Teilmann, J., Galatius, A. & Sveegaard, S. 2017. Marine mammals in the Baltic Sea in relation to the Nord Stream 2 project. - Baseline report. Aarhus University, DCE – Danish Centre for Environment and Energy, 52 pp. Scientific Report from DCE – Danish Centre for Environment and Energy No. 236. http://dce2.au.dk/pub/SR236.pdf
Nord Stream 2 AG (NSP2) is planning the construction of a second gas pipeline in the Baltic running from Russia to Germany. This report was commissioned by Rambøll, who is responsible for the NSP2 gas pipeline Environmental Impact Assessments, and describes the baseline conditions (biology, distribution, abundance and protection) for marine mammals in relation to this gas pipeline. The report pays special attention to Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Russian waters. Four species of marine mammals are living in the Baltic Sea: harbour porpoise, harbour seal, ringed seal and grey seal. The Baltic harbour porpoise population is critically endangered. It is found in all waters intersected by the NSP2 route but at very low densities in Finnish, Estonian and Russian waters. The highest densities in the inner Baltic are found around the Midsjö Banks south of Gotland. According to the available data, there is very little chance that a harbour seal would be near the proposed pipeline route at any time. The grey seal and the ringed seal are isolated subspecies endemic to the Baltic Sea. The grey seal is found throughout the Baltic and the population is considered increasing or stable. The ringed seal is only found along the northeastern segment of the proposed pipeline (Swedish, Finnish and Estonian waters) and the population is divided in several subgroups, with the Gulf of Finland group having a low estimated abundance of approx. 100 and being considered critically endangered
.
