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PSSA

PSSA Map / Application Documentt 2002 / IMO Decision Document 2002 / Press Releases / Feasibility Study 2001/ 

Download PSSA Information Flyer (July 2003) (pdf, 1.8 MB) 
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The Wadden Sea designated as Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA)

The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which is the UN organization responsible for the world-wide regulation of shipping, has, at its meeting in London, 7-11 October 2002, agreed to designate major parts of the Dutch, German and Danish Wadden Sea as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA).

Last year, the three countries agreed at the Wadden Sea ministers conference in Esbjerg in Denmark to apply for a designation of the Wadden Sea as a PSSA to the IMO. This application has now been honoured by the IMO. The area designated as a PSSA is basically the marine area of the Wadden Sea Conservation Area, being the Wadden Sea national parks in Germany and the Wadden Sea nature protection areas in Denmark and the Netherlands (see map). The PSSA covers an area of approximately 15,000 km2.

A PSSA is an area that needs special protection through action by the IMO because of its significance for recognized ecological or socio-economic or scientific reasons, and which may be vulnerable to damage by international maritime activities. The Wadden Sea is an exceptional, highly dynamic tidal ecosystem of global importance, which is vulnerable to the impact of international shipping and other activities. The adjacent North Sea is one of the world’s busiest areas in terms of international shipping and therefore the Wadden Sea fulfils the criteria for a PSSA designation.

The Wadden Sea and adjacent the North Sea is already subject to an extensive regime of protective measures, consisting of both international and national regulations, that aim at reducing the impacts from and risks related to shipping. Examples of relevant measures are the MARPOL Special Areas against discharge of oil and garbage, routeing systems making certain shipping routes compulsory for ships carrying hazardous goods and compulsory reporting for ships. Therefore, the PSSA designation will not be associated with new measures. It will not limit shipping in the area or the use of the Wadden Sea harbours and the major shipping routes have been excluded from the designation.

The designation is a recognition of the Wadden Sea as a world wide unique nature area and the measures taken by the Wadden Sea states to protect the area. The Wadden Sea PSSA will be included on all sea charts. It will send a strong signal to and increase the awareness of the international shipping community of the particular sensitivity of the area against impacts from shipping. It will thus assist the countries in further protecting and using the area in a sustainable way.

The Wadden Sea is the 5th designated PSSA worldwide, but the first designated on the basis of a joint application by three states and the first in Europe. Other PSSAs are e.g. the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, and the area “Around the Florida Keys”, United States.  

Further information: 
"The Wadden Sea designated as a PSSA" (pdf 270 kb)
(Wadden Sea Newsletter, November 2002)

Map of the PSSA Wadden Sea
 (click on the map to enlarge)

 PSSA-designated.jpg (157459 Byte)

 

Application Document to the IMO MEPC

Designation of the Wadden Sea as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area. Application document submitted by Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands to the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 48) of the IMO:

Download application documents as zip file (1.5 MB)

 

Decision Documents IMO - MEPC 48

 

Press Releases 

Vadehavet er nu udpeget som særligt følsomt havområde
(Miljøministeriet, 11.10.2002)

Wattenmeer international unter Schutz gestellt
(BMU 11.10.2002)

Waddenzee aangewezen als ‘bijzonder kwetsbaar zeegebied'
(VenW, lNV, 11.10.2002)

 

 

PSSA Feasibility Study

As agreed at the Stade Conference 1997, a Feasibility Study for a PSSA nomination has been made by the trilateral Wadden Sea cooperation and discussed at the Esbjerg Wadden Sea Conference in October 2001. The study was the basis for the PSSA designation in 2002.

Executive Summary (html)

Download report (pdf-file, 548 KB)