The Swedish Government Protects a Huge Marine Area for the Baltic Sea Harbour Porpoise

Mats Amundin, Ph.D., Senior Advisor, Zoology, Kolmarden, Guest prof. Linkoping University, recently sent out the following notice:

“In 2014, the EU LIFE-funded SAMBAH project, coordinated by Kolmarden Wildlife Park in Sweden, presented completely new information on the seasonal distribution and abundance of the Baltic Sea harbour porpoise. Recently, based on the SAMBAH results, a decision has been taken by the Swedish government to designate a large marine Natura 2000 area in the Baltic Proper for the harbor porpoise. With more than 1 million hectares this is the largest marine area ever proposed by Sweden as a Natura 2000 site, and it includes the major part of the most important breeding ground, which mainly is within Sweden’s EEZ, for this critically endangered population.

Obama and Trudeau Ban Most Arctic and Atlantic oil and Gas Operations

On December 20, 2016, U.S. President Obama banned new offshore oil and gas drilling in much of the U.S. Arctic and the Atlantic Ocean. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also committed to freeze new offshore leasing in Canada’s Arctic waters and to review the matter every five years. Click here to read a Bloomberg Politics article on these actions.