Nearly returning from the Latvian State holiday, the project partners met at the second nature protection plan development seminar. The nature protection plan takes into account both the history and socio-economic characteristics of the site and the nature values and their potential hazards.

During the course of the workshop, LIFE REEF experts concluded that the project partners have been available for decades a collection of data covering marine environmental and biological data. This significant amount of data makes it possible to assess both the impact of new economic activities or packages of measures on the marine ecosystem and environmental quality in general and, at the same time, the use of ecosystem values for human and natural wellbeing.

At present, the evaluation of ecosystem services has been introduced as an ecosystem approach in the marine spatial planning process to facilitate the analysis of diverse uses, impacts and conflicts and compromises.

In addition, data on the findings of rare fish species and herring spawning grounds will be taken into account for the clarification of the boundaries of LIFE REEF research sites.

There are currently no specific areas for the recovery of fish stocks at EU level in Latvia. The area of the sea between the deep-sea part of the Baltic Sea and the coastal zone where spawning of these fish species is favourable in the case of hydrological conditions is considered to be an important place for cod and flounder resources. The entire coastal area on the coast of the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga is important areas for many fish species. The coast of the Gulf of Riga is a more important nursery area for herring, the open sea is the most important habitats for flounder, turbot.