*NEWS*EUROPE’s SEAS FACE BLEAK FUTURE

[Anonymous]

Europe’s seas face ‘bleak future’
Europe’s
seas are in a “serious state of decline” as a result of coastal
development, overfishing and pollution from agriculture, warn
scientists.
The
continent’s regional seas will deteriorate even further unless action
is taken to curb the threats, they add.Economic growth and the
expansion of the EU, the researchers suggested, had contributed to the
state of the waters.The findings were presented in an EU-funded report,
involving more than 100 scientists from 15 nations.The three-year
project, European Lifestyles and Marine Ecosystems (ELME), examined the
relationship between human activities and the impact on the region’s
marine ecosystems.It focused on the continent’s four regional seas: the
North-East Atlantic Ocean, and the Black, Baltic and Mediterranean
seas.The objective was to look at the relationship between human
lifestyles in a rapidly changing Europe and the marine environment,”
the project co-ordinator, Laurence Mee, told BBC News.”In every sea, we
found serious damage related to the accelerated pace of coastal
development, transport and the way we produce our food,” said Professor
Mee, director of the Marine Institute at the University of Plymouth,
UK.”We thought it was important to really understand what these changes
in lifestyle imply for our marine space, which is critically important
for the future.”

‘Joined-up’ problems
The researchers examined the impact of four environmental issues:
    * habitat change
    * eutrophication (over-fertilisation of water)
    * chemical pollution
    * fishing

“It
is the joined-up nature of these problems that makes them quite
difficult to understand and tackle,” explained Professor Mee.”Whatever
problem you look at, it is connected to one or another problem.”The
expansion of the 27-nation EU bloc and economic growth were helping to
exacerbate the problems, he said.”Affluence is leading to a lot of
additional environmental pressures, which we really have to recognise
and tackle.”The pressures included the growth of resorts and a huge
increase in second homes around the Mediterranean coastlines.The study
also found an increase in the demand for meat, resulting in an
intensification of Europe’s agriculture.This led to the use of more
fertilisers, which were running off into many of the waterways and
rivers that feed into the continent’s seas.

Exporting pollution
However,
Professor Mee said there were places that were improving.”In the North
Sea, for example, we see some signs of the ecosystem getting better –
but sadly for the wrong reasons.”He said some of the pollution
pressures had been “globalised away” by moving heavy industries to
China or India.”This has had a positive effect on some of our
ecosystems, but probably has had a severely negative effect there.”The
scientists hope the report’s findings, which have been released to
coincide with World Oceans Day, will provide policy-makers with the
data needed to develop a comprehensive framework to limit the
impacts.But Professor Mee warned that a “business-as-usual” approach
was not an option.”If we don’t address these problems then we really
are shooting ourselves in the foot for future generations.”

HUMAN IMPACTS ON EUROPE’S REGIONAL SEAS
North-East
Atlantic Ocean: unsustainable fishing is affecting sea bird
populations; increased shipping has seen new ports being built and
navigation channels dredged
Baltic Sea: overfishing; eutrophication
from industrial run-off but economic recovery could lead to improved
waste water treatment
Black Sea: pressures from modern lifestyles
have caused ecosystem collapses; land-based sources of nutrients have
triggered harmful algal blooms
Mediterranean Sea: status as
international biodiversity hotspot is being ‘increasingly compromised’
by invasive species, coastal developments and overfishing.

[Author]

June 11, 2007 at 9:50 AM