Baltic Reed

Although nutrient load from land-based sources to the Baltic Sea has reduced significantly, good ecological status of the coastal waters has not been reached, partly due to land-based load, and partly because of internal loading from the bottom sediments. The BalticReed Project will uptake nutrients from the Baltic Sea, improve water quality and restore the coastal habitats by harvesting dense reed beds, and, in addition, recycle the reed biomass and nutrients to be utilized on land.Harvesting of coastal reed beds can cost-efficiently remove significant amounts of nutrients from coastal waters, as one ha reed bed contains approx. 5-10kg of P and 50-100 kg N. It has been estimated that in Sweden and Finland there are over 300 000 ha coastal reed beds, and the estimated cost per reduction has been estimated being approx. 30 - 60 €/kgP and 2,1- 3,75 €/kgN, based on previous local level pilots. Concrete nutrient reductions and habitat improvements will be achieved with reed harvesting and habitat restoration pilots in Finland, Åland and Sweden.In addition, in collaboration with commercial stakeholders of the region, the BalticReed project will analyze the main bottlenecks and opportunities for commercialization of reed-based value chains and products, learn from operating reed-based markets in Estonia, and pilot reed-based products and value-chains during the project. At the same time, legislative, social, and ecological sustainability of reed harvesting will be ensured. The project will consult and engage key local and environmental stakeholders and coastal inhabitants for establishing region-wide terms and practices for constant and sustainable, reed-based annual nutrient reductions.