Holm, T.E., Clausen, P., Bregnballe, T., Stepien, E.N., Sveegaard, S., Galatius, A., Teilmann, J., Pedersen, C.L., Nielsen, R.D. & Petersen, I.K. 2023. Vurdering af forstyrrelsestrusler i Natura 2000-områderne. Opfølgning på Natura 2000-planer for perioden 2022-2027. Del III. Områdegennemgang: Øerne, Sydøstkattegat. Bælthavene og Østersøen. Aarhus Universitet, DCE – Nationalt Center for Miljø og Energi, 174s. - Videnskabelig rapport nr. 512. http://dce2.au.dk/pub/SR512.pdf

Summary
The Danish Environmental Protection Agency has prepared drafts for 257 Natura 2000 plans for the coming period 2022-2027. Each plan contains long-term objectives for nature conservation within each of the Natura 2000 sites and the relevant measures to be implemented during the period. State authorities are obliged to follow up directly on each Natura 2000 plan in the form of, for example, implementing conservation orders. In this case, the Ministry of the Environment, as the responsible authority must, among other things, decide whether there is a need to modify existing Natura 2000 plans through changes to existing or creation of new reserves. This may be relevant in Natura 2000 sites where adverse effects to bird and/or mammal species included in the basis for the designation occur due to disturbance from, for example, recreational or other human activities. Implementing game and/or nature reserves has long been a traditional way to establish such protection in Denmark. Game reserves have typically been established to protect birds and marine mammals from disturbance caused by recreational activities such as hunting, boating, walking, biking, horse-riding, running, etc. Designation of nature reserves typically provide the same protective measures in relation to the recreational activities, but also provide additional levels of protection for other natural elements of the reserve.

The introduction to the report, the second in a series of three reports, describes the report’s structure. For each Natura 2000 site, a map of the area's boundaries is provided, including the Special Protection Areas for birds (SPAs), Spe-cial Areas of Conservation (SACs) and reserves that exist in the area. In some cases, relevant conservation orders or privately imposed hunting restrictions are also mentioned. Information is also provided on the data and criteria used in the tables as the basis for designation of each of the areas and the recom-mendations.

In the introduction to the review of the sites, there is also an explanation of the deselection process for species, which are considered not to be relevant to protect by means of reserve orders.

Data are presented on bird and marine mammal species for each of the Natura 2000 sites. The far-right column of these tables summarizes the assessment of whether a reserve order can contribute to maintaining or improving the status of the designated species on that site. In this column, DCE in Danish uses the categories Implementeret (in English: Implemented), Bør overvejes (Should be considered), Kan overvejes (Can be considered), Næppe relevant (Hardly relevant), Ikke relevant (Not relevant), Usikkert (Uncertain), and Ikke vurderet (Not assessed), where the first three are the most relevant in relation to the assessment of whether there is a current need for modification to existing protection using a reserve order.

This report covers all of the Natura 2000 sites designated for relevant species of birds and marine mammals located on the islands in the southern part of Denmark, in Southest Kattegat, the Danish straits, and the Danish part of the Baltic Sea. These comprise 35 Natura 2000 sites, including 38 SPAs and 19 SACs, based on 283 designations for bird species and 27 for marine mammals.

In the case of the birds, 193 (68% of the 283 designations) were categorized as Implemented or Not relevant, reflecting the fact that, for many huntable species reserves have already been established or similar protection measures imple-mented within the SPAs, which are assessed to sufficiently meet the birds' need for undisturbed areas to forage or roost. Non-huntable species that do not need the protection from hunting, but nevertheless are disturbed by hunt-ing, are also accommodated by the reserves when they use these areas. For 17 designations (6% of the 283), the assessments were assigned to Not assessed, Hardly relevant or Uncertain categories, indicating limited or a lack of data to provide an adequate assessment, or situations where reserve implementation would not contribute to ensure a species in an area.

For the remaining 73 designations, the category Should be considered was given for 39 and Can be considered for 34, a total of 26% of all 283 designations for birds. The Should be considered category means that there are 39 designations of species for which DCE has assessed that changes need to be made to the existing provisions at reserves or that new reserves should be established. For the 34 Can be considered designations, changes to reserve regulations can be considered if there are other reasons that mitigate for this.

In the vast majority of cases, the recommendations made in relation to the birds are about improving the current level of protection to breeding birds covered by Annex I of the Bird Protection Directive, i.e. colonybreeding gulls and terns. This is most often achieved by establishing new, or expanding existing, protected areas for the species, or about extending existing temporal protection on reserves to ensure that the reserve provisions cover the entire duration of their breeding season. Other recommendations involve the extension of existing protection zones around, for example, islands and islets that are considered too small to effectively limit the disturbance caused by sailing and other human activities in the vicinity. This can be especially disruptive because many reserves today are exposed to such disturbance when the birds first establish themselves in situ as breeding birds, and/or later in the summer when they are still feeding young.

For a smaller number of Natura 2000 sites, the recommendations revolve around ensuring peaceful conditions for Mute Swans Cygnus olor and diving ducks dur-ing the moult season, by extending established protected sites to cover larger areas with restrictions on sailing and other recreational activities. This is justified by the fact that it cannot be ruled out that increasing intensity and diversity of recreational activity in recent decades may have contributed to the observed declines in the populations of moulting waterbirds in Danish waters.

Reserve measures Should be considered or Can be considered were assigned to 10 (91%) of the 11 designations for the two seal species Harbour Seal Phoca vitulina and Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus and Not relevant were assigned to the remaining one. The rationale for most of the recommendations was that existing protection zones around the seals' breeding and/or moulting grounds were too small, and needed to be modified, based on our current knowledge of the escape distances of seals of both species. In some of the Natura 2000 sites, the recommendations also included changing the protection periods so that they better reflect the seals' breeding and moulting periods. The latter is particularly relevant in new areas colonized by Grey Seals, because they breed and shed their fur at different times to Harbour Seals, so protection periods that may be sufficient for the latter species fail to protect Grey Seals.

Harbour Porpoises Phocoena phocoena are the basis for designation of 16 Natura 2000 sites and 16 SACs where the species forms part of the basis for designation. Reserve measures Should be considered were assigned to all 16 SACs. In all cases, the recommendations were to establish protected areas where it was evidently advantageous to introduce sailing and fishing restrictions in particular to reduce disturbance to, and bycatch of porpoises.