The aim of the German marine policy is a comprehensive and integrated management of human activities based on the ecosystem approach in order to achieve good status of the marine waters by 2020. An integrated management of ecologically sustainable uses requires coordination of all policy areas with influence on the state of the marine ecosystems, in particular fisheries, agriculture, shipping, generation of energy, waste management, product design and chemicals policy. To this end, coordination of action among the coastal states of the North and Baltic Seas is indispensable. The initial assessment in 2012 of the state of the marine environment of the German parts of the North and Baltic Seas concluded that marine waters were not in a good status, in particular concerning benthic habitats and species, fish, seabirds, phytoplankton and, in particular in the Baltic Sea, marine mammals. Main pressures on both seas include among others eutrophication, fisheries, contaminants and litter. In 2012, Germany set up seven overarching environmental targets, specified by 30 operative targets and multiple associated indicators. These action-oriented targets were set for guiding measures to reduce pressures on the sea and to take conservation measures in order to move towards achieving and maintaining a good environmental status of the national marine waters. The Federal Government and the Governments of the states of Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen and Schleswig-Holstein have drafted a programme of measures for the period 2016-2021 based on and structured along the national environmental targets. |
