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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

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News from Stockholm University: Oceans and Lakes
News from Stockholm University: Oceans and Lakes
Uppskjutningen av raketen
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Fucus in space - rocket flight could help solve mystery of reproduction

Samples of bladderwrack have been sent into space as a first step towards understanding its mysterious reproduction. "An absolutely breathtaking experience," says Professor Emeritus Lena Kautsky, who was at Esrange in Kiruna for the launch. "Now we hope to move forward by sending bladderwrack to the International Space Station for a longer period of time".

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New overview of the Baltic Sea ecosystem

How is the Baltic Sea really doing? The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) gives an overview in a new publication, with contributions from researchers at the Baltic Sea Centre, among others.

Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Integrated assessment of environmental stressors improves marine management

The Baltic Sea ecosystem is subject to multiple pressures at the same time. This can lead to a loss of biodiversity and reduce the sea's ability to maintain important ecosystem functions. There is a strong need for improved assessments of these combined impacts in marine spatial planning and fisheries management, and now researchers in the BalticCAT project have made further progress in developing data and methods for such assessments.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Baltic Breakfast: The plastic problem – bigger than waste

Patricia Villarubia-Gómez tried to go plastic-free, but became anaemic. Now she is working as a researcher to change the system in which plastic is all around us. At the last Baltic Breakfast, she and Associate Professor Fredric Bauer from Lund University explained why primary production of plastics needs to be reduced and what's at stake at the global plastics negotiations in South Korea.

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May Britt Rian, Stockholm University.
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Baltic Breakfast: New methods for environmental monitoring

National and international legal acts require monitoring of the environmental status and the demands are increasing. Meanhile, funding does not follow or are even under the threat of cut-backs. Are there ways forward to secure the continued long-term observations with more cost-efficient methods? The latest Baltic Breakfast took a closer look.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New policy brief: Establish no-take zones to protect stocks and ecosystems

More no-take zones should be introduced in Sweden to protect fish and crustacean stocks and marine ecosystems. This is according to researchers from Stockholm University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in a new policy brief. But it is important that the areas are extensive and designed correctly.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

How the Baltic Sea escaped disaster

The Baltic Sea is highly eutrophic, with anoxic seabeds and large algal blooms. But if the countries surrounding the sea had not reduced nutrient discharges, the situation would have been much worse. “Thanks to the measures taken, the Baltic Sea has avoided an ecological disaster”, says researcher Eva Ehrnstén.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Fisheries experts on the Council’s TAC decision: Too big risk – May be illegal

A doubling of the total allowable catch (TAC) of herring in the central Baltic Sea and a substantial increase in the Gulf of Bothnia were among the outcomes of the negotiations on catch limits for 2025 in the EU Council of Ministers. “Absolutely devastating for the herring stocks and for the Baltic Sea ecosystem”, comments fisheries scientist Henrik Svedäng at the Baltic Sea Centre.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Policy memo: Decision-makers need to read the ’fine print’ in ICES advice

Council of Ministers must learn to read and understand scientific advice, rather than just focus on the headlines, when making decisions on fishing opportunities. This is the message of a new policy memo ahead of the Agrifish Council on 21-22 October

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

A proposal for no progress towards unmet goals, based on uncertainties

The European Commission has proposed an increase in total allowable catch of herring in the Gulf of Bothnia by 21%. This is a proposal with a number of risks. It is also a proposal that implicitly accepts a year of no progress towards meeting a key objective of the common fisheries policy, and targets under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive that should have been met already by 2020. And the proposal is based on a foundation of uncertainties. Last year, the Swedish and Finnish governments pushed through allowable catches far above what the Commission proposed. This year there are strong arguments for lower catches than the Commission proposes.

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Gia får pris
Department of Physical Geography

Gia Destouni Awarded Baltic Sea Hero for Research on Eutrophication

Professor Georgia (Gia) Destouni, Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, has been honoured with the prestigious Baltic Sea Award for her groundbreaking contributions to addressing one of the most pressing environmental challenges facing the Baltic Sea: eutrophication.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Legacy effects are expected to reduce phosphorus loads

The accumulation of nutrient legacies on land and in inland waters will lead to excessive nutrient loads to the Baltic Sea for still a long time to come, according to a new study. That's one side of the story. On the positive side, measures already taken to reduce the inputs of nutrients to the catchment will have an impact on future loads to the sea as legacies are depleted, thereby reducing the need for additional mitigation measures.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Baltic Sea Centre's eutrophication model can provide knowledge about greenhouse gases

The BALTSEM model is a well-used tool for studying the effects of nutrient inputs to the Baltic Sea and has been used in the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan. The modelling tool has now been further developed to include methane fluxes, which can provide important knowledge about the climate impact of the Baltic Sea.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Fisheries experts on the CFP evaluation: “Implementation far from fulfilling its purpose”

