Energy, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Markets and Companies, Water

Vahtra, taking part at the HELCOM marine environment committee meeting, told ERR from Helsinki that currently agriculture-caused pollution tops the agenda while the Baltic Sea states previously focused on the treatment of waste water from residential and industrial zones.

Over-fertilized fields is a key source of the problem.

"It was an important question for the other Baltic Sea states as agriculture pollutes the sea the most," said Vahtra.

According to him, Estonia has a maritime policy that covers the period up to 2020, and one of the priorities is reducing the environmental burden on the sea.

Eutrophication is the biggest problem, meaning that too many nutrients lead to algae blooms that cause other, oxygen-requiring species to asphyxiate.

"One of the goals of the development plan is to create a network of people who think alike, which would contribute to improvement of the state of the sea. A goal is also to make the role of humans in impacting the environment as small as possible," said Vahtra.

Due to pollution, fewer spawning areas and habitats for fish remain and the ones that survive have deteriorated, making itself felt keenly in declining whitefish stocks, for instance.

The Baltic Sea is 53 meters deep on average, making it one of the most shallow seas, and 85 million people live in its drainage basins – which are nearly four times bigger than the sea itself. Rivers replace 2% of its water annually, so a significant dent could conceivably be made in the pollution load by addressing run-off.