1 protection

8/8/2019 1 Protection

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Chapter 1. Protection and Management 17

Wadden Sea QSR 1999

J. A . Enemark

Wadden Sea QSR 1999

1. Protection and Management


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18 Chapter 1. Protection and Management

Wadden Sea QSR 1999


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1.1 Introduction

Nature protection in the Wadden Sea is not a newphenomenon. Already at the start of the centurynature reserves were established all over the Wad-den Sea e.g. Jordsand, Noorderoog, Griend, Mem-mert and Mellum, but they were confined mostlyto smaller uninhabited islands as mainly wildlifereserves. In the 1960s and 1970s, it became ap-parent that the impacts resulting from both di-rect and indirect use of the Wadden Sea throughembankments, agricultural use, fisheries and rec-reation and the discharges of pollutants were such

that they potentially could imperil the sustaina-bility of the Wadden Sea and a wider understand-ing of the need for an extensive protection ma-tured. In the 1970s, a process began resulting incomprehensive protection schemes for the Wad-den Sea which are, world-wide, still one of thefew examples of such exhaustive schemes.

The national protection and the cooperationbetween the three Wadden Sea countries on theprotection of the Wadden Sea developed in par-allel. The first Trilateral Governmental Conferencewas held in 1978 and the first comprehensive pro-tection schemes were introduced nationally in

1979-1980 in all three countries. The trilateralWadden Sea Cooperation has developed to con-stitute the overall framework for the protectionof the Wadden Sea as one entire shared ecosys-tem. The following serves to introduce the mainelements of the protection schemes trilaterally andnationally without going into details about regu-lation of human activities since they will be dealtwith under the description of uses and activities.

1.2 The joint protectionand management regime

As indicated above, the first trilateral Danish-Ger-man-Dutch Governmental Conference on the Pro-tection of the Wadden Sea was held in 1978 inThe Hague. It marked the official start of the co-operation which has as its formal basis the JointDeclaration on the Protection of the Wadden Seasigned at the Third Wadden Sea Conference inCopenhagen in 1982. The Joint Declaration is adeclaration of intent of the countries to consult

each other in order to coordinate their activitiesand measures to implement a number of legal in-struments - Ramsar Convention, Bonn Conven-tion, Bern Convention, EC Birds Directives and

other relevant directives - with regard to the com-prehensive protection of the Wadden Sea region

as a whole including its fauna and flora. To thisend, the countries will intensify and broaden thecontacts between the responsible administrationsincluding holding regular Wadden Sea MinistersConferences. The Common Wadden Sea Secretar-iat was established in 1987 to facilitate and sup-port the cooperation.

It is important to accentuate that the Joint Dec-laration and other arrangements made in theframework of the cooperation including the Min-isterial Declarations of the Wadden Sea Confer-ences are arrangements of an internationally le-

gally non-binding, character contrary to an inter-national cooperation on the basis of a treaty or aconvention. The decisions, agreements and actionsconcluded at the ministerial conferences are po-litical agreements between the countries whichwill be implemented nationally by the instrumentschosen by the parties. The trilateral cooperationmay, however, in substantive terms, not differ fromsuch international legal bindings, arrangementsand, furthermore, the arrangements have a cer-tain flexibility. An exception to this rule is the'Agreement on the Conservation of Seals in theWadden Sea concluded by the parties in 1990,

which is an agreement under the Convention forthe Conservation of Migratory Species of WildAnimals (Bonn Convention).

The arrangements of the Wadden Sea cooper-ation are the results of consecutive Wadden SeaConferences which, since the Stade Conferenceof 1997, are embedded in the Trilateral WaddenSea Plan (1997). The Wadden Sea Plan (WSP) en-tails policies, measures, projects and actions whichhave been agreed upon by the three countries.The Plan is a framework for the overall WaddenSea management and will be revised at regular

intervals. It is a statement on how the three coun-tries envisage the future coordinated and inte-grated management of the Wadden Sea Area andthe projects and actions that must be carried outto achieve the commonly agreed Targets (WSP,Chapter I, 4).