The implementation of the EU Common Fisheries Policy is far from fulfilling its purpose, and there has been too little effort to achieve coherence between fisheries and environmental policy. This is a comment from the Baltic Sea Centre's experts in response to a Commission consultation on the evaluation of the policy.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New study shows: No significant risk to humans or animals from aluminium treatment

The aluminium treatment of the previously eutrophic bay Björnöfjärden posed no significant risk to humans, animals or vegetation, a new study shows. Aluminium levels increased in the water, fish and algae after the treatment, but only temporarily, and the transport of aluminium to nearby areas was low.

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Fyr i havskum vid Östersjön
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Views ahead of the UN Ocean Conference 2025

Next summer, the third UN global ocean conference will be held in Nice, France. The organizers are asking for proposals for measures needed to reach the goals for the sea. The Baltic Sea Center has responded and highlighted the themes and measures compiled by researchers and experts at Stockholm University in our new publication "Important measures for the Baltic Sea".

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New policy brief: Targeted measures are needed to reduce nitrogen loads effectively

Reducing nitrogen losses from agriculture is important both to meet environmental targets for the Baltic Sea and to bring the nitrogen cycle within sustainable planetary boundaries. But achieving these goals through general regulations alone is difficult, according to a new policy brief. More targeted measures are needed in areas where the risk of nitrogen leaching is high.

Loads of sticklebacks.
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

FORCE investigates how sticklebacks affect coasts and climate

Large predatory fish have become harder to find in the coastal bays of the Baltic Sea, which are now dominated by sticklebacks. Many of these bays have also become more turbid and show signs of severe eutrophication. Scientists have seen this shift spread from the open sea to coastal environments and are now looking for explanations as to why this has happened and whether it could contribute to unforeseen climate impacts.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New summary of important measures to restore the Baltic Sea

What is needed to regain a healthy environmental state in the Baltic Sea? In a new leaflet, researchers and experts at Stockholm University point out some key measures that the new European Parliament and politicians around the Baltic Sea should focus on in order to get the full benefit from the sea.

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Poster in Brussels, announcing the European election 2024. Photo: Daniella Baumann/Mostphotos
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

We have a new EU-parliament – let’s get to work!

Europe - the elections for the new European Parliament are over and we have a result! Headlines like ‘right-wingers won’ and ‘liberals and greens lose at EU level’ are being circulated. But it's more complicated than that because there are big differences between the EU countries. And once again, Sweden seems to be out of tune with many other EU-countries - here the Green and the Left parties made a strong election. In Sweden the situation of the Baltic Sea environment also got surprisingly much attention in the election campaign, with nearly all Swedish parties expressing concern and presenting proposals for the Baltic Sea.

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sill i låda
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Scientists comment on ICES advice for Central Baltic herring: “Irresponsible”

The latest advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) to the EU fisheries management opens the way for a significant increase in fishing pressure on the herring stock in the central Baltic Sea next year. According to the Baltic Sea Centre's researchers, EU fisheries ministers should decide on much more cautious quotas - to allow the herring stock to recover.

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Sillfångster Centrala Östersjön 2011-2022
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Fishing bans in Baltic Proper do not favour herring stock recovery

Fishing for herring is prohibited in various parts of the Baltic Sea during April and May. The aim is to protect the endangered herring spawning. But the decision goes against the advice of Swedish experts. The closures occur when there is little large-scale trawling going on, and will mainly affect small-scale coastal fisheries.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Baltic Breakfast: Sewage sludge – a problem that could be turned into a resource

Sewage sludge contains high levels of phosphorus - a finite resource in demand by agriculture. Can sewage sludge be reused in a safe way, and does spreading it on fields increase the amount of microplastics? These questions were discussed at a recent Baltic Breakfast seminar attended by researchers Arno Rosemarin and Geert Cornelis.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New policy brief: Nutrient load from horse farms should be included in eutrophication work

Research shows that horse farms can be a significant source of nutrient leaching, contributing to the eutrophication of water bodies and coastal areas. This nutrient leakage should be better taken into account in the calculations that form the basis of eutrophication work, so that the right measures can be taken, write researchers from the Baltic Sea Centre, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Södertörn University in a new policy brief.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Deciphering coastal climate impact: Sandviken Bay exploration

Is there a difference between healthy and degraded coastal bays in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and uptake? To answer this question, researchers from different disciplines are working together carrying out various measurements along the Swedish coast. Come with us to Sandviken Bay, where the first of several days of a new sampling campaign took place.

