Denmark: The Baltic Sea is running out of oxygen
Marine life is dying in the Vejle Fjord: eutrophication and climate change are causing algae growth in the Baltic Sea. As a result, fish lack oxygen.
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00:00 The Baltic Sea, with its stunning nature, is one of Northern Europe's most popular
00:07 travel destinations, and the coastline along Valyer Fjord is one of Denmark's most expensive
00:13 residential areas.
00:15 But its superficial beauty is deceptive.
00:18 His weekly fishing trips continue to show fisher Lasse Mikkelsen how the fjord is slowly
00:23 dying.
00:28 Below the surface, algae is blooming, clouding the water and depriving fish and underwater
00:33 plants of vital light and oxygen.
00:37 Scientists' footage shows how the bottom of the fjord has become nearly devoid of life,
00:42 in waters that once were full of cod, flounder and lumpfish.
00:47 It used to be a real fisher's paradise, says Mikkelsen, but now there are almost no fish
00:52 left.
00:56 The sea's been going out to sea for over half a century.
01:02 Mikkelsen had hoped to continue fishing after retirement, to supplement his pension.
01:07 Now taking the boat out is not really worth it anymore.
01:11 "It makes me both angry and frustrated that nobody is really doing anything.
01:19 It seems like those who should be taking action are only trying to shift the blame."
01:30 In Mikkelsen's mind, Denmark's farmers are to blame.
01:33 The small country, with just under six million inhabitants, is home to twice as many cows
01:38 and pigs.
01:43 And many farmers use fertilisers on their fields that eventually end up in the sea.
01:51 Christian Arlidmadsen's farm lies only a few kilometres from the fjord.
01:56 He says he has already cut the use of nitrates to the bare minimum.
02:02 He uses satellite images to monitor which fields need to be fertilised and which can
02:07 do without, but he thinks it would be impossible to give up fertilisers altogether.
02:11 "I think it's a good thing that we have reduced the nitrogen, but I don't think that we can
02:18 get any further.
02:19 I think we are at the lowest limit that we can accept as farmers."
02:26 Plants need nutrients.
02:28 The grain won't grow without them, says the farmer.
02:31 And since reducing the use of fertilisers, his plants are already only surviving on what
02:35 is left in the ground.
02:41 Arlidmadsen Fjeldsør Kristiansen is aware of the problem.
02:45 As a nature manager, he is overseeing a project aimed at restoring the ecosystem in Valyer
02:50 Fjord.
02:51 He knows the hard facts and numbers.
02:54 "At this point we know for a fact that 80% of the nutrients emitted to Valyer Fjord comes
03:02 from farming.
03:03 We also have 10% today from urban waste water and maybe 10% from fish farming.
03:10 But that is the range and that tells us a little bit about where we need to look."
03:17 The nitrate runoff regularly causes algae growth to explode.
03:21 The bloom covers everything in the fjord, even killing the eelgrass due to light deprivation.
03:31 That same eelgrass is one of the most important elements in the ecosystem along the Baltic
03:36 Sea coast.
03:37 It produces oxygen and provides habitat for smaller fish.
03:41 That's why Kristiansen and his team from the municipality have taken to planting new beds
03:45 of eelgrass in Valyer Fjord.
03:48 But the restoration project is complicated.
03:51 Artificial reefs are being built and mussel farms created.
03:55 These blue mussels filter dirty water which, in turn, allows more light to penetrate deeper.
04:02 Eelgrass can return and therefore produce oxygen.
04:05 But when too many nutrients are flushed into the sea again, causing the algae to return,
04:10 the fragile balance is thrown off.
04:12 And the nature manager's concerns are not restricted to the Valyer Fjord.
04:15 "We have hit this breaking point.
04:19 The system has collapsed within the last five, six years.
04:23 So that's just the beginning.
04:25 We will see this situation all over the Baltic."
04:32 Along the coast, the ecosystem of the inland sea has become disrupted.
04:36 Lasse Mikkelsen sees little other than crabs in the nets he puts out in the Valyer Fjord.
04:47 Since they no longer have any natural enemies, they've become a plague, destroying the eelgrass,
04:53 eating the mussels and killing the young fish.
04:55 "Dead cut."
04:56 Mikkelsen hopes that everyone in the region will take more responsibility and act to save
05:06 his fjord, because the problem Denmark is currently looking to solve is already threatening
05:11 the Baltic Sea's entire coast.
05:13 (engine roaring)