1.2.1 Delimitation

The area for which the Wadden Sea Plan is validis the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation Area, inshort, the Wadden Sea Area, from Den Helder, The

Netherlands to Blvandshuk, Denmark delimitedby the 3 nautical miles offshore and the main seawalls or, where sea walls are absent, the spring-high-tide-water line, and in the rivers, the brack-


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Wadden Sea (WSP, Chapter I, 7).A map of the Wadden Sea Area and the Conser-

vation Area is in Figure 1.1. The Wadden Sea Areacovers an area of about 13,500 km2.

The disputed area between The Netherlands andGermany in the Ems-Dollard region is subject tobilateral arrangements in the framework of theEms-Dollard Treaty, 1960, the SupplementaryAgreement 1962 and the Environmental Proto-col. The permanent Dutch-German Transbounda-ry Waters Commission has adopted a commonaction plan for water and nature management in1998 for the disputed area in accordance withthe Trilateral Wadden Sea Plan.

ish-water limit including Ramsar and/or EC BirdDirective areas designated inland . It is recognized

that within the Wadden Sea Area there are areasin which human use has the priority.

The trilateral conservation area, in short theConservation Area, is situated within the WaddenSea Area, and consists of: in The Netherlands, the areas under the Wad-

den Sea Memorandum including the Dollard; in Germany, the Wadden Sea national parks

and protected areas under the existing Na-ture Conservation Act seaward of the maindike and the brackish water limit including theDollard;

in Denmark, the Nature and Wildlife Reserve

Figure 1.1. The Wadden SeaArea and the Conservation

Area.It should be noted that on

the map the Schleswig-Holstein part of the

Conservation Area has notyet been adapted to the

Schleswig-HolsteinNational Park Law of 1999(see 1.3.2 and Figure 1.4).

RIKZ, CWSSDen Helder

LeeuwardenHarlingen

Groningen

Delfzijl

Bremerhaven

Cuxhaven

Wilhelmshaven

Emden

Heide

Tnning

Husum

Tnder

Esbjerg

Ribe

THE NETHERLANDS

GERMANY

DENMARK

UTM-projection zone 32

0 10 20 30 40 50 Kilometers

N

Wadden Sea Area and Conservation Area

Legend

Wadden Sea Area

Intertidal Area (eulittoral)

Conservation AreaDisputed Border area according to the Ems-Dollard-treaty of 1960,the Supplementary Agreement of 1962 andthe Environmental Protocol of 1996

l r


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Leybucht

Ems

Dollard

Marsdiep

IJsselmeer

Jadebusen

Weser

Elbe

MeldorferBucht

Eider

HoBugt

Varde

Texel

Terschelling

Griend

Noorderhaaks

Vlieland

Balgzand

AmelandSchiermonnikoog

Engelmanplaat

RottumeroogRottumerplaat

Borkum Memmert

Juist

Norderney BaltrumLangeoog

Spiekeroog Wangerooge

MellumOldoog

Minsener Oog

GroerKnechtsand

Neuwerk

Scharhrn

Trischen

Hooge

Nordstrand

Sderoog-sand

Norderoog-sand

Pellworm

Langene

Amrum

Fhr

Sylt

Mand

Langli

Oland

Skallingen

Fan

Rm

Blvands Huk

Den Helder

LeeuwardenHarlingen

Groningen

Delfzijl

Bremerhaven

Cuxhaven

Wilhelmshaven

Emden

Heide

Tnning

Husum

Tnder

Esbjerg

Ribe

THE NETHERLANDS

GERMANY

DENMARK

RIKZ, CWSS

Habitats in the Wadden Sea Area

Legend

Wadden Sea Area

Offshore Area


0 10 20 30 40 50 Kilometers

N

Intertidal Area (eulittoral)

Salt Marshes

Beaches and Dunes

Rural Area

Estuaries

1.2.2 Shared Principles

The Guiding Principle of the trilateral Wadden Seapolicy is to achieve, as far as possible, a naturaland sustainable ecosystem in which natural proc-esses proceed in an undisturbed way (EsbjergDeclaration, 1991, 1). The Principle is directed

towards the protection of the tidal area, saltmarshes, beaches and dunes (Leeuwarden Decla-ration, 1994, 8).

