Our Sea

O

ur Sea

S r e u a O

The Baltic Sea in Many Lights

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To the reader The sea and our coast are essential to the landscape of the Finnish soul. The sea stirs aching passions matched only by the spell of the forest and the sauna. The seed for this book was the realization of how many people have a tight bond with the Baltic Sea, and how many personal memories and stories it carries. All of the people interviewed for this book have such stories to tell as Finns who have lost their hearts to the sea. They are well known people in society and commerce, stars of culture and sports, or they simply live by the sea.

Their stories will show you many ways in which our lives are connected to the sea that washes our shores; the Baltic Sea, one of the world’s most intriguing bodies of water.

The stories are complemented by the beautiful photographs of Johannes Lahti and Pekka Vainio, which convey feelings from the Gulf of Finland through the Finnish Archipelago to the Gulf of Bothnia. They prove that one sea can embody many different worlds.

The present condition of the Baltic Sea is commonly felt to be a disgrace to our national heritage. If the Baltic Sea is spoiled, a major part of the Finnish identity will also be ruined.

Every person interviewed brings their own viewpoint to the discussion on the Baltic Sea. This book also does its share in supporting work for the good of the Baltic Sea. Part of the proceeds from each copy sold will be donated to WWF’s Operation Mermaid, to support its work for the good of the Baltic Sea. May you be inspired by the maritime spirit as you read this book!

Harri Ekebom

Markku Heikkilä 3

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WWF

protects the Baltic Sea in Finland and all the other coastal countries. Our goal is a clean, healthy Baltic Sea, in which it is pleasant to take a swim. This is why the amount of nutrients running into the sea must be reduced, oil and chemical spills must be prevented, and sea area usage needs better planning.

We are working to solve these problems through both international negotiations and practical field operations. For example, we plan and build artificial wetlands in cooperation with farmers, to constrain nutrients flowing from fields, which are a major source of eutrophication. Our volunteer oil spill response teams are prepared to cleanse the Baltic Sea shores and wash oil-stained birds after oil spills. We have managed to rescue the sea eagle from extinction in Finland.

For more information about our work for the Baltic Sea, see wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/baltic/ 5

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Defenders of the Sea The Baltic Sea is small and almost isolated from other seas. It is the second largest pool of brackish water in the world, with a low concentration of salt. Up to four fifths of its water flows from rivers, and the rest comes in from the North Sea. The Baltic Sea is extremely shallow, and its water changes slowly. Because of its characteristics, it is vulnerable to disturbances and its condition has deteriorated over the last hundred years.

However, the opportunity to see the light sand of the seabed through metres of water by a familiar cottage shore is closer today than it was twenty years ago—thanks to those who work tirelessly for the good of the Baltic Sea, often unseen, unrecognized, and experiencing many setbacks.

Finland has protected the Baltic Sea since the 1950s. The importance of our role is seen in the fact that the Baltic marine environment protection agreement is known as the Helsinki agreement. It is monitored by the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, HELCOM, in which all the coastal nations work together with the EU Commission. Our own actions in our coastal waters are dictated by Finland’s Baltic Sea protection programme from 2002.

To save the Baltic Sea, there is plenty of work for us all, and even small actions count. There are around ten Finnish foundations and national organizations working in our adjacent waters or in the whole Baltic Sea. In addition, volunteer work is done by dozens of other organizations, village associations, and unregistered groups. What each cottage owner does on their own shore is not at all insignificant, either.

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”Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky at morning, sailor, take warning!”

Colourful sunsets in the western sky have inspired hundreds of authors, song writers, painters, and countless sayings. Viewers of a glowing maritime sunset experience a magical feeling and the sensitivity of the archipelago environment in a powerful way.

Most often rain comes to Finland from the west. A glowing sunset means the threat of rain is not immediate. In the evening, most of the short waves of sunlight have vanished, leaving only the long waves, which mean the different shades of red.

