Monitoring the Baltic Sea Health by Diving - Heidi Arponen

April 22-23.2023 the Paarlasti room in Suomenlinna was filled with diving enthusiasts and science professionals interested in citizen science for a seminar organised by the Finnish Divers' Federation and the Finnish Maritime Archaeological Society.
The Finnish Inventory Programme for Underwater Marine Diversity (VELMU) has collected a huge amount of new information about marine species and habitats over the past 20 years. Scientific divers have played a significant role in mapping the marine nature of coastal areas, as a large part of the underwater observations have been collected by diving.
Eutrophication, climate change and many types of human activity are weakening the diversity of our seabeds. Monitoring Programme for Finland’s Marine Strategy aims to gather information about the state of the sea, species and habitat types. Changes in the algae and plant species of shallow sea areas are monitored by diving. For this purpose, a network of monitoring diving lines will be established, covering the entire coast of Finland.
Volunteer divers are an important resource for marine research and monitoring. The observations of diving enthusiasts can complement the information collected in the Monitoring Programme about changes in the state of the sea.