In addition, seven Management Principles have

been adopted which are fundamental to decisionsconcerning the protection and management with-in the Wadden Sea Area (Esbjerg Declaration,1991, 3):

the Principle of Careful Decision Making, i.e.to take decisions on the basis of the best

available information; the Principle of Avoidance, i.e. activities which

are potentially damaging to the Wadden Seashould be avoided;

the Precautionary Principle, i.e. to take actionto avoid activities which are assumed to have

significant damaging impact on the environ-ment, even where there is no sufficient scien-tific evidence to prove a causal link betweenactivities and their impact;

the Principle of Translocation, i.e. to translo-cate activities which are harmful to the Wad-den Sea environment to areas where they willcause less environmental impact;

Figure 1.2. Wadden Seahabitats.


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Wilhelmshaven

Emden

Bremerhaven

Cuxhaven

HarlingenLeeuwarden Groningen

Delfzijl

Heide

Tnning

Husum

Tnder

Ribe

Den Helder

Esbjerg

Niedersachsen

Schleswig-Holstein

RIKZ, CWSS


0 10 20 30 40 50 Kilometers

N

DENMARK

GERMANY

THE NETHERLANDS

Wadden Sea Area

Denmark

Hamburg

Lower-Saxony

The Netherlands

Schleswig-Holstein

Special Protection Areas (SPAs)

Legend

Disputed Border area according to the Ems-Dollard-treaty of 1960,the Supplementary Agreement of 1962 andthe Environmental Protocol of 1996

according to the EC Bird Directive

the Principle of Compensation, i.e. that theharmful effect of activities which cannot beavoided, must be balanced by compensatorymeasures; in those parts of the Wadden Sea,where the Principle has not yet been imple-mented, compensatory measures will be ai-med for;

the Principle of Restoration, i.e. that, wherepossible, parts of the Wadden Sea should berestored if it can be demonstrated by referencestudies that the actual situation is not opti-mal, and that the original state is likely to be

re-established; the Principles of Best Available Techniques and

Best Environmental Practice, as defined by theParis Commission1 .

Unreasonable impairments of the interests of thelocal population and its traditional uses in theWadden Sea Area have to be avoided. Any userinterests have to be weighed on a fair and equi-table basis in the light of the purpose of protec-tion in general, and the particular case concerned(WSP, Chapter I, 8).

1.2.3 Common Targets

The trilateral conservation policy and managementis directed towards achieving the full scale of hab-itat types which belong to a natural and dynamicWadden Sea. Each of these habitats needs a cer-tain quality (natural dynamics, absence of distur-bance, absence of pollution), which can be reached

Figure 1.3. SpecialProtection Areas (SPAs).

It should be noted that themap has not been amended

for recent changes ininternational designations

(see 1.2.4).

1 The Paris Convention wasreplaced by the OSPAR

Convention in 1998 andthe Paris Convention

Recommendations

regarding BAT and BEPdissolved. The concepts of

BAT and BEP have nowbeen defined in Appendix 1

of the OSPAR Convention


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major parts of the Wadden Sea will be included inNATURA 2000.

International Conventions and ProgramsThe Convention on Wetlands of International Im-portance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat 1971(Ramsar Convention) is a world wide treaty for theconservation of wetlands: shallow open waters andany land regularly or intermittently covered or sat-urated by water. In the framework of the Conven-tion, wetlands of international importance are des-ignated by the contracting parties. Major parts ofthe Wadden Sea have been designated as Ramsarsites: The Dutch part of the Conservation Area, to-gether with the coastel zone and parts of the is-

lands, is a Ramsar site. In Germany, the WaddenSea Ramsar sites is basically the German Conser-vation Area and a number of areas on the islandsand the adjacent mainland. In Denmark, the Wad-den Sea Ramsar site consists of the uninhabitedparts of islands, adjacent marsh areas on the main-land and the Danish part of the Conservation Area,except for the shipping lane from the North Sea toEsbjerg and the Esbjerg harbor.

Biosphere Reserves are protected areas of rep-resentative terrestrial and coastal environmentswhich have been internationally recognized un-

der the Man and Biosphere (MAB) Program of theUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cul-tural Organization (UNESCO) MAB Program fortheir value in conservation and in providing thescientific knowledge, skills and human values tosupport sustainable economical development. TheGerman and the Dutch parts of the ConservationArea have been designated as Biosphere Reserves.