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Students standing by the shore. The Baltic Sea in the background.
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

PhD students connect coast and society in a changing climate

Solving complex questions about interactions between the sea and climate change, and how they relate to society, requires a broad set of skills. In a new research school, PhD students from diverse scientific disciplines at Stockholm University get a unique opportunity to learn how transdisciplinary approaches and research communication can lead to sustainable management of coastal environments.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Eutrophication expert on the HELCOM 50-anniversary: “Unique cooperation well worth celebrating”

22 March 2024 marks the 50-year anniversary of the first Helsinki convention that led to the formation of the Helsinki Commission – HELCOM. “Without the successful cooperation in HELCOM, the Baltic Sea would likely be in a much worse shape today”, comments researcher Bo Gustafsson, whose modelling team has made important contributions to the development of Baltic Sea Action Plan.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New policy brief: Eutrophication must be reduced to limit coastal methane emissions

The Swedish coasts are currently net sources of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, mainly in the form of methane. Reducing these methane emissions requires more measures to combat eutrophication. These are the findings of the Baltic Sea Centre's researchers in a new policy brief.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Baltic Breakfast: Ocean acidification – an emerging problem also in the Baltic Sea

Large anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide don’t only cause global warming, but also acidification of the oceans. In the Baltic Sea pH is expected to decrease between 0.1 and 0.4 units during this century depending on future emissions. The effects of ocean acidification on organisms have already been visible and are expected to increase, but not for the reason previously thought.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New policy brief: Ocean acidification poses another threat to the Baltic Sea ecosystem

Ocean acidification is expected to become significant also in the Baltic Sea in the coming decades. It represents an additional pressure for the already stressed ecosystem and makes it even more important to act to reduce other pressures, such as eutrophication and hazardous substances.

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Nyfångad strömming
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Playing roulette with fish stocks, sustainably

How high a risk are we prepared to take with fish stocks, with fisheries and with the marine environment? That question is at the heart of the recent move by the European and the Council to amend the multiannual plans for commercial fisheries in the Baltic and other regions. It deserves to be discussed openly. So far it hasn’t. In effect, the Commission and the Council are now prepared to take much greater risks than they were a few years ago. This risk-prone behaviour is escalating now, despite the history of stock collapses in the Baltic within the past 10 years.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Amending the MAP: A Proposal to Withdraw

The Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre has sent in a response to the EU-Commission’s consultation on its proposal to weaken the multiannual plan for major commercial Baltic fisheries.

Department of Environmental Science

Swedish Environment Minister focuses on Baltic Sea and chemicals at Stockholm Universit

Swedish Climate and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari engaged in discussions on ocean- and chemical issues during her visit to Stockholm University, meeting with representatives from the Baltic Sea Centre and the Department of Environmental Science.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Analysis: Weakening the management of Baltic fisheries

The European Commission and the Council’s ministers are moving rapidly towards a revision of the multiannual plans for fisheries. Unfortunately, the haste is not matched by the quality of the proposal or the logic of its justification. On the contrary, the ministers seem to have fundamentally misunderstood both the plans they want to amend, the science that underpins annual decisions on fishing quotas, and how the plans and the science interact, writes Charles Berkow, fisheries policy expert at Baltic Sea Centre.

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Department of Environmental Science

Stockholm University's novel mobile marine observatory: A vision for sustainable coastal research

Nestled in the Stockholm archipelago, the Askö Laboratory is on the brink of transforming into a hub for groundbreaking coastal atmospheric research, thanks to the highly anticipated addition of a floating air-sea interaction observatory.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

ANALYSIS: “Those are our rules, and if you don’t like them, well, we’ll make others”

In October, the fisheries ministers in the Council decided to break a rule in European legislation. In December, the Commission proposed to delete the rule. The European Parliament and the Council had made the rules in the first place. Will the Parliament go along with the change?

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Department of Environmental Science

Upholding Integrity at the UN's Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals and Waste

In anticipation of the UN's critical working meeting in Nairobi from December 11-15 to establish a science-policy panel for the responsible management of chemicals and waste and to prevent pollution, researchers are raising concerns about the potential involvement of the chemical industry in the panel.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Researchers to COP28 participants: Include the role of the oceans in climate work

The ocean has a major impact on the development of the climate, and the ongoing climate summit is the time to highlight this until now undervalued resource. So writes three professors at Stockholm University in a newly published Opinion piece addressed to the participants of COP28.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

The State of the Baltic Sea - report and recording available

The state of the Baltic Sea is still not satisfactory and environmental toxins is a growing problem. This is one of the conclusions in the new HELCOM assessment HOLAS III. A report based on the assessment was recently launched at a webinar moderated by Gun Rudquist, Head of Policy at Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New pricing model for R/V Electra

Fuel prices have tripled since 2019 and our previous cost model for R/V Electra af Askö needs to adjust accordingly. The board has therefore decided on a new model, where users pay their fuel costs. This is common procedure for other research vessels, and Electra will continue to be a low-cost option for research, courses and monitoring.

Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

The proposed new Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive – what happens now?

Both the European Parliament and the Council have now had their say on the Commission’s proposal for a new Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. Researcher Bärbel Muller-Karulis and policy analyst Ellen Bruno have been following the process and analysed the outcome so far.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New study: How will acidification affect the Baltic Sea by 2100?

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions not only lead to global warming but also cause ocean acidification. According to a new study, pH in parts of the Baltic Sea could decrease by 0.1 units by 2100 if carbon dioxide emissions continue at current levels. With increasing emissions, the reduction could be as large as 0.4 pH units, which could have a major impact on marine life.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Major Baltic Sea research initiative - 12 PhD positions open

Within a new graduate school in ocean, climate and environmental issues, 12 doctoral students will be admitted at several of Stockholm University's departments.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

PFAS back to haunt us – through sea spray

The man-made, and in many cases hazardous, chemicals called PFAS were previously believed to finally be transported to and diluted in the oceans. But at the last Baltic Breakfast, scientists at Stockholm University presented new research showing that these chemicals are enriched at the sea surface and return to land through sea spray aerosols, creating an almost never-ending transportation cycle.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

The smell of the sea – a key to understanding climate change?

How does the smell of the sea impact the world’s climate? This question lies at the heart of the Cyano-VOC research project. Within this endeavour, aerosol chemists collaborate with microbiologists to investigate the volatile organic compounds emitted by cyanobacteria and other plankton residing along the coastlines of the Baltic Sea.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Drastic measures can lead to ecological and economic success - analysis of proposed fishing ban

The EU Commission's proposal to stop targeted herring fishing in the Baltic Sea is based on a scientifically based risk assessment. The historic fishing stops on North Sea herring and Norwegian spring spawning herring show that drastic measures can lead to both ecological and economic success.

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Jacob Carstensen
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Large Baltic Sea Prize to two outstanding researchers

Professors and colleagues Jacob Carstensen from Denmark and Daniel Conley from Lund University have together been awarded this year's Björn Carlson Östersjöpris. Their research collaboration has developed and broadened the understanding of how the Baltic Sea has been affected by eutrophication and other human activities, and has also been decisive for the measures implemented to improve the situation.

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Nyfångad strömming
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

European Commission: Stop targeted herring fishing in the Central Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia

The European Commission proposes to stop all targeted fishing for herring in the central Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia next year. "The proposal to stop herring fisheries in almost the entire Baltic Sea is both historic and tragic – but unfortunately also necessary”, says Baltic Sea Centre's fisheries researcher Henrik Svedäng.

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Three-spined stickleback
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Trawl survey indicates more stickleback and less herring in the archipelago

The alarms about herring shortages along Sweden's east coast continue to come. In the absence of systematic environmental monitoring of herring in coastal areas, scientists do not know if and, if so, why herring is scarce. But a new study on the situation in the southern Stockholm Archipelago confirms the observations of coastal residents.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New fact sheet describes effect of proposed UWWTD on nutrient inputs to the Baltic Sea

The requirements on wastewater treatment proposed in new EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive draft is unlikely to have a decisive effect on the nutrient inputs to the Baltic Sea. This is concluded in a new fact sheet, describing the requirements in the proposed directive in relation to the current situation regarding wastewater treatment in the Baltic Sea catchment.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Eutrophication and oxygen depletion in the Baltic Sea – a challenge for science and management

The oxygen situation in the Baltic Sea is worse than ever before, as are the cyanobacteria blooms. However, the reductions of nutrient loads to the sea have had significant effect – conditions would have been much worse without them. This was one of the key messages in the presentation by Stockholm University researcher Bo Gustafsson at the recent GO2NE webinar.

Dishwashing detergent and oil in water.
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Lack of updated regulations for phosphorus in EC detergent proposal defies HELCOM agreement

In April, the European Commission presented a proposal for an updated regulation on detergents and surfactants. It was hoped that it would also cover phosphorous compounds in hand dishwashing detergents and industrial cleaners which is lacking today. But unfortunately, this was not included in the proposal.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Scientist on the TAC advice: Herring fisheries should be closed completely

Zero catch on both of the cod stocks and on the western Baltic herring, but for the central and Bothnian herring, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) advises that trawling should be allowed to continue next year. "The recommended quotas in this crisis situation risk destroying the Baltic Sea ecosystem even more", comments scientist Henrik Svedäng.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

ANALYSIS: Avoiding a fishing catastrophe – erring on the side of caution?

