Development of a concept of a Water Improvement Fund and restoration of coastal areas – Government of Åland, County Administrative Board of Östergötland and the Åland Fish Farmers’ Association

A concept of Water Improvement Fund for coastal restoration measures will be developed with an objective to examine different options and needs for new regulations for legislation and to find functional and sustainable solutions e.g. to be utilized in ecosystem based compensations in the future, for which Åland will act as “test laboratory”. The concept will be applied and tested in practice with pilot activities to reduce nutrients from the marine environment and to restore the coastal pilot areas into better condition: removing nutrient-rich bottom waters from two eutrophied semi-closed, coastal bays and testing the possibility of recycling nutrients by utilizing the water for irrigation on fields, and supporting the spawning of predatory fish-stocks by fishing stickleback in Åland and Östergötland region in Sweden. Complementary measures, such as artificial reefs and spawning grounds to increase predatory fish stocks will also be tested to support ecosystem recovery and, consequently, reduce the internal nutrient load in pilot coastal bays in Östergötland region. Results from all pilot activities will be utilized in the concept development work.