1.2.5 The Wadden Sea Area and

external impacts

The Wadden Sea is a coastal sea and there aremany interactions with the North Sea and thenorthwestern European mainland. The quality ofwater, sediment and marine habitats of the Wad-den Sea is, to an important degree, affected bythe North Sea and activities in the catchment ar-eas of the debouching rivers. The Wadden Sea isan important nursery area for North Sea fish andsome species of marine mammals. For these rea-sons, the trilateral policy and management regard-ing pollution, species and habitat protection is-sues have been and are closely related to devel-

opments within the framework of the North SeaConferences, and the Convention for the Protec-tion of the Marine Environment of the North-EastAtlantic (OSPAR Convention, Paris 1992) which

by proper conservation and management. The qual-ity of the habitats shall be maintained or improved

by working towards achieving Targets which havebeen agreed upon for six habitat types: Salt Mar-shes, Tidal Area, Beaches and Dunes, Estuaries,Offshore Area and Rural Area (Figure 1.2). Targetson the quality of water and sediment are valid forall habitats. In addition, supplementary Targets onbirds and marine mammals have been adopted, aswell as Targets on landscape and cultural aspects(WSP, Chapter I, 8).

The contents of the Targets and an assessmenton the progress in their implementation is givenin the Assessment Chapter 6.

For each Target category, trilateral policy and

management and proposals for trilateral projectsand actions necessary for the implementation ofthe Targets are entailed in the Trilateral WaddenSea Plan. The trilateral policy and managementis the core of the agreements on the commonprotection and management of all relevant usesand activities. These are presented in more detailin the appropriate section.

1.2.4 International designations

EC Directives

The Council Directive 79/409/EEC 1979 (EC BirdDirective) aims at the protection of all species ofnaturally occurring birds in the territory of themember states. According to the Bird Directive,member states shall classify the most suitableterritories for the conservation of these species,including migratory species, as special protectionareas (SPAs). The Dutch part of the ConservationArea has been designated as SPA1. In Germany,the Niedersachsen, Hamburg and the Schleswig-Holstein part of the Conservation Area has beendesignated as SPA and five adjacent areas to theSchleswig-Holstein Conservation Area and theGerman part of the Dollard. In Denmark, the Dan-ish part of the Conservation Area, with the ex-ception of the shipping lane from the North Seato Esbjerg, the uninhabited parts of the islandsand the adjacent marsh areas on the mainlandhave been designated as SPAs (Figure 1.3)

The Council Directive 92/43/EEC 1992 (EC Hab-itat Directive) aims at the conservation of habi-tats of wild flora and fauna in the member states.In the framework of the Habitat Directive, a co-herent ecological network, called NATURA 2000,shall be established. NATURA 2000 will consist

of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) desig-nated according to the Habitat Directive, and theSPAs of the Bird Directive. The designation of SACswill be undertaken in the forthcoming years and

1 Currently an extension ofthe SPA is under

discussion. The extensionwill include the North Sea

offshore zone within theWadden Sea Area and parts

of the islands and theadjacent IJsselmeer and

Lauwersmeer.


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entered into force on 25 March 1998. It was rec-ognized at the Wadden Sea Conference in 1997

that the quality of the Wadden Sea Area may beinfluenced significantly by activities taking placeoutside or pollution stemming from sources out-side the Wadden Sea Area. It was therefore agreedto address such external impacts through the re-duction of inputs of nutrients, hazardous sub-stances and oil and relevant activities in the ad-

jacent areas (Stade Declaration, 1997, 13-17).

1.3 National protection

and management regimes

The national protection and management regimesare the total legal and administrative instrumentsthat have been enacted and implemented to pro-tect, conserve and manage the Wadden Sea in asustainable way corresponding with the trilateralobjectives, principles and agreements. The heartof the regime is the Wadden Sea ConservationArea consisting of the Wadden Sea national parksand nature reserves but, for the Wadden Sea Areain total, other instruments are also being applied.

1.3.1 Denmark

The Danish part of the Conservation Area is theNature and Wildlife Reserve Wadden Sea whichwas enacted by Statutory Orders in 1979 on aWildlife Reserve and in 1982 on a Nature Reserve.The Orders were merged into one Order in 1992which was amended in 1998 to incorporate theagreements resulting from the Trilateral WaddenSea Plan.

