State of the sea and monitoring

Marine conservation and marine management in Finland are governed by the national legislation and the EU. The task of Syke is to coordinate the production and collection of information related to Finland’s marine strategy and to coordinate its reporting under the Ministry of the Environment.

We produce information that helps decision-makers form a full view of the state of the Baltic Sea and its changes. We work in international cooperation to identify indicators that help describe the ecological state of the marine environment and the human impacts.

Photo: Ilkka Lastumäki

Maritime monitoring provides a basis for decision-making

Syke collects long-term time series of the chemical and biological state of the open sea and the concentrations of hazardous substances in water, living organisms and marine sediment. In addition to open sea monitoring, Syke monitors the state of our southern coastal waters and coordinates the state monitoring of coastal waters conducted by the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres). The monitoring is included in the marine strategy of Finland.

Research and estimations of state of the sea are based on monitoring data and form a basis for making marine conservation decisions. Long-term time series help to understand, for instance, the impacts of eutrophication, hazardous substances and climate change on marine nature. The data enable comprehensive assessments of the state of the sea. They are also used to model the future development of the state of the sea and to assess the effectiveness of current conservation measures and the need for new measures.

Photo: Ilkka Lastumäki

The marine environment monitoring programme is revised every six years. The monitoring programme includes:

• Monitoring marine mammals, seabirds and fish
• Monitoring the habitats on the seabed and the water column
• Monitoring introduced species
• Monitoring eutrophication and changes in hydrography
• Monitoring environmental toxins
• Monitoring littering and underwater noise

Syke is also responsible for compiling a report on the state of the marine environment in Finland, published every six years on the basis of monitoring data.

English summary of the state of the marine environment in Finland is available in the MarineFinland.fi portal:

Key projects

• Future Marine Assessment and Monitoring of the Baltic – BONUS FUMARI  
• BONUS SEAM - towards streamlined Baltic Sea environmental assessment and monitoring
• European Topic Center on Inland, Coastal and Marine waters  
  The project supports EEA with water analyses and reports. SYKE contributes to topics related to the sea and also analyses the significance of the catchment area to the marine environment. (Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ); SYKE Samuli Korpinen).
• Cumulative impact assessment of marine benthic habitats (CARAMBHA)  
  Commissioned by the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management, the project focuses on developing methodologies in compliance with the EU MSD to assess the state of benthic habitats. (Samuli Korpinen).
• Coordination of Marine Management 
  Funded by the Ministry of the Environment, the continuous project aims to support the work of marine management experts (monitoring programme, state estimation and action plan). (Samuli Korpinen)
• Meriavain 
  The project produces data concerning the location, abundance and quality of key underwater habitats in the Finnish sea area. (Kirsi Kostamo)

Publications

• State of the marine environment in Finland 2018. Reports of the Finnish Environment Institute 4. Finnish Environment Institute SYKE. Korpinen, S. et al. (eds.) 2018. (In Finnish and Swedish with English summary).
• The Gulf of Finland assessment. Reports of the Finnish Environment Institute 27/2016. Raateoja, M. & Setälä, S. (eds) 2016..

Tools

• Manual for marine monitoring in Finland. Reports of the Finnish Environment Institute 47/2020. Rantajärvi, E. ym. (eds.) 2020. (In Finnish and Swedish with English summary)
• Roadmap for marine monitoring. SYKE 2020. (In Finnish and Swedish with English summary).
• Network for continuous water quality measurement stations in Finland – Implementation plan.. Reports of the Finnish Environment Institute 32/ 2018. Lepistö, A. et al. 2018. (In Finnish and Swedish with English summary).
• Alg@line