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The Short-Eared Owl, 1959 Now I view the outer archipelago more restfully. I no longer hop from island to island: I enjoy the changing weather, the always lively sea and lights, the constantly changing bird world, and the richness of nature. I also enjoy people, because I can see how eagerly they seek the exotic charm of the archipelago— It is not often that you can name a specific moment that has had an impact on the rest of your life. For me, that was one of those moments on the treeless long weekends, island outings with friends, even sabbatical years on the outer rocks of Kökar with my biologist father, Rauno Tenovuo. Ever since, I haven’t islands. Every year there are more boaters: even too many in some places. really felt at home anywhere else but at the extremity of the Finnish Archipelago. This raises concerns: What will happen to the archipelago, its nature, and the Already as a schoolboy, I spent months out on Isokari, Jurmo, and Vänö, and islanders amidst this constant change? The farther out you go, the more nature later on the outer islands of Kustavi, Kylmäpihlaja of Rauma, and the lighthouse is in charge of all areas of life: work, travelling, hobbies, and contact with friends. island Bengtskär. I was particularly intrigued by lighthouse islands: they were Will we non-native newcomers and visitors ever learn to live on nature’s terms in excellent bird islands, and in the footsteps of my father, bird-watching became the conditions of the archipelago, and to honour its traditions? Even though I’ve an important part of my identity. I got acquainted with the other Baltic Sea and spent a lot of time in the archipelago—now I live there permanently—I am still North Sea coasts by sailing, until it was time for me to settle down: I found a learning. That is why every day is an adventure, worthy of its own story. home on the lighthouse island Utö 6 years ago.

JORMA TENOVUO Early August, 1959, the roar of the open sea splashing on the rocky shore, and a short-eared owl gliding above the rocks in the sunset.

Jorma Tenovuo, Professor of Dentistry at the University of Turku, is an active bird and nature enthusiast who lives year-round on the lighthouse island, Utö. His father, Professor Rauno Tenovuo (1917-2008), was a pioneer of teaching environmental protection in our country.

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Warm shore water, toes in the soft sand. Children gathering seashells. Few may come to think that strolling on a beach helps to keep it open and to preserve the beach habitat.

Even without humans, there is plenty of life on the shoreline. As the meeting point between land and water, it features species from both elements. Hidden in the sand and among the plants, unique species of insects have adapted to the demanding conditions. The light-sided soft-shell clam is one of the few clam species in the Baltic Sea. Both salt and freshwater species live side by side, those that have adapted to this cold environment.

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Finland Ties with Sweden in the Environment Meet Kaj Bärlund is a heavyweight social democrat activist from Porvoo. In environmental issues, his experience is beyond compare. Over 20 years at the top of the environmental administration as Minister of the Environment, Director General of the Finnish Environment Institute, Chairman of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s (ECE) Committee on Environmental Policy, and Director General of ECE’s Environment and Housing Section: these posts have given him quite an impressive perspective.

squeaky clean concerning water emissions. I suggested to Dahl that we visit both factories together. Followed by a lot of media interest, we visited the sites and announced that we should put things in order on both sides. The Outokumpu factory turned out not to be any worse a polluter than Rönnskärsverket.”

You have followed environmental issues from key positions. When did people really awaken to the condition of the Baltic Sea?

“It was a difficult political process. The centre party wanted to build it around the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, but the social democrats wanted to create a new, independent ministry. One of our arguments was the fact that agriculture and forestry are polluters. After a long debate, the majority of the parliament backed our idea, and the ministry started operating in 1983.”

“Already in the 1960s, it was noted that PCB-compounds had a serious effect on the condition and reproduction of seals. The issue was discussed at the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, Helcom, and an agreement was reached for prohibiting certain compounds. From there the discussion expanded.

It wasn’t until the epoch-making 1988 Helcom Ministerial Conference that we agreed on quantitative emission reduction goals for many harmful substances.

Swedish Minister of the Environment Birgitta Dahl and I were on the forefront striving for the agreement.

