Boxes

Several instruments for marine protection are represented in the Skagerrak. OSPAR marine protected areas are areas ratified under the OSPAR agreement. Natura 2000 marine protected areas are designated under the EU Birds- and Habitats Directives. In addition, there are national parks with marine areas designated under national environment protection legislation (Norway). These areas include fully and partially protected areas designated under the EU common fisheries policy and national fisheries legislation. At present, the total coverage of these protection instruments is 22 % of Skagerrak’s total area. However, less than 7 % is likely to confer protection benefits on ecosystems.  

Based in the principle of upholding traditional fishing rights, Skagerrak is managed according to the ‘Skagerrak agreement’ between Norway and the European Union on reciprocal access to fishing grounds in the Skagerrak for vessels flying the flags of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The agreement allows Danish, Swedish and Norwegian vessels to operate within each country’s economic zone and territory outside the 4 nautical mile limit. The agreement is a remnant of the time prior to the United Nations Convention on the law of the Sea from 1982, and a continuation of the 1966 agreement securing reciprocal access to Skagerrak

https://lovdata.no/dokument/TRAKTATEN/traktat/2015-01-15-1

. (Learn more about the challenges facing fisheries management in Skagerrak in Fish stocks in Skagerrak with management shortcomings). 

‘Coral gardens’, ‘Cold water coral reefs’ and ‘Sea pen fields’ are types of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) found in the Skagerrak

Buhl-Mortensen, L., et al. 2023. Sea pens and bamboo corals in Skagerrak and the Norwegian trench. Marine Biology Research 19:191–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/17451000.2023.2224967

. These habitats consist of species that are vulnerable to the impacts of bottom-contacting fishing gear. They provide niches for a number of other species and nursery and feeding areas for demersal fish. The nature type ‘Aphotic mud’ in the Skagerrak is assessed as Near Threatened (NT) in the Norwegian Red list of Ecosystems

Buhl-Mortensen, P., et al. 2018. Marine deep waters. Norwegian Red List of Ecosystems 2018. Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre. Downloaded (25.09.2024) from https://www.biodiversity.no/Pages/317605/Marine_deep_waters

(aphotic = beyond the reach of daylight). For aphotic mud, the impact of bottom trawling is also implicated in the assessment. In this case it is based on environmental degradation due to the loss of organisms and functions in the benthic ecosystem.

Continental margin sediments accumulate organic carbon at scales much larger than vegetated coastal ecosystems because of their larger extent, and because they are accumulation bottoms rather than erosion bottoms. Studies are now exploring to what extent management interventions could increase accumulation rates by minimizing anthropogenic disturbance of seafloor sediments through bottom-contacting fisheries. Recent geospatial modeling studies have estimated regional and global aqueous CO₂ emissions resulting from bottom-trawling-induced remineralization of sedimentary organic carbon, with some studies proposing carbon protection zones (CPZs) as an effective climate protection measure.

Porz, L., 2024. Quantification and mitigation of bottom-trawling impacts on sedimentary organic carbon stocks in the North Sea, Biogeosciences 21:2547–2570. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2547-2024