The area covered by the Nature and WildlifeReserve is the Wadden Sea outside the seawallson the mainland and islands - where seawalls areabsent, the mean high water mark is the border -and, on the North Sea, delimited by 3 nautical-miles west of the baseline. Since the amendmentin 1998, the area also includes most of Skallingenand state owned beaches and salt marshes on theislands of Rm, Mand and Fan. The whole area,covered by the Nature and Wildlife Reserve, is al-most 1,000 km2.

The provisions of the Nature and Wildlife Re-serve apply to public access, shipping and other

activities which are deemed harmful to the natu-ral environment. Three zones can be distinguished:

A core zone which consists of a scientific ref-erence area, the main resting and nursery areas

for seals and the important breeding, moulting,feeding and resting areas for waterfowl; these

areas are closed to public admittance the wholeyear round with the exception of a few areaswhere this only applies for part of the year. Thiszone covers approximately 10% of the Nature andWildlife Reserve.

A zone which consists of areas east of the base-line, except for the main shipping routes and theareas of the core zone, where recreational boat-ing and other recreational activities are regulat-ed; this zone covers approximately 60 % of theNature and Wildlife Reserve.

A zone which consists of the areas west of the

baseline and the main shipping routes, where gen-erally no restrictions apply other than the generalones mentioned below; this zone covers the re-maining 30 % of the Nature and Wildlife Reserve.

The Wadden Sea Area outside the Conserva-tion Area consists of the islands, except for mostof the beaches and some state owned areas, saltmarshes in the Varde estuary, Ho Bay, Mde onRm and Fan, and the fresh marshes behindthe seawalls. The Danish Wadden Sea Area is des-ignated as Ramsar site and Special Protection Areaunder the Birds Directive with the exception ofthe inhabited parts of the islands and the ship-

ping lane to Esbjerg and the Esbjerg harbor. Inaddition, larger parts of the islands have also beendesignated as nature conservation areas accord-ing to the Nature Conservation Act. Furthermore,the dunes and salt marshes as well as other rele-vant habitats, such as fresh meadows, are subjectto a general biotope protection regime accordingto Section 3 of the Nature Conservation Act.

Ramsar sites and SPA and habitat areas aresubject to a comprehensive planning and regula-tion regime. The Executive Order on the Demar-cation and Administration of International Na-

ture Protection Areas, 1998 delineates the areasand lays down binding rules for the authoritieswith regard to administration of the areas pursu-ant to the provisions of the Bird and Habitat Di-rectives and the Ramsar Convention. The Orderstipulates that new infrastructural installationsmay not be built, new areas may not be desig-nated as urban zones or summer cottage areas,new areas may not be developed for raw materialexploitation on land and installations for recrea-tion purposes or other purposes may not beplanned if they will bring about a deterioration ofthe areas or significantly disturb the species forwhich these areas have been designated.


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1.3.2 Germany

The vast majority of the German Wadden Sea Con-servation Area is constituted by the national parksdesignated by the responsible federal statesSchleswig-Holstein, Niedersachsen and Hamburgin accordance with the Federal Nature Conserva-tion Act. Additional areas are the nature reservesin the Ems-Dollard and the Elbe estuary.

Schleswig-HolsteinThe Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Parkwas established in 1985 by state law, which wasamended in October 1999. In comparison with the

1985 law the amended law entails in particular aseaward extension of the National Park, a newdefinition of the protection objective and the in-troduction of a new zoning system.

The National Park is bordered on the mainlandand along the coasts of the islands and hallig is-lands by a line which runs at a distance of 150 mseaward of the dikes, geest and dunes. Offshore theNational Park is bordered by the 3 sea-mile line, in-cluding a whale protection area off the islands ofSylt and Amrum bordered by the 12 sea-mile line.The National Park covers approximately 4,410 km2.A map of the National Park is in Figure 1.4.

The National Park is divided into two zones, inwhich different activities are allowed. The corezone, zone 1, comprises coherent tidal basins andcovers about 36% of the National Park. Publicaccess is prohibited with the exception of e.g.adjacent tidal areas, tidal flat walking routes, andcommercial fishery as stipulated in Section 6 (2)of the law. Within the core zone an area south ofthe Hindenburg causeway of 12,500 ha has beendesignated as a zone in which all resource usehas been fully prohibited. It is only allowed tonavigate in the zero use zone on the marked ship-

ping lanes. The area covers about 3% of the Na-tional Park area.