Major herring fisheries in the Baltic should be closed next year. That is the content of the scientific advice. But you won’t find that message in the headline advice that most readers focus on. It is buried deep in the text. This may be a result of leaving it to biologists to interpret a political decision, writes Charles Berkow in an analysis of the latest ICES advice on Baltic Sea fisheries.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Animals that feed on cyanobacteria

The Baltic Sea is affected by eutrophication and climate change and both the spring phytoplankton bloom and the summer cyanobacteria bloom start earlier today than in the 1980s. Diatoms have decreased while nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria have increased. How does all this affect food chains in the Baltic Sea?

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Alumnus portrait: "Important to implement the knowledge in a valuable way"

Alexander Stockhaus has a master's degree in marine biology from Stockholm University and now works as an environmental consultant specialising in pollution in aquatic environments at the engineering consultancy Niras. He found the field studies to be one of the most fun and important parts of his education.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Baltic Breakfast: Action needed to reduce impact from shipping

Shipping causes a number of pressures on the marine environment, including the discharge of tank cleaning residues into the water. Action is needed to reduce this problem, stated the Baltic Breakfast speakers who presented a policy brief on the subject.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Scientists in Brussels call for cautious Baltic Sea fisheries

Since the EU's fisheries policy was reformed in the 2010s, three of the seven fish stocks in the Baltic Sea have collapsed, and there are worrying signs for two more. A team from Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre recently attended a hearing at the European Parliament in Brussels to explain why politicians should be more restrictive on fishing quotas.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Bottom fauna in Bothnian Sea adapts to new diet

A recently published doctoral thesis shows Monoporeia affinis, a small, benthic amphipod and key marine species in the Baltic Sea, benefit from eating cyanobacteria. This is good news as cyanobacteria will both increase and spread northwards with the ongoing climate change. But the thesis also showed that amphipods living in the Bothnian Sea seem to be particularly sensitive to environmental toxins.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Baltic Breakfast: Messing with the seabed – and below it

The seabed and the bedrock could play an important role for the green transition; for mining of minerals and storing of carbon dioxide. But the environmental consequences of such activities are not fully understood, showed the presentations at the last Baltic Breakfast.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Sediment bacteria important for the phosphorus turnover in the Baltic Sea

Bacteria may play an important role in the development of eutrophication in the Baltic Sea, according to a new study on organically bound phosphorus in the sediments. Thriving bacterial communities in the seabed bind phosphorus that would otherwise leak back into the water, and the presence of the bacteria in turn depend on bottom-dwelling animals mixing the sediments.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Laying the foundation for our understanding of the Baltic Sea

A van full of sampling equipment leaves Stockholm University at half past five in the morning. Twelve hours later it returns, carrying hundreds of bottles, jars and test tubes filled with water from different locations and depths in the Baltic Sea. Follow along on a day of environmental monitoring at sea!

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New study: Methane emissions offset carbon uptake in Baltic macroalgae habitats

Bladderwrack in the Baltic Sea emits significant amounts of methane, which, to some extent, can offset the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide by these algae. This is shown by a new study from Askö Laboratory, where the fluxes of greenhouse gases between surface waters and the atmosphere were measured continuously over several seasons.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Analysis: What the Kunming-Montreal Global biodiversity framework should mean for the Baltic Sea

Hurray, we have a new global framework for biodiversity and if implemented, it can make a real difference for the global environment and the Baltic Sea! Although the agreement is not legally binding, over 190 countries have signed it and have agreed to monitor and evaluate progress. More money and the possibility to measure implementation and compare countries with each other have been pointed out as the success generator for this framework as compared to the old and failed 20 Aichi targets set in 2010.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Five options for restoring global biodiversity after the UN agreement

To slow and reverse the fastest loss of Earth’s living things since the dinosaurs, almost 200 countries have signed an agreement in Montreal, Canada, promising to live in harmony with nature by 2050. The Kunming-Montreal agreement is not legally binding but it will require signatories to report their progress towards meeting targets such as the protection of 30% of Earth’s surface by 2030 and the restoration of degraded habitats.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Regulations are required to save the herring on the Christmas table

Few dishes on the table for a traditional Swedish Christmas dinner are as soaked in cultural meaning as the herring, and in the southern parts of the country also the eel. At the same time, few things are as clear examples of state-supported businesses that, like the magician in Lennart Hellsing's nursery rhyme, devour themselves like the fisheries for these species, write experts Henrik Svedäng and Charles Berkow at Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Marine ecologist Henrik Svedäng: "The eel seems to be falling victim to a culture war"

