HELSINKI COMMISSION

Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission

     
     
HELCOM RECOMMENDATION 9/1*

RECOMMENDATION CONCERNING PROTECTION OF SEALS IN THE BALTIC SEA AREA

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    * supersedes HELCOM Recommendation 3/3
 

     
Adopted 15 February 1988
having regard to Article 13, Paragraph b)
of the Helsinki Convention

THE COMMISSION,

DEEPLY CONCERNED by the critical situation of the seals in the Baltic which has grown alarming, as pointed out by many expert meetings and organizations, e.g. the Seal Expert Symposium in Warsaw, 1980, the Nordic Council of Ministers, 1981, the Committee for the Gulf of Bothnia, Working Group on Baltic Seals (ICES), 1985 and 1986, IOC/ICES Review of Contaminants in Marine Mammals, 1987, Advisory Committee on Marine Pollution (ICES), 1986, 1987,

RECOGNIZING that according to the document "Assessment of the Effects of Pollution on the Natural Resources of the Baltic Sea, 1980" there are strong indications that organochlorine substances and among them especially PCB are primarily responsible for the serious decrease in the reproductive rate of ringed seals (Pusa hispida), harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) and grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) of the Baltic Sea Area,