Sari Essayah, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry:
The catchment areas of the Archipelago Sea may be excluded from the manure exception
Talk is underway about making the controversial livestock manure exception in the Phosphorus Decree permanent. However, a change to the manure exception included in the Government Programme is now being considered which would exclude the catchment areas of the Archipelago Sea from the Decree exception. This would make it possible for the Archipelago Sea to finally be deleted from HELCOM’s Hot Spot list.
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sari Essayah is originally from Savo, but she has spent a long and significant period of her life in Southwest Finland. This 1993 world champion in race walking, who was raised in the lake region of Finland, entered the realm of national politics – and became acquainted with the sea – while a resident of Paimio.
“At that time, we spent a great deal of time on the coastline with our children and enjoyed swimming in the sea. We learned a lot about the sea and coastal plants. The Archipelago Sea is a wonderful and unique site worthy of protection, also from an international perspective. It serves as one of Finland’s unparalleled calling cards”, says Minister Essayah.
Essayah estimates that there is still a lot of untapped potential for tourism in the Archipelago Sea area.
“It is hard for people abroad to imagine that we have such a beautiful marine area here that’s full of islands. Tourists have already explored the sights of Greece and climbed the hills of Rome, but sustainable tourism in our archipelago, in particular, would be something new. Fishing, mushroom hunting and berry picking are common activities for us, but would be unique experiences for many others.”
Conservation has yielded results
Minister Essayah is concerned about the Archipelago Sea both from a personal and official standpoint. The state of the sea is not good, but Essayah wants to highlight the positive results achieved through conservation in order to motivate different actors to engage in long-term conservation work.
“The fauna of the Archipelago Sea provides us with some good examples of how conservation can bring about change: We have succeeding in increasing the number of white-tailed eagles and grey seals, in fact, fishermen are complaining that the number of seals is even starting to be too high. The fish population in many areas has also strengthened and Baltic herring are growing larger.”
Changes in the state of the seawater are visible at a much slower rate, even though the situation has improved in some areas. The poor state of the Archipelago Sea is largely due to the fact that it is a shallow sea that is subject to eutrophication. Eutrophication, in turn, is strongly linked to nutrient loads caused by agricultural runoff.
“There has been a decline, however, in the nutrient balance of the fields between 1995 and 2024. There has been no major change in terms of nitrogen loading, but phosphorus volumes have clearly decreased. For the first time in 2023, a statistically significant downward trend has been observed”, Essayah states.
Deletion from the Hot Spot list?
Minister Essayah believes that a significant improvement in the Archipelago Sea’s situation will come with the change to the livestock manure exception being considered in the consultation round.
“In the 1990s, an exception was made in the Phosphorus Decree, which allows livestock manure to be spread on fields, even if the amount of phosphorus permitted by the Decree is exceeded. A permanent status for the livestock manure exception, which has been extended several times, is now being sought throughout the country, but will not include the catchment area of the Archipelago Sea, which will be excluded from the exception. This exclusion is not fully approved by farmers, but is necessary to protect the Archipelago Sea.”
According to the Minister, the criteria related to the vegetation cover of the fields located in catchment areas, the use of soil conditioners and the restoration of water bodies have already been met, but improvements are still needed in the treatment and use of manure.
“I believe that the exclusion now being made will be so significant that it will finally allow for the deletion of the Archipelago Sea from HELCOM’s Hot Spot list”, suggests the minister.
However, she points out that deletion from the Hot Spot list does not mean that conservation measures can be decreased.
“Deletion from the list does not signify an improvement in the state of the sea, simply that we have succeeded in managing the nutrient load. Work intended to improve the sea must continue together with farmers and other actors.”
More efficient nutrient recycling
According to the Minister, it is important to seek and find viable solutions for manure treatment and nutrient recycling.
“We have farms that have a phosphorus excess and others that a phosphorus deficiency. The excess phosphorus on livestock farms should be made available in a sensible way to farms that need it. The situation should be balanced and not hindered by the high cost of transport.”
“The State could offer some means of financing, but must be careful not to violate the rules on EU State aid. On the other hand, some market activity has already been initiated around phosphorus and so that should not be ruined by the introduction of support measures”, Essayah adds.
The search for solutions is accelerated by the increase in fertilizer prices and the difficulty in obtaining them as a result of an unstable global situation.
“Biogas would be one solution for nutrient recycling in agriculture. It would enable us to create an almost complete circular economy around agriculture and reduce dependence on mineral fertilizers and fossil fuels.”
According to Essayah, Finland is now proposing an amendment to the EU Waste Framework Directive.
“We propose that livestock manure should not be treated as waste but as a valuable raw material. In other words, the status of livestock manure should be changed.”
New threats on the horizon
Decision-makers are aiming to advance improvements to the state of the Archipelago Sea in many ways and are well aware of the additional pressures caused by climate change.
“There is a lot of water expertise in Finland. Experts regularly monitor the state of the sea and assess changes and the impact of measures taken. They provide us with valuable information that we use in the planning of various projects. There are a lot of projects underway to address, for example, the challenges posed by climate change”, Essayah says.
The Minister also highlights the threats posed to the Baltic Sea and the Archipelago Sea as a result of Russia’s war of aggression.
“The war in Ukraine has also added to the Archipelago Sea debate concerns about the deteriorating oil tankers owned by the Russian shadow fleet that are navigating the Baltic Sea. They are a genuine risk for the delicate nature of the Archipelago Sea. The risk of oil spills is now significantly higher and more likely than it was five to ten years ago. This requires us to be even more prepared than we have been”, Essayah says.
“The protection of the Archipelago Sea must, therefore, continue even if it is deleted from the Hot Spot list. Money should not be wasted on structures or things that do not really contribute to improving the state of the sea. The point is not to accumulate assets for actors in the name of conservation, but to keep the focus genuinely and strictly on protecting the sea.”
“I believe that the restriction of the livestock manure exception will facilitate the deletion of the Archipelago Sea from HELCOM’s Hot Spot list”, Minister Sari Essayah asserts.
Text: Leena Hulsi / Viestintätoimisto Jokiranta Oy
Photo: Sakari Röyskö
