Marine conservation · Archipelago Sea

Baltic Sea conservation and restoration

BaltiskaBönderna is a marine conservation organisation founded by marine biology students at Åbo Akademi University. Our focus is protecting and restoring the Baltic Sea through fieldwork, monitoring and documentation. Our first project monitors seagrass meadows and tests restoration approaches in the Archipelago Sea.

Our work Our first field project

A glimpse from below

How we started

We founded BaltiskaBönderna because we believe we can make a difference.

We wanted to take an active role in protecting the Baltic Sea. We began by learning about the challenges it faces and asking where our skills could contribute directly. As marine biology students and divers, we saw a way to combine underwater fieldwork, monitoring and restoration. That is why we founded BaltiskaBönderna: we believe acting directly and learning from the results can help create change.

Our first project is in the Archipelago Sea. We are revisiting seagrass sites, including places surveyed around 20 years ago, and recording their condition. We have also started a small planting experiment comparing three combinations. We have seen some early indications, but they are preliminary and need further monitoring before we can draw conclusions.

40hours underwater

5.4 m²planted in restoration plots

4divers on our team

7sites visited

Our work

Monitor seagrass. Test restoration. Document change.

Our first field season focuses on seagrass monitoring, a small-scale restoration experiment and underwater documentation.

01 / Observe

Return to seagrass sites

We visited five sites, including places studied around 20 years ago. We’re recording their condition so we can compare what we find over time.

02 / Try

Test three planting combinations

We planted nine small patches: seagrass alone, seagrass with Potamogeton, and seagrass with Ruppia. We don’t yet know which approach will work best.

03 / Share

Show what’s underwater

We take photos and film on our dives so people who can’t get underwater themselves can see these meadows too.

Why seagrass? HELCOM’s 2024 Red List assesses eelgrass habitats in the Baltic Sea: three eelgrass-dominated habitat types are classified as Vulnerable, while one is listed as Least Concern. Read HELCOM’s eelgrass information sheet (PDF).

Divers carrying out observations among seagrass

Our first field week

Our first project

A week sailing and diving in the Archipelago Sea.

Eight of us sailed from Åbo with Scouts Koffan. During our first field week, we visited five sites, began a restoration experiment and carried out monitoring dives.

Read the field report

A diver swims above a seagrass meadow — Moving slowly through the meadow

A diver writes observations on a slate underwater — Notes from below

Underwater documentation

See what is happening beneath the surface.

Most people cannot visit a seagrass meadow underwater. Our photographs and film make these places, and the work taking place there, easier to see.

We are developing our first documentary alongside the fieldwork and will publish it here when it is ready.

Our documentary project Read the field story

Who we are

A four-person diving team.

Four BaltiskaBönderna divers in wetsuits holding their fins on the shore — Our dive team

From left to right: Fynn Robering · Kristin Wikström · Alice Nozais · Viggo Henelius

We are four marine biology students and divers at Åbo Akademi University. Two of us hold scientific occupational diver qualifications. Our work combines underwater monitoring with photography and film.

FieldworkWe dive to support Baltic Sea conservation and restoration, monitor marine habitats and document change.

Photography & filmWe use underwater images to make our work and the places we visit easier to see.

Next season

Two larger projects are in planning.

We are planning one project designed to benefit the community, and another to explore how excess nutrients can be removed from the water and reused. We will share more as the plans take shape.

Read about our first field season