Sweden opposes the European Commission's proposal for further restrictions on fishing for the endangered eel, arguing that Swedish eel fishing is a cultural heritage. "The endangered eel is being reduced to a prop in a sentimental tableau about a soon-to-be-defunct eel fishery," says fish researcher Henrik Svedäng at Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Scientists ahead of COP15: “Improvements are urgently needed”

Well implemented marine protected areas, as well as goals and targets for preservation of genetic diversity. That's what the scientists Susa Niirinen and Linda Laikre, who participated in the most recent Baltic Breakfast, hope will come out of the ongoing biodiversity conference in Montreal.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Removing fuel subsidies to fisheries could speed up the energy transition

The Baltic Sea Centre comments on the EU Commission Call for Evidence for the initiative for the energy transition of the EU’s fisheries and aquaculture sector: A major hurdle for an energy transition for fisheries is the fuel subsidy, in the form of exemption from tax or other full carbon pricing. Another hurdle is the depleted fish stocks. Robust fish stocks make for more efficient fuel use and aid the energy transition.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Researchers: Additional chemicals need to be considered in the new Global Biodiversity Framework

The Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework needs to consider additional groups of chemicals, according to a large international group of researchers. For the UN Biodiversity Conference, COP15, they have developed a perspective article and a policy brief with concrete proposals for better inclusion of hazardous chemicals in the forthcoming targets.

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Successful investment in ocean research network

The Baltic Sea Fellows initiative, a network of young Baltic Sea researchers from several disciplines, was launched to strengthen the environmental Baltic Sea research at Stockholm University. The results of this year's awarded research grants from the Swedish Research Council and Formas show that it is going well. The group of researchers has raised over 25 million Swedish crowns this year.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Modelling key to optimising outcome of aluminium treatment

Aluminium treatment can be an efficient way to remove excess phosphorus from lakes and coastal waters. But if the external loading of phosphorus isn’t reduced, the effects of the treatment won’t last long, and monitoring and modelling are keys to optimising the results, concluded the researchers participating in last Baltic Breakfast.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Nominate a Baltic Sea hero

The Baltic Sea Fund’s award is open for nominations, to honor and reward people or organizations that contribute to improving the state of the Baltic Sea. The deadline to submit your proposals is 24 february 2023.

Oceans and Lakes - Theme page
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

EU Commission proposed stopping eel fishing for six months in 2023

The European eel has been critically endangered for decades. The 3-month closure period applied in the EU over the past few years has been deemed insufficient. European Commission has now proposed a doubling of the annual eel fishery closure from three to six months in 2023.

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The Baltic Sea oxygen debt worse than ever

The Baltic Sea suffers from serious oxygen deficiency. Even large inflows of oxygen-rich seawater have in recent decades only provided short-term relief from oxygen deficiency in the deep water. In the latest issue of Ambio, a new method for quantifying the total oxygen debt from Öresund to Åland is presented. By using existing data dating back to the 1960s, the researchers show that we have gone from a supply of about 10 million tons of oxygen in the deep water to a net oxygen supply close to zero, with an oxygen debt of up to 4 million tons caused by accumulated hydrogen sulfide and ammonium. In the last 20 years, the oxygen debt has also spread to near-halocline waters west of Gotland.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

A welcome update of the Waste Water Directive

Researchers at Stockholm University Department of Environmental Science and Baltic Sea Centre welcome the proposal for an updated Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive from the European Commission. We especially welcome the fact that the updated Directive addresses treatment of micropollutants and emphasises the role of waste water treatment to reach the goals of the Water Framework Directive and its daughter legislations.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

The Dyrssen Award 2022 to Master's study at the Askö Laboratory

This year both prizes of the anual Dyrssen Award for to the two best Master's theses in the marine field goes to students at the Department of Geological Sciences at Stockholm University. The first prize goes to a study conducted at the Askö Laboratory. Congratulations to both winners, Thea Bisander and Emelie Ståhl!

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Fiskstim i havet

Ocean conservation boosts climate change mitigation and adaptation

Marine protected areas (MPAs) can significantly contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, according to a major new analysis published in the journal One Earth. They can enhance carbon sequestration, coastal protection, biodiversity, the reproductive capacity of marine organisms, as well as fishers’ catch and income.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Master's studies by the sea

Imagine being able to do your Master's work by the Baltic Sea during the summer. India Findji, who studies marine biology at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, managed to fulfill that dream this summer. She did her work at the Stockholm University field station Askö Laboratory, together with Jonna Källås, another Master's student from Sweden.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Policy analyst: EU Commission needs to ask the right questions

The EU Commission should take a step towards implementation of an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries by requesting more information from ICES than an estimation of the maximum sustainable yield, writes Baltic Sea Centre Policy Analyst Charles Berkow in a reply to the Commission’s call for evidence on the functioning of the Common Fisheries Policy.

