PRESSURE 8-2018 was the first meeting of this group after the adoption of the 2018 HELCOM Ministerial Declaration.

In the light of renewed HELCOM commitments, the Meeting discussed the ways of their implementation, as well as enhancing the implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan.

The Meeting also discussed the remaining products of the PLC-6 project with an accent on pollution of the Baltic Sea by hazardous substances and the effectiveness of measures to prevent pollution of the marine environment, including elimination of HELCOM Hot Spots.

The agenda of the Meeting included follow-up of the progress in implementation of the HELCOM Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter, the roadmap on underwater noise, and the use of the data on various environmental pressures on the marine environment in HOLAS II, etc.

The following issue of relevance for CCB work were inter alia presented

• Progress achieved to prevent environmental impact from the toxic landfill Krasny Bor was presented by Russia and Germany (cf. also Presentation 1, 2, 3)
• Finland also reported on the state of play with phosphogypsum sites and called other countries to provide their national reports.
• Draft Guidelines to report data on sales of veterinary medicines and on the collection of unused veterinary medicines
• Suggestions on deletion and revision of some Russian hot spots (Presentation)

CCB’s inputs to the Meeting comprised of two documents:

• Nutrient inputs to the Baltic Sea by the big rivers and integrated river basin management
• Information on the Baltic Sea Day event in Kaliningrad devoted to remediation of remaining hot spots

All meeting documents including the outcomes are available here