in a water tank for Christina Beinhoff and Christoph Humborg.

When the red wooden buildings of the Askö Laboratory were visible in the bay, the wind had died down and the sun was starting to peek out. The ambassadors greeted some of the staff and looked at labs and other premises. The German PhD student Moritz Nusser also showed the experiments he conducts in water tanks on land to study the relationship between greenhouse gases and marine wildlife.

Lecture on the state of the Baltic Sea

Christoph Humborg then gave a lecture to the ambassadors on what current research says about the state of the Baltic Sea. He touched on eutrophication and algal blooms, among other things. But above all, he devoted himself to talking about what research says about the fish stocks in the Baltic Sea. Christoph Humborg gave a gloomy picture of overfished stocks, large trawlers that over the years have begun to fish in more and more waters and closer to the coasts, the collapse of ecosystems and a failed fisheries policy. He also described the research that Stockholm University and the University of Helsinki are conducting within CoastClim to study how coastal zones act as carbon sinks and thus can curb climate warming.
 

Christoph Humborg talking about Askö during the quad bike ride.

After lunch, the ambassadors were taken on a quad bike to the other side of the island to look at beach meadows. Along the way, several small red summer cottages were passed – and there were lots of photographs taken before it was time to go back with Electra. 
Back on the mainland, we ask ambassador Christina Beinhoff about her take aways from the visit.

“The Askö research station clearly demonstrates how strongly climate change and human activities – especially eutrophication caused by agriculture – are impacting the Baltic Sea. With long-term data, true environmental changes can be distinguished from natural fluctuations. This continuous monitoring makes Askö an important early warning system for the Baltic Sea’s sensitive ecosystem. At the same time, concrete solutions are becoming evident, such as coastal restoration projects, the replanting of seagrass meadows, and measures to retain nutrients in agriculture to reduce the long-term burden on the Baltic Sea,” says Christina Beinhoff.

Austria's ambassador Doris Danler also highlights the fragility of the Baltic Sea's ecosystem.
"Today we heard that there are several interconnected problems regarding the Baltic Sea. But there is still light at the end of the tunnel, the Baltic Sea is not dead.”

Learn more about the Askö Laboratory

Text and photo: Per Larsson