The commitment is to identify Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSA) in the Baltic Sea. A regional workshop will be organized in 2018 for this purpose.
The EBSAs are expected to contribute to fulfilling the regional goal of drawing up and applying maritime spatial plans throughout the Baltic Sea region which are coherent across borders and apply the ecosystem approach.

Marine protected areas in the Baltic Sea are taken into account in maritime spatial planning. The areal coverage of HELCOM Marine Protected Areas reached almost 12% of the Baltic Sea in 2016.
EBSA can provide further useful information that can be used for actions to safeguard the species and habitats in these areas including within spatial planning processes as may be decided individually or collectively by the countries concerned. Other potential benefits of EBSA are new possibilities for bilateral collaboration and protection of transboundary marine areas.
Identification of EBSAs will be done according to the established scientific criteria adopted by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The EBSA workshop will be hosted by Finland and convened by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity in cooperation with HELCOM.