1. Policy & Management

World Heritage Nomination - Requested Supplementary Information delivered to IUCN

Following the field mission and the meeting of the IUCN World Heritage Panel in December 2008, the IUCN requested additional information on the Wadden Sea World Heritage Nomination dossier. To meet this request the Supplementary Information was submitted to the World Heritage Center at the UNESCO in Paris on 27 February 2009

The Supplementary Information includes six appendices with additional information on subjects entailed in the nomination dossier. It encompasses slightly revised boundaries of the nomination area to exclude oil and gas, and military activities, to maintain the integrity of the nominated property. In the overview of the appendices, the Supplementary Information can be found on the contents of each of the six appendices.

The IUCN World Heritage Panel meets again in the 3rd week of March. A final report is prepared and will be forwarded to the World Heritage Centre in May 2009 for distribution to the members of the World Heritage Committee. At its annual session in Sevilla, Spain, at the end of June 2009, the Committee will make the final decision on whether or not to inscribe the property on the World Heritage List.
http://www.waddensea-secretariat.org/management/whs/whs.html

Fisheries Covenant in the Netherlands

On 21 October 2008, a covenant was signed between the mussel fisheries sector, green NGOs and the Dutch government about the transition towards sustainable fisheries, as well as nature recovery in the Dutch Wadden Sea (see Newsletter No. 4, November 2008).

On 4 March 2009, a joint Work Plan "Natuurlijk Voorwaarts" was published, providing a detailed schedule for implementing the agreements of the covenant.

For the transition towards sustainable mussel fisheries, a schedule for progressively reducing seed mussel dredging and introducing alternative seed mussel collecting methods is foreseen. The schedule is starting with a closure of 20% of catch areas in spring 2009, corresponding with (on average) 5.5 million kg mussel seed. As soon as the reduced catches have been compensated by catches from seed collectors and other proper sources, the next 20% reduction step will be taken. It is envisaged to take the second reduction step in 2011. As a principle, areas that have been closed will remain closed, also for other bottom interfering uses. The selection of areas to be closed will be done on the basis of maximum chances for development of mussel beds and minimum interference with other uses. The objective is to reach a 100% dredging independent mussel industry by 2020.

For nature recovery, the second pillar of the covenant, a preparatory plan has been agreed upon by the responsible authorities and nature organisations. The nature recovery plan itself will be finalised by 1 October 2009 and will contain a vision on the implications of nature recovery for the Wadden Sea, the objectives, as well as how to achieve them. The objectives will cover the themes clear water, a better food web for birds and fish, recovery of mussel beds and seagrass meadows, climate resilience, international coherence and a sustainable relationship between man and the Wadden Sea. The programme also provides activities for research, monitoring and evaluation in relation to nature recovery.

The full work plan (in Dutch) can be downloaded from:
http://www.minlnv.nl/portal/page?_pageid=116,1640330&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&p_file_id=35166

2. Research & Monitoring

North Sea pilot project on contaminants in bird eggs

In the framework of the work on the implementation of Ecological Quality Objectives (EcoQO) for the North Sea, which is carried out by OSPAR, the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat has taken the responsibility to further develop the EcoQO on Contaminants in Bird Eggs based on the experiences with this parameter in the TMAP since 1998.

In 2007, the work started in the framework of the INTERREG IIIB project HARBASINS (www.harbasins.org) in cooperation with colleagues from the Wadden Sea, Sweden, Norway, Belgium and the United Kingdom. An EcoQO background document was prepared and published in 2008 (OSSPAR, Reference No. 331). In addition, a North Sea pilot project was organized in 2008 and eggs of the Oystercatcher and Common Tern were sampled and chemically analyzed from stations in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Sampling stations along the east coast of the UK have not yet been sampled, this will be done in spring 2009.

The results of the North Sea Pilot project in 2008 were presented by Peter Becker (Institute of Avian Research, Wilhelmshaven) who has organized the joint project and carried out the chemical analyses. He confirmed that eggs of the Oystercatcher and Common Tern showed elevated contaminant values in estuaries, especially at sites near the Ems, Elbe and Scheldt, whereas the site in Norway is less contaminated. A first assessment of the North Sea EcoQO values revealed that most of these values are met in many sites but not all and that the concentrations of HCB, HCHs and DDTs are mostly below the EcoQO, whereas PCB concentrations are above the EcoQO values in all areas.

A comprehensive report of the North Sea pilot project will be prepared after the results from the UK sites (sampling in spring 2009) will be available.

Downloadt he EcoQO background document:
http://www.ospar.org/documents%5Cdbase%5Cpublications%5Cp00331_EcoQO-Birdeggs.pdf

3. Information & Education

Trilateral workshop on communication

A trilateral workshop on a Wadden Sea communication strategy was organized in Bremen on 27 February 2009. It was attended by representatives of key stakeholders such as national and regional authorities, green NGOs, information and education centers and the tourism sector.

The aim of the workshop was on the one hand to exchange ideas (“brainstorming”) for a trilateral communication strategy and resulting marketing activities (as recommended by the External Evaluation Report 2007), especially with regard to the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site nomination. On the other hand, the aim was to prepare proposals on how this can be done in cooperation with all stakeholders.

The workshop identified the main activities in the forthcoming period, in particular with emphasis on the period until and directly after the possible inscription of the Wadden Sea as World Heritage Site at the end of June 2009.

There was also basically agreement that the communication strategy should be further improved in a coordinated way between the stakeholders to enable an effective and targeted communication in order to make use of the potential and existing structures in the regions.

Download minutes from the workshop:
http://www.waddensea-secretariat.org/workshops/communication/Communication-workshop-final-minutes(09-03-12).doc

Read more about the External Evaluation Report (Moser & Brown 2007):
http://www.waddensea-secretariat.org/news/Evaluation/evaluation-report.html

4. New Publications

The WWF Germany has prepared a report on by-catch in shrimp fishery which contains also an overview of possibilities and perspectives for reduction of by-catch in the future.

The report is available at:
http://www.wwf.de/presse/details/news/krabben_mit_muell_beilage

5. Trilateral Meetings

TMAG 09/1
29 April, Hamburg, Germany

TWG 09/1
19 May, The Netherlands

TMAP Salt Marsh Workshop
26 – 27 May 2009, Langeoog, Germany

CPSL
27 – 28 May 2009, Bremen, Germany

SO 31
22 June, Bremen, Germany

A complete overview is at:
http://www.waddensea-secretariat.org/trilat/meetings/meetings.html

Meetings of the Wadden Sea Forum (WSF) are at:
http://www.waddensea-forum.org/calendar.html

6. Symposia & Workshops

Upcoming events:

Only new events are listed. A complete list of upcoming events is at:
http://www.waddensea-secretariat.org/news/events/otherconf.html

18 - 26 April 2009, Hallig Hooge, Germany
Ringelganstage in der Biosphäre Halligen
Overview of events and program is available on
http://www.ringelganstage.de

19 - 20 May 2009, Delmenhorst, Germany
BioGeoChemistry of Tidal Flats
Final Symposium of the ICMB research group on tidal flats
http://www.icbm.de/watt/download/BioGeoChemistry_of_Tidal_Flats-First_Circular.pdf http://www.icbm.de/watt/

2 – 11 November 2009 (new dates), Stralsund, Germany
Progress in Marine Conservation in Europe 2009
2nd International Conference, hosted by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN)
www.habitatmare.de