The length of the marine area coastline in Estonia (according to the Basic Map, including islands and holms) is approx. 4015 km. The total marine area under Estonian jurisdiction is approximately 36,622 km2. Of this, approx. 14,487 km2 is the coastal sea, approx. 10,714 km2 is the territorial sea and approx. 11,421 km2 remains in the economic zone.
Overview
The Estonian marine area is located in the north-eastern part of the Baltic Sea and consists of parts of several larger basins of the Baltic Sea, which are quite different in terms of natural conditions and the burden resulting from human activities: the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Livonia, the open part of the Baltic Sea and the Väinameri in the region of the Western Estonian archipelago.
The fragile Baltic Sea ecosystem not only depends on natural factors, but must also cope with the human population inhabiting the sea basin, whose activities have a direct or indirect impact on the sea. We must consider that the Baltic Sea is a semi-enclosed sea with slow water exchange, making its recovery capacity relatively limited. Therefore, extensive international cooperation is underway to maintain and improve the state of the Baltic Sea.
The assessment of the state of the coastal sea is given following its state description sections and quality elements provided for in the Water Act and the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC. The aggregate state consists of two parts – ecological state (ES) and chemical state (CS).
Depending on the extent of human influence, the ecological state of surface water bodies (including the state of coastal water bodies) is assessed on a 5-level scale: from very good, in which there are no or negligible changes due to human activity, to very bad (biological indicators deviate very strongly from reference conditions or there is no biota).
The chemical state of the water body is assessed on a 2-level scale: good – the content of priority pollutant substances is lower than the limit value established as an ecological quality standard; bad – the content of the priority substances is above the norm of the quality standard.
More information
- Rannikuveekogumite seisund
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Pinnaveekogumite, sh rannikuveekogumite ajakohastatud seisundiinfo ja interaktiivne kaart on kättesaadavad pinnavee seisundi jaotuse alt:
Loe täpsemalt:
- Mereseire
- Mereandmestik ja aruanded
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Keskkonnaseire andmekogu KESE - mereseire andmed ja aruanded
Merekeskkonna uuringud - Keskkonnaministeeriumi poolt algatatud mere ja mere kasutusega seotud projektid
Vaata ka:
- Reostuskoormused
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- Läänemerre suubuvate jõgede, seiramata rannikualade ja punktallikate toitainete, orgaaniliste ainete ja raskmetallide koormuse hinnang.
- Merestrateegia raamdirektiiv
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2008. aastal vastu võetud Euroopa Parlamendi ja Nõukogu Direktiiv 2008/56/EÜ ehk EL merestrateegia Raamdirektiiv (MSRD), sätestab EL liikmesriikidele kohustuse säilitada või saavutada oma merealade hea keskkonnaseisund (edaspidi HKS) aastaks 2020. EL liikmesriigid on kohustatud läbi viima rida tegevusi merestrateegia välja töötamiseks asjaomases merepiirkonnas.
Merestrateegia rakendamine toimub kuueaastaste tsüklitena, kus üks tsükkel koosneb mereala seisundi hindamisest, seireprogrammi väljatöötamisest ja hiljem täiendamisest ning vastava meetmekava loomisest ning selle rakendamisest, ajakohastamisest.
Keskkonnaministeeriumi algatusel koostatakse Eesti mereala keskkonnaseisundi hindamise teemaaruanded ja koondaruanne, mis annab ülevaate seisundi hetkeolukorrast ja merd mõjutavatest surveteguritest.
Keskkonnaagentuur vastab aruannete ja sellega seotud metaandmete edastamise eest Euroopa Komisjonile läbi andmete keskse hoiukoha EIONET ’i (European Environment Information and Observation Network).
Loe lisaks:
Merestrateegia raamdirektiiv (konsolideeritud versioon)
- Map
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Kaardikihtide vaatamiseks võib kasutada ühte neist vabavarana levitatavast tarkvarast:
Kaardikihte saab alla laadida keskkonnaportaali kaardirakendusest.
Vaata ka:
- Flood risk prevention and mitigation, warning systems
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As a result of the project, flood risk monitoring, forecasting, and warning systems will be developed to prevent and mitigate flooding, which will, in the long term, help increase resilience to climate change. The project includes studies to identify the best preventive measures for risk areas and awareness-raising activities for flood risk prevention.
Definitions
According to the Maritime Boundaries Act, the Estonian maritime area is divided into internal sea, territorial sea and economic zone. Guided by the EU Water Framework Directive, the term coastal water is used, i.e. coastal seawater on the landward side of a line, every point of which is at a distance of one nautical mile on the seaward side from the nearest point of the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial waters is measured.
- The internal sea is the part of the maritime area between the baseline of the territorial sea and the coast.
- The baseline of the territorial sea is an imaginary line connecting the points furthest from the coast of the mainland, islands, holms, rocks and individual rocks protruding from the water.
- The territorial sea is the part of the maritime area adjacent to the internal sea with a width of 12 nautical miles.
- The economic zone is a part of the maritime area located outside the territorial sea and adjacent to the latter and its boundaries are determined by agreements between the Republic of Estonia and its neighbouring countries.
Related references:
Coastal sea monitoring
Coastal sea monitoring takes place on the coast of Estonia, including hydrological (water level and water temperature) and meteorological (air temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction) measurements carried out in coastal sea level monitoring stations.
Measurements are carried out at 15 coastal sea level monitoring stations.
Operational data for coastal sea monitoring is available on the Environment Agency's weather website ilmateenistus.ee
As open data, raw coastal sea monitoring data is available with a one-hour frequency (data is updated once a day) in JSON format:
- water level (average, minimum and maximum);
- water temperature (average, minimum and maximum).
Currently, data from 2023 is available, but we plan to make all data public, for which the respective development works are underway.