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Successful strategic funding of marine research

A progress report for the strategic research area funding to marine research at Stockholm University is now published. The report concludes that the research group Baltic Sea Fellows, which is financed by the strategic funding, has published 200+ publications and managed to double the funding with external grants.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Baltic Breakfast: No clear cause behind the collapse of the eastern Baltic cod

The fishery has been closed for three years, but the eastern Baltic cod stock has not recovered. A new study, presented at a recent Baltic Breakfast, shows that the most recent sharp decline in the stock can’t be explained by oxygen deficiency, and the causes of the poor condition of the cod remain unclear.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Reply to EU Commission: Fisheries policy needs to broaden its perspective

A key cause of the disastrous development of fishing stocks in the Baltic Sea is an over-emphasis on trying to achieve a narrowly defined Maximum Sustainable Yield for single stocks. In reply to a consultation from the EU Commission, the Baltic Sea Centre policy analyst Charles Berkow argues that the Commission should base its decisions on more comprehensive information.

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Forskningsfartyget Electra
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Electra on major expedition to map Baltic Sea methane

Stockholm University's research vessel Electra sets off today across the Baltic Sea for a major multidisciplinary expedition off the Finnish coast. Through extensive sampling of sediment, water and air, researchers at the new CoastClim centre will map how much methane from the seabed is reaching the atmosphere and affecting the climate.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New report on effects of offshore windfarms on marine life

Professor Lena Kautsky from Stockholm University is one of the authors behind the new report, which concludes that consideration needs to be taken to sensitive benthic areas, sound sensitive animals, as well as seabirds when wind farms are established. It also concludes that the turbine foundations can act as artificial reefs.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

60th anniversary for the Askö Laboratory

The first Swedish marine laboratory in the Baltic Sea has celebrated its 60th anniversary, with an award ceremony, speeches and an outdoor exhibition of the important research that is conducted at the laboratory. During the anniversary, the two university presidents of Stockholm University and the University of Helsinki, Astrid Söderbergh Widding and Sari Lindblom, signed an agreement of strategic partnership.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

CoastClim partnership signed at the Askö Laboratory anniversary in presence of the Crown Princess

An anniversary is of course about looking back, but just as much about looking forward, stated Stockholm University President Astrid Söderberg Widding at the recent 60th anniversary of the Askö Laboratory. One important composition of the future Baltic Sea science is the foundation of the CoastClim centre, that binds together both climate and marine research and the universities of Stockholm and Helsinki.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Baltic Sea Centre critical of recent TAC advice for Baltic Sea fisheries

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) recommends continued high catch quotas for the herring fishery in the Gulf of Bothnia, and increased catches for both Central Baltic herring and the hard-pressed western Baltic cod next year. Risky, careless and not in line with the actual status of the stocks, says Baltic Sea Centre’s fishery researcher Henrik Svedäng.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Baltic Breakfast: The Danish example shows that nitrogen leakage can be reduced

Increased nutrient efficiency in agriculture and decreasing atmospheric deposition have had large and sustained effects on the Danish river loads of nitrogen. But to reach the goal of the Water Framework Directive, further measures are needed, such as taking areas out of agricultural production, means researcher Gitte Blicher-Mathisen, Aarhus University. Benoît Dessirier, researcher at Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre urges to reconsider today's focus on animal production to build a more resilient system and safeguard the water quality.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Professor Maren Voss recieves Baltic Sea award for her pioneering research

The first ever Björn Carlsson Baltic Sea award, "Björn Carlssons Östersjöpris", will be awarded to Professor Maren Voss from Germany for her groundbreaking research on the role of nitrogen in the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. On Friday, June 3, professor Voss will receive 3 million SEK in a ceremony at at the Baltic Sea Science Center at Skansen.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Swedish marine research stations have joined the EMBRC

The Askö laboratory is one of the twelve Swedish marine research stations that joined the network European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC) in 2022. Thanks to the collaboration, researchers within the network get access to services, facilities, and technology platforms in Skagerrak, Kattegat, and the Baltic Sea, in addition to the other stations in the network.