By the way, Birgitta Dahl was involved in a peculiar chain of events that became known as the Finland-Sweden Environment Meet. Extensive demonstrations had been organized in Haaparanta against the air emissions of the Outokumpu factory in Tornio. In Finland, this was considered exaggerated because the much more old-fashioned Rönnskärsverket factory on Sweden’s side wasn’t at all 16

Why was it so troublesome to establish the Finnish Ministry of the Environment?

From today’s viewpoint, this is very difficult to understand.

Protecting the Baltic Sea requires international cooperation. How well has this succeeded?

Establishing the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation, NEFCO, in 1990 was a significant landmark. Sweden was very reluctant to start the corporation, but my Danish colleague and I succeeded in pushing it through. NEFCO has turned out to be extremely effective. It has granted environmental support to dozens of ventures in the Baltic countries, Poland, and Ukraine. The positive effects of these projects on the Baltic Sea can hardly be overestimated.

However, the most significant change has been the EU membership of all Baltic coastal countries excluding Russia. It has brought more resources for protection and improved coordination. At the same time, research has revealed new information about water quality and related mechanisms. Achieving tangible results has proven to be more complicated than we thought. The situation in Russia has improved, but painfully slowly. The inferior state of Russia’s environmental protection was revealed when the Soviet Union collapsed.

Awareness of problems has increased, but there is still too little activity in improving the environment.”

You also look at the Baltic Sea as a resident of Porvoo. What feelings does that stir?

“Porvoo is a maritime city, in particular because of its extensive archipelago.

Pollutants flowing through the Porvoo River have been hazardous to the maritime environment for decades, even though the situation has improved.

Porvoo is trying to minimize its own water emissions by making its water purification system more effective.

I actually learned to swim in a pool in the Porvoo River in the early 1950s. Soon after that, the venue was shut down because of the polluted water. Already as a small child, I was perplexed by how people could “shoot themselves in the feet” by polluting the very waters they used. Another similar moment of awakening came a few days after I was designated as Minister of the Environment. I went to examine the oil spillage from the Soviet tanker Antonio Gramsci, which had run aground in the Porvoo archipelago. It was a despairing sight—a horrible reminder of our responsibility to care for our environment on the local, national, and international levels.”

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The Suomenlinna fortress was built in the 1700s on almost treeless islets. Nowadays its nature is diversified with its parks, herb gardens, and natural shores. However, hundreds of thousands of visitors are also a threat to the sensitive nature of this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Luckily, enlightened visitors know to admire the site from the marked routes. In the tides of history, Suomenlinna has been part of Sweden’s, Russia’s, and Finland’s defence. One of the most exciting things to see is the submarine Vesikko. If you squeeze inside, you can imagine the conditions that the crew of twenty worked in, dozens of metres under the sea.

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The Suomenlinna fortress was built in the 1700s on almost treeless islets. Nowadays its nature is diversified with its parks, herb gardens, and natural shores. However, hundreds of thousands of visitors are also a threat to the sensitive nature of this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Luckily, enlightened visitors know to admire the site from the marked routes. In the tides of history, Suomenlinna has been part of Sweden’s, Russia’s, and Finland’s defence. One of the most exciting things to see is the submarine Vesikko. If you squeeze inside, you can imagine the conditions that the crew of twenty worked in, dozens of metres under the sea.

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Plenty of Speech, Not Much Action Stefan Lindfors has a long and incredibly diversified CV. He is a designer, sculptor, and interior designer, and he has worked as a film and TV-director, produced commercials and a music video for HIM, and taught in universities.

People like Stefan are flooded with requests for interviews and to participate in various productions. Lindfors chooses which ones he accepts. “I reject at least two thirds of them. I don’t bother myself much about what people think of my doings. It is most important for me to be sure that the matter is sensible and preferably influential, too.”

“I think the fundamental problem is that the Baltic Sea isn’t part of our national identity in the same way the forest is. The sea has value only to those who live off it in one way or another. The Baltic Sea is seen as a mere waterway for transporting goods. Thus it makes no difference what kind of goo the boats sail in.”

