News

Today, May 31st, is the final day of the SEABASED Project and so this is the last news article to you, our dear followers.

The SEABASED Project (Seabased Measures in Baltic Sea Nutrient Management), led by the John Nurminen Foundation and funded by the EU, examined measures that potentially could improve the state of the Baltic Sea by reducing the internal nutrient load of the sea. Although some of the piloted methods show great potential, no silver bullet was found to quickly relieve the nutrient load and eutrophication troubling the Baltic Sea. However, some methods for reducing internal load can be useful for improving the environmental conditions in heavily eutrophied, relatively enclosed small bay areas.

Could the spreading of activated limestone or fishing stickleback help remove nutrients from the Baltic Sea? Do these new conservation measures have potential to save the Baltic Sea, or will they remain as experiments? In the SEABASED online event on January 26th, 2021 we revealed the results from SEABASED pilots that aim to reduce internal nutrient load. We heard keynotes and expert views from Finland and Sweden. The event was held in English.

Eva Björkman with her activated limestone innovation was awarded as top 5 innovations in Stockholm.

The SEABASED project is now finished with the development of a concept for aquatic compensation in coastal waters with a focus on nutrient offsetting. A procured consultant team has been working alongside the project partners to establish a rigid concept focusing on legal, ecological, and administrative aspects.

The EU funded SEABASED project’s pilot moved from laboratory tests to practice, as a new marine restoration method, the spreading of activated limestone by, was tested in an enclosed sea bay in Rymättylä on Thursday 11th June.

Nordkalk donates limestone to the SEABASED-project for piloting a measure that could bind eutrophying phosphorus permanently into the sediments of the seabed. In the project, three pilots at selected areas with activated limestone application to phosphorus containing bottom sediments will be implemented in chosen pilot sites in coastal bays in Sweden (Östergötland and Stockholm) and Finland (Archipelago Sea). The crushed limestone will be pre-treated by burning at facilities of Cementa in Gotland and then transported to the pilot sites and spread over the seabed to bind phosphorus into the sediment.

The SEABASED project’s activated limestone pilot was lifted up by the Swedish Kungliga Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien (IVA) as one of the top 100 research initiatives that have business potential.

The SEABASED Steering Group and project team gathered in Mariehamn, Åland 24.–25.4.2019 to catch up with the pilots and to collect views and valuable advice.

The SEABASED project held a meeting in Gryts Varv, Valdemarsvik, Sweden 30.–31.1.2019.

The Finnish-Swedish joint project reviews new methods of marine protection, and pilots small-scale local measures that can reduce the nutrient load that is already in the sea as well as curb eutrophication on the coastlines of Finland, Åland and Sweden.