Embedded Files
BASRAN Action Committeé: The impact of industrial fishing on the Baltic Sea ecosystem
BASRAN Action Committeé: The impact of industrial fishing on the Baltic Sea ecosystem
Alexandra Whitford, Chair of the Action Committee
Rotary Club Berlin International, D1940
Email: alexandra.whitford@alumni.lse.ac.uk
My name is Alexandra and I work in finance in Frankfurt, Germany. I was born in the UK and have Eastern European roots, and my grandmother was from Poland.
I’m a member of Rotary Club Berlin International, District 1940.
I’ve spent many summers and winters in Finland, so the Baltic Sea has always been a place close to me. That’s one of the reasons I joined the Action Committee. I care about protecting the sea, reducing pollution, and stopping harmful trawling practices.
The purpose of the action committee is to raise awareness of the threat of reaching a tipping point for the Baltic herring, resulting in a collapse of the ecosystem. The herring is fundamental for a healthy ecosystem and if it collapses, the Baltic Sea could turn int something very different from what we would like. The situation is getting worse every year.
Through spreading information about the problems with the worlds most polluted inland sea, both amount Rotarians as well as to the civil society as a whole, we hope to make people aware of the severe situation.
In the end, we have to convince our local politicians and the fisheries ministers in the EU to stop trawling for a period of a couple of years to enable a recovery not only for the Baltic herring, but also for the ecosystem as a whole.
In our BASRAN webinar on March 23, 2024 The impact of industrial fishing on the Baltic Sea Ecosystem we elucidated the situation via researchers and enlightening examples.
In our BASRAN webinar on October 25, 2025 we asked Can the Baltic Sea become the Kingdom of Fish again?
Page updated
Report abuse