Baltic Sea Remains One of the Most Polluted in the World, but Fish Is Safe to Eat
Researcher Ivan Kuprijanov says the Baltic Sea's slow water renewal traps pollutants for years, but fish consumption in moderate amounts is safe.
The Baltic Sea remains one of the most polluted seas globally, mainly because its water renews very slowly, causing accumulated pollutants to linger for decades. After World War II, between 40,000 and 60,000 tons of chemical weapons were dumped in the sea, and large amounts of conventional weapons from both World Wars lie on the seabed. These are gradually decaying, poisoning the ecosystem, said Ivan Kuprijanov, a research fellow at the Tallinn University of Technology's Institute of Marine Systems, on Radio 4. He noted that monitoring of chemical elements is ongoing: fish are caught in various locations, and water and sediment samples are taken. This means swimming at official beaches is safe, but one should avoid swallowing water. Regarding fish, Kuprijanov stated that consuming fish is generally safe. Although studies show the presence of heavy metals in some fish tissues, harmful effects would require eating very large quantities. "Fish on our table twice a week will only bring benefits. The well-known rule still applies: between river and sea fish, choose sea fish; between sea and ocean fish, choose ocean fish. Lamprey should be consumed with caution – it occasionally shows elevated heavy metal levels, but one jar a month is safe," he explained. Additionally, safety also depends on our own actions: the less waste we discard in undesignated places, the greater the chance of preserving the fragile ecological balance.
