The federal and state governments regularly collect data on the North Sea and Baltic Sea using various monitoring methods. This helps to assess the marine environment and counteract negative trends. In addition to traditional sampling with ships and aircraft, innovative methods such as satellite imagery and modelling are increasingly being used for monitoring.
The seas and oceans, including the North Sea and Baltic Sea, are intensively used by humans. They provide food, energy, raw materials, transportation routes, and recreation. However, overuse is placing increasing pressure on fragile marine ecosystems. Sustainable solutions and ‘ecological guardrails’ are needed to balance human demands with marine protection.
Oceans and seas absorb significant amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere. With increased uptake of CO₂, the pH level of seawater decreases, making it more acidic. This chemical change affects the development of marine organisms. Indirectly, humans will also be affected, for example through the effects on commercially important species in fisheries and aquaculture.
More and larger ships are sailing the world's oceans. Due to their high tonnages, ocean-going vessels can be a comparably environment-friendly means of transport. There is still considerable potential to design and construct them in such a way that they pollute the environment less. Proposals need to be developed and implemented at all levels of maritime policy..
In the German North and Baltic Seas, there are contaminated sites of about 1.6 million tons of conventional munitions and 5,000 tons of chemical warfare agents dumped during World War II by military operations or afterwards by dumping. This endangers shipping, fishing, tourism, people on beaches as well as the marine environment and hinders offshore installations and submarine cable laying.