Any activity which could cause destruction,damage or change to the protected area or anypart thereof or that could lead to lasting distur-bance, is prohibited. Permitted activities are ex-plicitly stated in Section 6 of the National ParkLaw. The kind and location of activities is primari-ly determined by the zoning concept.

HamburgThe Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park was es-

tablished in 1990 by state law. The National Parkcovers the Hamburg part of the Wadden Sea in-cluding the islands Neuwerk, Scharhrn and Ni-gehrn and is approximately 100 km2. The Na-

tional Park is divided into two zones in which dif-ferent activities are allowed:

The core zone, zone 1 covers 70% of the area;admittance is prohibited and a number of activi-ties, including commercial ones such as fishery,are prohibited.

Zone 2 covers the remaining 30% and includes

the island Neuwerk, a smaller area around this island

and the area situated directly on the mainland side.

Small scale activities are generally allowed.

NiedersachsenThe Niedersachsen Wadden Sea National Park wasdesignated in 1986 by state statutory order,which

was given the status of state law in 1999. TheNiedersachsen National Park is delimited on themainland by the dikes, dunes, geest or estuariesand on the seaward side by the islands and in-

cludes the uninhabited parts of these islands. Thedisputed area in the Ems-Dollard including theGerman part of the Dollard, the Jade, Weser andElbe shipping lanes are not included in the na-

wh

ale

prote

cti

onarea

Zone II

core zone (Zone I)

zero use zone

Figure 1.4. The Schleswig-Holstein National Park


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tional park. The National Park covers an area ofapproximately 2,400 km2 which is divided into

three zones.Zone 1- the core zone - covers 54% of the

total area and includes the ecologically most val-uable areas. All activities which destroy, damageor change the National Park or its component partsare prohibited. Public admittance is prohibitedwith the exception of admittance on assignedpaths and routes. Exceptions have been made insection 6-9 of the Order for certain activities re-garding farming, hunting, fishing and access. Inaddition, a list of accepted utilization in variousparts of the core zone beyond the ones mentioned

in section 6-9 has been annexed to the Order.Zone 2 - the intermediate zone - covers 45%of the total area. All activities which change thecharacter of the Wadden Sea including the islands,in particular the scenic value or nature impres-sion, are prohibited. A list of specifically prohibit-ed activities is annexed to the Order. Admittanceis allowed to this zone with the exception of thesalt marshes during the breeding season for birdsfrom 1 April until 31 July.Zone 3 - the recreational zone - covers about 1%of the total area. Only recreational activities andhealth resort activities are allowed.

BremenThe Wadden Sea area of Bremen at Bremerhavenis about 110 ha. In connection with the extensionof the container terminal in the mid 1990s, na-ture restoration measures have been implement-ed to maintain and improve the ecological stateof the area. Currently the area is not subject toconservation measures.

The remaining part of the German Conserva-tion Area comprises the nature reserve in the Ger-man part of the Dollard designated in 1980 and

the nature reserves on southern river banks of theElbe. Further, hereto, there are several nature re-serves outside the Conservation Area on theSchleswig-Holstein islands and the mainlandwithin the Wadden Sea Area with a status com-parable to the Conservation Area.

The Wadden Sea Area outside the Conserva-tion Area consists of offshore areas, the majorshipping lanes, the estuaries and the islands, hal-ligen and adjacent Ramsar sites and Special Pro-tections Areas under the Bird Directive in the Sch-leswig-Holstein section.

The tidal areas, dunes and salt and brackish

marshes irrespective of whether they are withinor outside the Conservation Area are protected inthe framework of the general biotope protectionregime according to the Federal Nature Conser-

vation Act respectively the State Nature Conser-vation Acts.

The regulation of navigation in the GermanWadden Sea Conversation Area is covered by anorder issued by the Federal Ministry of Traffic in1992 and amended in 1995 because of the com-petency of the federal government for such mat-ters related to so-called federal waterways. TheNavigation Order for the Conservation Area orderwas prolonged in 1997.

