The Gulf of Finland Ecosystem Impact Assessment in Response to the Ust-Luga Port Development

The Gulf of Finland is the most pollute part of the Baltic Sea. Intense human activities are influence on ecosystem of the Gulf of Finland. One of the hot spots of the Gulf of Finland is the Luga Bay. For example, on terminals of the Luga Bay, we can study the impact of harbor installations on the ecosystem of the Gulf of Finland. Infrastructure of the Luga Bay is composed of various harbor installations. There are multi-terminal, plants infrastructure and "New Harbour-Streams". The main idea of our project is estimation state-of-the-art of the Luga Bay ecosystem in building and service of the project "New Harbour-Streams". In the field work we studied 20 sites for water sampling and bottom deposits. The relief (geomorphological traps, et al.) defines accumulation and migration of pollutants. We described depends distribution of petroleum hydrocarbons and the metals from depths. Geomorphological traps promote secondary pollution of the ecosystem. According to the research of marine water, we constructed maps of water quality. Sites with very clean water are not very much. In addition, we studied pollution level of sediments. Sediment of "New Harbor Streams" is weakly polluted, but in places to the north of the bay and in places of geomorphological traps, polluted sediment was found. Condition of "New Harbor Streams" ecosystem is generally stable. Introduced recommendations will not cause the ecosystem degradation and at the same time will contribute to economic and social development of the region. The results of ecological estimation of water area are suggested to use for estimation of influence of building and operation of constructions on ecosystem in the future. It is hoped that with all the environmental activities, ecosystem will not come to a catastrophic condition and not lose the ability to self-recovery.