A meeting took place recently from 2-3 March 2004 in Helsinki, Finland to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Helsinki Convention – the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area.

Delegates adopted nine new recommendations on measures to prevent pollution of the Baltic Sea, including, inter alia, recommendations on: industrial activities on the effective use of Best Available Techniques (BAT) for determining achievable emission levels for particularly hazardous substances; the reduction in nutrients and other pollutants leaching from forestry land; the reduction of discharges from freshwater and marine fish farming; winter navigation; and guidelines for the recommended minimum throughput of oil filtering equipment on board ships.
Other topics discussed at the meeting included improvements to ballast water management, including the need to join forces with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to investigate the possibility of another major World Bank funded project in the Baltic Sea. A draft report on environmental problems related to dioxins, including the health risks to people consuming fish from the Baltic Sea, was also discussed and is expected to be published in a few months.
The Helsinki Commission, or HELCOM, works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution through cooperation between the governments bordering the Baltic, namely Denmark, Estonia, the European Community, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden. More information is available at: http://www.helcom.fi/helcom/news/362.html