Projects such as new harbors, piers and dredging along the coasts affect the physical habitat for animals and plants. Metria has helped the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (HaV) to get a picture of the situation through a unique survey.
Using the latest technology in satellite imagery and geographic information systems, Metria has mapped a couple of hundred thousand structures such as buildings, jetties and dredging along Sweden's coasts on behalf of HaV. The rate of development in the coastal strip is high and the data provides the authority with an overall picture of the important seabed, which is both home to bottom-dwelling plants and animals and a nursery area for fish and coastal birds. It also acts as a sink, or source, of nutrients and pollutants that eventually end up in the sea. Ecosystems are most affected at depths of 0 to 6 meters.
Beach protection does not prevent development
The survey has enabled the Agency to draw many important conclusions. Here are some of them.
- Shallow, wave-protected areas that are both biologically important and sensitive are more vulnerable than other areas.
- Knowledge of the physical processes and their effects on biology needs to be strengthened.
- Beach protection or other management policies do not lead to less exploitation of high nature values in shallow coastal areas.
- Climate change does not appear to result in more careful exploitation of valuable shallow coastal areas.
- The rate of restoration is far below the rate of habitat loss per year.
- Physical impacts also have effects on the eutrophication situation, by reducing the resilience of the ecosystem.
The data can be used by the Agency for describing the current situation, planning measures and monitoring. It also contributes knowledge, methods and data to support work on all EU directives that in some way relate to water and to support work on the Swedish environmental quality objectives: "Balanced seas and living coastal and archipelago areas" and "Rich plant and animal life".
A complete analysis basis
There is a large number of studies that have examined the environmental impact of various activities in the marine environment. What they have in common is that they focus on individual types of impact, such as dredging, dumping, ship traffic and bottom trawling. At the same time, they rarely have any detailed areal delimitation that takes into account the surrounding natural geography; depth, wave regime and bottom substrate, which means that the results are generally quite general. The mapping that HaV is now using in its analyses is much more complete than what was previously available.
- The combination of satellite image interpretation and good knowledge of water-related issues makes us one of the few players in the Nordic region that can deliver such a complete national analysis basis, says Oscar Lindhe, Segment Manager, Nature & Environment.
Did you know that...
...Sweden's coastline from Haparanda to Strömstad is 2,400 km long and one of the longest in Europe?
...if the islands are included, the total length of Sweden's shoreline is 48,000 km, i.e. just over one revolution around the world?