The autonomous region of the Åland Islands, which is made up of more than 6500 islands, forms part of the Archipelago Sea. It is situated between Finland and Sweden at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia. The coastal area has a complex topography, with many small islands and skerries, and experiences up to 90 ice days during the winter. The seabed in the region is characterized mainly by hard bottoms, including boulders and stones, but patches of sand occur as well. In deeper waters, mud dominated the seabed. Physical factors, like the water temperature, dissolved oxygen saturation and the organic content of the sediment, control benthic life in the area.
The area south of the Åland Islands hosts a unique biodiversity consisting of marine, brackish and freshwater species. The inner coastal waters of the archipelago have a relatively high organic content, and thus suffer from occasional oxygen depletion, while the offshore waters have lower organic content and generally high oxygen saturation.
The Åland Islands is an important feeding and spawning ground for many fish and mammals, including the grey seal (Halichoerus grypus). In the deeper parts of the area, the dominating community is made up of the Monoporeia amphipod, which shallower areas are dominated by the Baltic clam communities, Macoma balthica.
Oceana conducted underwater surveys (by using ROV and divers) at different depths in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Many characteristic species and communities were documented during Oceana’s fieldwork in the region, including marine species (for instance blue mussels), brackish (the lagoon cockle Cerastoderma lamarkii) and freshwater (the pondweek Potamogeton perfoliatus) species along the coast. At the deeper waters Saduria and Monoporeia communities were found; both are relicts in the Baltic Sea from the last ice age. Also Oceana documented in 2013 a brown shrimp (Crangon crangon) in the area; a species previously unknown to live in the area around Åland Islands.
At current there are no plans to protect this area, but in order to fulfill its obligations Åland Islands needs to designate more areas.
