Less pollution from ships than ever in the North Sea: never so many porpoises and seals spotted | Science & Planet

This is apparent from the measurement results of the ‘sniffer aircraft’ with which the Scientific Service Management Unit of the Mathematical Model of the North Sea (MUMM) monitors our North Sea. It scans, among other things, for oil discharges and sulfur and nitrogen emissions from ships.

“The number of identified oil pollutions has been decreasing since the start of the measurements in the early 1990s,” said Van Quickenborne’s cabinet. “Last year not even a single one was found. And the number of violators of sulfur emission standards is also falling. Only last year there was a slight increase, due to an increase in the number of minor violations. The minister wants to continue working on this by also imposing nitrogen standards and tightening the rules in other areas.”

Within the International Maritime Organization (IMO) it has been laid down that by 2030 the emissions from shipping must be reduced by 40 percent compared to 2008 and by 70 percent by 2050. In accordance with the coalition agreement, our country is playing a pioneering role in an alliance of countries that achieve this ambition. want to tighten to at least 55 percent by 2030 and zero emissions by 2050.

The decrease in pollution appears to immediately contribute to a strong flourishing of flora and fauna in the North Sea. For example, the number of spotted porpoises and seals during the flights of the MUMM – which also monitors marine mammals – is higher than ever.

For example, during the survey flights in 2021, more than twice as many harbor porpoises were spotted as the previous year. This trend is confirmed by the observation that the number doubled again during the first flight of 2022. It is estimated that there are now about 2,700 harbor porpoises in Belgian waters.

In September last year, twenty seals were also peated during one survey flight. That is the highest number of seals ever recorded during a Belgian air survey. And recently the European flat oyster was spotted in the Belgian North Sea for the first time in twenty years.

“We must cherish our North Sea,” said Minister Van Quickenborne. “It is the largest nature reserve in Belgium. The increasing number of marine mammals and species such as the European flat oyster appearing in our North Sea for the first time in decades shows that progress is being made.”