Oceans and Lakes - Theme page
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Baltic Sea Centre's work highlighted as a good example of knowledge exchange

Knowledge exchange between marine scientists and policy makers contributes to informed policy decisions and sustainable management of the oceans. But what does it take for such knowledge exchange to be successful? This question has been analysed in a major international study, that highlights the work of the Baltic Sea Centre as a good example.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Extreme variability in coastal methane emissions could have large effects on carbon budgets

Carbon uptake by coastal ecosystems is a hot topic. The so-called ‘blue carbon’ is considered an essential part of nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change and offers opportunities for carbon trading and offset schemes. But new research on methane emissions from coastal ecosystems raises caution – the variability of these emissions is much larger than previously assumed, which implies that upscaled global carbon budgets may be far from realistic.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Big grant to a Baltic Sea Fellow

One of our Baltic Sea Fellows, Wei-Li Hong from the Department of Geological Sciences, today got a prestigious award from the Swedish Foundations’ Starting Grant. We are very proud, says Christoph Humborg, scientific leader at the Baltic Sea Centre and coordinator of the Baltic Fellows interdisciplinary network of young Baltic Sea researchers.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New study highlights need for monitoring of micropollutants in urban wastewater

Land-based pollution and maritime activities puts the coastal zones of the Baltic Sea under a high anthropogenic pressure. In a new study on micropollutants in wastewater emitted in the Baltic Sea catchment, the need for broad scope monitoring of micropollutants in wastewater around the Baltic Sea is highlighted.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

View the Askö inlet live streamed from our web camera

The sea outside of the Askö laboratory is live streamed from a web camera on our weather station. See what the sea looks like right now - Are the waves beating or is the sea calm? Is the sun shining or is the night sky reflected in the sea? Maybe you will see a white tailed eagle fly by or detect some of the birds that are breeding on the islands.

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Simmande torsk.
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New study: Cod's latest crisis is not due to lack of oxygen

The crisis for Baltic cod is often associated with oxygen deficiency, oxygen-free bottoms and a lack of bottom animals that cod can eat. But now, a new Finnish-Swedish study shows that oxygen conditions have been quite adequate for cod in the southern Baltic Sea for several decades – and that there have been plenty of bottom animals above the halocline.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Baltic Breakfast: "It's a completely different sea"

The inputs of nutrients and harmful substances to the Baltic Sea have changed the distribution and composition of the animals living in and on the seafloor. But the whole ecosystem has also undergone several regime shifts during the last century. At the last Baltic Breakfast, Eva Ehrnsten and Maciej Tomczak shared their research on this topic.

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Cormorant eggs – an opportunity for contaminant monitoring

The number of great cormorants in Sweden increased greatly during the 1990s and they are now a common species around the Swedish coast and many of the lakes. During the breeding season great cormorants build colonies with a distinctive fishy odor which, along with their voracious appetite for fish, has often made them unpopular. However, great cormorants could give valuable information on environmental contaminants found in aquatic environments according to a new collaborative study from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), the Swedish Museum of Natural History (NRM) and Stockholm University.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Recovery from deoxygenation may be unpredictable: new study

The recovery of the oxygen-depleted bottoms in the Baltic Sea could be more unpredictable than previously estimated. New research shows that historically, the occurrence of oxygen deficiency has varied rapidly, due to an inherent instability that makes the Baltic Sea particularly sensitive to variations in climate. As the Baltic Sea recovers and approaches the goal of being unaffected by eutrophication, these sharp variations in oxygen depletion may return.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Scientists: Don’t look at the 1980's as a reference for the Baltic Sea

The photos of happy fishermen in the 1980's holding huge cods, almost larger than themselves, are iconic and often contrasted by a small meagre fishes caught today. But this period of time was an anomaly in the Baltic Sea history, and should not be regarded as a reference state, says scientists after having compiled and analysed large quantities of information from the last century.

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Waves reaching shore.
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Baltic Sea Centre research behind new climate report

Rising water temperatures and sea levels and less ice, but also more perch and fewer seals. Climate change might affect the Baltic Sea in many different ways. These effects have now been compiled in a comprehensive report, in which several researchers from the Baltic Sea Centre have participated.

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Healthy and diverse coastal ecosystems in the Baltic Sea
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Policy brief: Healthy coastal ecosystems are crucial to mitigate climate change

Treated right, coastal zones are important cornerstones in climate change mitigation, but if degraded, they instead release large amounts of greenhouse gases, re-enforcing global warming. Urgent action is needed to preserve and restore the Baltic Sea coasts and use these systems to work in favor of the climate – not against it.

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Measures improve the Baltic Sea environment – even in a changing climate
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Measures improve the Baltic Sea environment – even in a changing climate

A changing climate makes it even more important to reduce the nutrient supply to the Baltic Sea according to our new Policy brief. In the coming decades, continued reductions in emissions of nitrogen and phosphorus from land will yield better oxygen conditions and improved water quality – even in the face of major climate change. These measures also make the Baltic Sea ecosystem more resilient to the changing climate.

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Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

New research centre brings marine and climate researchers together for more accurate climate models

A major research funding initiative from the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation will enable Finnish and Swedish climate and marine researchers to bring together their expertise and infrastructure. Within CoastClim, the aim is to find out more about ocean–atmosphere interaction and its effects on the climate.

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