SÄÄSTVA ARENGU FOORUM 2014: MEREMAJANDUS TUNDLIKUS LÄÄNEMERE KESKKONNAS

The document outlines the 'blue growth' strategy of the European Commission and its application to Estonia, focusing on sectors such as international shipping, fisheries, renewable energy, aquaculture, tourism, minerals, and biotechnology. It highlights the tension between economic expansion—such as the growth in cruise tourism and offshore wind potential—and the ecological vulnerability of the Baltic Sea, which faces pressures from pollution, overfishing, and habitat loss. The briefing emphasizes the necessity of maritime spatial planning to balance these competing interests by 2020-2021.

• The European Commission identifies five core areas for 'blue growth' with high innovation and employment potential: energy from the sea, aquaculture, maritime/coastal/cruise tourism, minerals from the sea, and marine biotechnology.
• In Estonia, the maritime economy is dominated by port management and logistics, which created the most added value and employed the most people as of 2010. The goal for 2020 is to increase the number of employees in the sector to 25,000.
• International shipping in Estonia is heavily reliant on transit trade, which averages 70% of the total, with petroleum products being the largest commodity group since 1995. This activity increases the risk of ecological disasters in the sensitive Baltic Sea.
• Estonian fisheries have seen a significant decline in employment; for example, the number of trawl fishermen dropped from over 1,300 in 1996 to approximately 215 by the end of 2011.
• The Baltic Sea has the highest offshore wind energy potential in Europe for distances 10–30 km from the coast (2049 TWh), though only about 10% of this area is usable due to spatial planning constraints. Estonia targets an installed capacity of 250 MW by 2020.
• Wave energy is considered unlikely to be a commercially viable source in the Baltic Sea in the near future due to high variability, seasonal fluctuations, and the necessity of wave action for ecosystem functioning in protected areas.
• Cruise tourism in the Baltic Sea grew from 1.1 million passengers in 2000 to nearly 4.4 million in 2013. Estonia's goal is to attract at least 500,000 cruise tourists annually starting from 2015.
• EU member states are required by Directive 2014/89/EU to establish maritime spatial plans by March 31, 2021; Estonia aims to complete this by 2020 to ensure sustainable resource use and reduce environmental pressure.

APA

P., K., & K., P. (2014). SÄÄSTVA ARENGU FOORUM 2014: MEREMAJANDUS TUNDLIKUS LÄÄNEMERE KESKKONNAS. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/meremajandus-tundlikus-l%C3%A4%C3%A4nemere-keskkonnas-27-10-14.pdf

Chicago

P., Kuldna,, and Peterson, K. SÄÄSTVA ARENGU FOORUM 2014: MEREMAJANDUS TUNDLIKUS LÄÄNEMERE KESKKONNAS. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2014. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/meremajandus-tundlikus-l%C3%A4%C3%A4nemere-keskkonnas-27-10-14.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=P. |first1=Kuldna, |last2=K. |first2=Peterson, |title=SÄÄSTVA ARENGU FOORUM 2014: MEREMAJANDUS TUNDLIKUS LÄÄNEMERE KESKKONNAS |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=October 2014 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/meremajandus-tundlikus-l%C3%A4%C3%A4nemere-keskkonnas-27-10-14.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{p2014sstva, author = {P., Kuldna, and K., Peterson,}, title = {{SÄÄSTVA ARENGU FOORUM 2014: MEREMAJANDUS TUNDLIKUS LÄÄNEMERE KESKKONNAS}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2014}, month = oct, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/meremajandus-tundlikus-l%C3%A4%C3%A4nemere-keskkonnas-27-10-14.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }