Miljöproblemen i Hanöbukten Hur går vi vidare? - En intervjustudie

Sammanfattning: Human activities such as eutrophication, overfishing and pollution have significant effects on marine ecosystems. The marine environment of the Baltic Sea is historically one of the seas in the world that has been contaminated for the longest time. This study focuses on Hanö bay, which is a part of the Baltic Sea where the problems are presumed to be of major character. Poor water quality, poor fish catches and fish with wounds, are some of the observations made. Several coastal areas around the world face similar problems, where the combined effects of human activity and climate change are pushing the areas to their tipping point. Thus, there are strong reasons to overcome the problems in Hanö Bay. To deal with such maritime problems, research show that there is a need for active stakeholder involvement and coordination between sectors. The aim of the study was to examine actors’ views of what is required to deal with the environmental issues in Hanö Bay, and find out how they perceive the current collaborative work. To answer this, an interview study was conducted with several actors. The results show that more structure is required and there is a need for creating new forms of cooperation. This is needed to get a holistic view of the situation and to find out what kind of investigations and research that are required to proceed with the work. Several stakeholders have a responsibility for Hanö Bay, however this study shows that one actor should have a greater responsibility for the coordination, in order to avoid unstructured work. Some potential proposals for improvements are presented in this thesis, which are to create a coastal water council for Hanö Bay and a fund to co-finance action work and surveys. A third suggestion is to establish a common database or website, in order to share surveys undertaken.