The Barents Sea also serves as an important site for the exploration of hydrocarbons like petroleum and natural gas. The Bay is bordered by France in the east and by Spain in the south.
The Black Sea — With an area of , sq. Ivan, St Cyricus, Bird Island, etc. Bosphorus or Bosporus Strait — Also referred to as the Istanbul Strait, the Bosporus Strait is a body of water that forms a part of the boundary between the continents of Asia and Europe. It separates the southern part of Wales from the Somerset and Devon counties in the southwestern part of England.
The sea is located to the south of the Republic of Ireland and is bordered by the St. The Isles of Scilly archipelago is also located in the Celtic Sea.
English Channel — English Channel is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is situated between the southern coast of the Island of Great Britain and the northern coast of France.
The English Channel is also one the busiest shipping routes in the world. Several rivers from both countries drain into the Gulf of Bothnia.
In addition to these, about 19 artificial islands containing fortifications have been constructed by the Russians in the Gulf of Finland. The gulf is bordered by the countries of Italy, Croatia, and Slovenia. Corfu, Ithaca, Leucas, Kefalonia, etc are some of the major islands that are located in the eastern portion of the Ionian Sea.
Kattegat Bay — The Kattegat Bay is a 30, sq. Many seabirds e. Fisheries bycatch is the primary mortality factor for several seabird species. Current and potential projects indicate that shipping probably will increase.
The extreme climatic conditions heighten the risk of accidents and complicate rescue and clean-up work, thus increasing the risks of environmental damage. Oil films are frequently detected on the surface in areas of intense shipping.
Other possible impacts of shipping are introduction of non-indigenous species and biological effects of antifoulants. There is a great potential for oil exploration in the Barents Sea and it is therefore likely that oil will pose a serious threat to marine life in the future. Further are there several national legal instruments for marine conservation in the Arctic, who are summarized by CAFF b. The Mediterranean Sea surface area: 2. The sea is oligotrophic: it is rich in oxygen and poor in nutrients.
Oligotrophy increases from west to east. The legal framework for the conservation of natural habitats and species in the Mediterranean is provided by on the one hand, conventions validly for the whole Mediterranean Sea and on the other hand conventions which are only valid for the European Member States along the northern shore of the sea e.
Convention through the protection of coastal and marine habitats and species, provided by the EU Birds and Habitats Directives. The fauna and flora is one of the species richest of the world and there is a high rate of endemism. Compared with the Atlantic, the Mediterranean marine communities have many different species with generally smaller individuals Mediterranean nanism having a shorter life cycle. The oligotrophic water results in low primary production rates, combined with poor development of higher levels of the food chain, including low fish production.
Eutrophication , microbial contamination, fishing , exploitation of living resources and mariculture , industrial and oil pollution and the establishment of alien species are considered as main threats to biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea. Eutrophication in coastal areas has almost certainly resulted in an increase in fish catches of some pelagic fish species in the formerly low-nutrient waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
Introduction of alien species through ballast water , fouling, import and invasion has resulted in the establishment of dense populations of invading species. The impact of some intruders, such as the tropical alga Caulerpa taxifolia has had catastrophic effects on the natural environment. Fishing has resulted in overexploitation of several fish stocks in the Mediterranean. Mortality of the monk seal Monachus schauinslandi is mostly associated with fishing.
Over exploitation by intensive collection has led to a serious decline in some corals and many shellfish. The EEA report reproduces a list of conventions, directives and action plans for nature protection in the Mediterranean Sea. But among the signatories of the protocol, only Italy has specific legislation for the establishment of marine protected areas.
The research and monitoring programmes are focused on pollution assessment. Presently no monitoring of plankton, benthos or fish is undertaken at the Mediterranean scale and the Mediterranean cetology is still in its infancy. This is the result of past geological events, its shape and its specific water balance high degree of isolation from the world ocean, deep water depression in the centre of the sea, the extensive drainage basin and the large number of incoming rivers.
Due to anoxia in large parts of deeper waters, deep pelagic and benthic organisms are largely absent. The structure of marine ecosystems differs from the neighboring Mediterranean Sea by a lower species variety ratio of the Mediterranean to Black Sea for species richness is three and the dominant groups are different. However the total biomass and productivity of the Black Sea is much higher. The considered main threats to biodiversity in the Black Sea are eutrophication , contamination and oil pollution, water management and regulation, fisheries and alien species.
The wide diversity of biotopes provides favorable conditions for invasions of alien species to the Black Sea. The composition and structure of the marine communities is constantly changing with the decline of certain species and the expansion of others. Increasing salinity due to inappropriate water management and regulation, and pollution of brackish coastal lakes and estuaries represents a threat to relics and endemic species, especially in the Sea of Azov.
Deterioration of some marine habitats and a lack of laws and technology for regulating the introduction of alien species, for example via ballast waters, have allowed the invasion of such species.
A prominent example of an alien species is that of the comb jellyfish Mnemiopsis leidyi. These have produced mass populations, what have changed the equilibrium of the native marine ecosystems. The Convention on Biological Diversity has been signed and ratified by all Black Sea countries, however there is no univocal legislation for the specific conventions, validly for all Black Sea countries.
For example, no overall management of fish stocks in the Black sea is in place the convention on Fishing in the Black Sea has not been signed by Turkey. Another important physical feature is the retention or turnover time within the seas. This is more relevant to the enclosed and semi-enclosed seas eg, the Mediterranean and the Baltic , rather than the more open 'oceanic' seas, for example, the Barents and Norwegian seas and the North Atlantic Ocean. Retention time has a direct influence on how contaminants are retained or accumulated in the marine ecosystem.
Values range from 0. The Caspian Sea is completely land-locked and would largely retain non-degradable contaminants. The environmental quality and status of a sea is also influenced by the amount or load of contaminants entering the sea and their degradability, persistence and toxicity to aquatic organisms. Total loads entering a sea are not only a function of the population size and industrialisation within its catchment but also on the level of treatment or control, of contaminants in discharges.
The Black Sea and the Sea of Azov have not only the largest catchment of Europe's seas but also the largest population within the catchment Figures 6. Europe's northern seas, the White, Barents and Norwegian seas, have by far the smallest populations living in their catchments, relatively small catchment areas, and, in the case of the latter two, relatively large surface areas: these features contribute to the relatively uncontaminated nature of these seas.
An attempt to compare loads of contaminants entering each sea has been made in this report: this should be considered as only approximate as there are likely to be variations in data collection methodology, and for some seas data were not available for all of the different sources or do not exist at all.
It should also be noted that the data do not necessarily relate to the same year for all seas; in all cases the most recent available data were used. Figure 6. Where riverine data were not available, land-based riverine and direct discharges load data have been used.
It should also be noted that for some seas, and for the various contaminants, riverine and land-based sources may not necessarily be the most important. For most seas, it has not been possible to differentiate between the contaminant load associated with particulate material and that in the dissolved phase, or to take account of non-conservative estuarine processes that may add to or decrease loads entering the sea.
Total gross loads have therefore generally been used. An example of how allowance for contaminant form and estuarine processes may affect total or gross loads entering seas is given for the Mediterranean in terms of mercury, lead and zinc Figures 6.
Within Europe there are examples of regional conventions which deal with pollution at a regional or individual sea basis. These will be treated in the sections on individual seas.
In addition, there are two global conventions that address marine pollution Nauke and Holland, Both are administered by the International Maritime Organisation. Compared with the other sources of pollution such as land-based and the atmosphere these two are generally relatively small.
The London Dumping Convention came into force in ; enforcement is undertaken through national legislation by the contracting parties. Sixty-seven countries have signed and ratified the convention. The regulations contained in Annexes I oil and II bulk liquid chemicals are mandatory and must be applied by all parties, while those contained in Annexes III packaged goods , IV sewage and V garbage are optional.
By June , 72 states, representing 90 per cent of total ship tonnage, had accepted Annexes I and II of the Convention. When reading the text on the individual seas it will become apparent that there are problems which are recurrent or common to many of the seas in Europe. These problems, briefly outlined here, not only arise from the direct or indirect consequence of human activities but may also be compounded by the natural variability and changes within the marine environment itself.
Most of the problems are associated with, or manifest themselves more noticeably within, the coastal zone of each sea which is closest to humankind's direct influence.
The degradation of the coastal zone has, therefore, been identified as a prominent environmental problem of concern to Europe to be treated in more detail in Chapter Software updated on 09 November from version Code for developers. Systems Status. Legal notice.
0コメント