According to the Order, the majority of sealnursing places and birds moulting and stagingareas in the German part of the Wadden Sea Areaare protected as seal and bird reserves, where ship-

ping is prohibited part of the year or the wholeyear. They do not cover the whole core zones area.Shipping is prohibited, where appropriate, in gen-eral in the core zone only during the six hours oflow tide.

In the core zone, the allowed maximum speedoutside the navigation routes is 8 knots and inthe navigation routes 12 knots, in the remainingarea outside the navigation routes, 12 knots andin the navigation routes 16 knots. The said speedlimits do not affect the two vessels which havebeen operational before the amendment of theOrder, for such ships the maximum allowed speed

is 24 knots.

1.3.3 The Netherlands

The Dutch Wadden Sea Conservation Area is thearea subject to the Wadden Sea Memorandum.The Memorandum is a national physical planningdocument, which is the basis for all further plan-ning, conservation and management for the areaof all state, regional and local authorities. Theplanning document is subject to parliamentaryendorsement. The area covered by the Memoran-

dum is delimited by the dikes and dunes includ-ing those areas of the islands which are regularlyflooded. It covers about 2,400 km2. The first Na-tional Wadden Sea Memorandum was issued in1980 and amended in 1993. A new Memorandumis presently being elaborated. It will be valid for a10 year period starting in the beginning of thecoming decade.

In 1980/82 a major part was designated as na-ture reserve (State Nature Monument and Pro-tected Natural Monuments) by Executive Ordercovering an area of about 60% of the Memoran-dum Area. The nature reserve designation wasextended in 1993 by a supplementary ExecutiveOrder to cover about 95% of the area. The ship-ping lanes, areas adjacent to the inhabited partsof the islands and the disputed area in the Ems-


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Dollard are not part of the nature reserve.The Memorandum lays down policy guidelines

for the different activities in the Wadden Sea. TheExecutive Order for the nature reserve determinesthat, without permission, it is prohibited to un-dertake activities which disturb, damage or de-stroy the protected area including its flora andfauna or its scientific importance.

The Memorandum, in combination with the na-ture reserve stipulations, enables the discrimina-tion between three zones of protection and man-agement. Specific protection zones are closed forpublic admittance for the whole or part of theyear. This area includes areas important for seals

and breeding areas for birds and constitutes about7% of the Conservation Area. The zones can bedesignated in different places each year.

The remaining part of the nature reserve inwhich the provisions of the Nature ConservationAct apply constitutes a second zone. The area cov-ers some 88% of the Conservation Area.

The area outside the nature reserve, but withinthe Conservation Area as indicated above, is thethird zone where other regulations than the Na-ture Conservation Act apply. The area constitutesthe remaining 5% of the Conservation Area.

The three-zone system is, however, more an ex-

pression of the legal status of the areas than aspecific regulation of the activities. The policiesentailed in the Memorandum, the legal stipula-tions of the Nature Conservation Act, the man-agement plan for the Conservation Area and oth-er government plans establish a complex activi-ty-zoning system which addresses each activityindividually. An example of such a zoning scheme

is the recreational zoning system which, to a largeextent, follows the above zoning, namely a zone

in which recreation is basically prohibited, a zonein which recreational activities are subject to reg-ulation and finally a zone in which recreation isonly subject to marginal regulations.

The Wadden Sea Area outside the Conserva-tion Area embodies the vast parts of the islandsand the offshore zone. The policy for the offshorezone is formulated in the North Sea System Man-agement Plan which stipulates the objective thatthe coastal zone (up to the 20-m isobath) andthe Frisian Front - Klaverbank area obtain a spe-cial level of protection. This will be achieved by

implementation of stricter regulations for con-tamination and disturbances by certain humanuses in order to contribute to the protection, re-covery and development of the entire ecosystemNorth Sea.

As to the islands, the large majority constitutescore areas within the national ecological network.Core areas are areas with (inter)nationally impor-tant ecosystems and the national policy is to bedirected towards sustainable protection of thenatural values. Furthermore, there are several na-ture reserves on the islands already providing pro-tection of such values.

Finally, the Wadden Sea Area up to 1 km off-shore has been brought under provincial and mu-nicipal jurisdiction. A regional and local planningsystem has been established in accordance withthe general objective of the Memorandum. Localdevelopment plans are legally binding for indi-vidual citizens.


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1 protection

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