The seas—and the Baltic Sea in particular—are extremely important to Lindfors personally, and for the future of the whole world. He spends 1-2 months a year on the Baltic Sea and other oceans, and he is one of the many people who have seen the sea deteriorate.

“If we really want the Baltic Sea to start healing, it will require a lot of money.

The Finnish State and the EU aren’t granting nearly enough. Nor is there any reason to be satisfied with the actions of the largest polluter countries. We have plenty of fund-raising campaigns for the Baltic Sea, which is good. But I’m worried that the money won’t be used sensibly. Who is monitoring the use of the funds? Who can say where, exactly, the money should be channelled? I find it odd that there isn’t more talk about this.”

“Even though I’ve talked a lot about the condition of the Baltic Sea and actually done things to help, I’m not at all sure if I’ve genuinely been able to change anyone’s thoughts. It seems to be trendy to talk about the Baltic Sea, but for a lot of people it is just a marketing gimmick. If our seas are destroyed, the whole planet will be destroyed. It is incomprehensible that people don’t see the connection. Human beings are simple by nature. Perhaps we need to jump into a sea full of cyanobacteria before we understand what it’s all about.”

Stefan Lindfors spends most of his time away from Finland, the last years mainly on the eastern and western coasts of the USA. This offers one viewpoint to the discussion on the Baltic Sea. “People say that the Baltic Sea is the world’s most polluted sea. However, I haven’t noted any discussion on the Baltic Sea anywhere else. If it is talked about at all, it isn’t about its condition. In this respect, it cannot be said that the politicians of the Baltic coastal countries have succeeded very well, or then the issue just hasn’t been on the agenda yet.”

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Stefan Lindfors designed the seal for the Hej Hylje (“Hey, Seal�) campaign of the Turku European Capital of Culture year pro bono. The campaign raised money for protecting the

Finnish Archipelago.

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At sea, the differences between seasons are immense. In the future, this may not be so, as the effects of climate change increase in the Baltic Sea. It has been said that milder winters will shorten the time it is frozen over, the water will become warmer, its salinity will decrease, and rain and flooding will increase. This will all have an impact on the ecosystem as well. But what kind of impact? For now, we can only make educated guesses.

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Green algae—called “Ahdin parta”, “Ahti’s beard” in Finnish—is far too common a sight these days, covering shore-line rocks and floating in green masses. Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, are natural species in the Baltic Sea. Increasing blooms of cyanobacteria, decreasing amounts of bladder wrack, and muddy water are evidence of eutrophication. It is caused by over one hundred years of nutrient emissions from agriculture, forestry, population centres, and industry. Finally something is being done.

The heaviest dischargers are under control, and progress has been made in agricultural water protection. Awareness has increased rapidly. Now researchers believe that eutrophication has stopped increasing. But there is still much to be done.

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It Is All about What We Value Member of the EU Court of Auditors Ville Itälä served for seven years as a Member of the European Parliament. Before this, he worked in many central duties in domestic politics. You have talked a lot and been active in issues related to the Baltic Sea. What is it that intrigues you in these matters?

“When one has a cottage on Velkua in the Turku archipelago, it is natural to witness and recognize the value of the sea in many aspects. When the summer sun sets into a bloom of floating blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, the sight is far from enchanting. It is not news that the Baltic Sea is in poor shape, and something must be done about it. But it feels like the common will is always too weak to face the common concerns.”

Could you give us a couple of examples of such lack of will?

“If the agri-environment payments were targeted better, the effects of our largest scattered polluter would be reduced significantly. In the Gulf of Finland, in turn, we need much stronger control over the emissions from Russia. Every time I meet European leaders, I talk to them about the condition of the Baltic Sea. For example, President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, and Speaker of Russia’s State Duma Boris Gryzlov have all sincerely shared this concern. Unfortunately, results have been scant.”

What do Finland’s actions look like from the EU perspective?

“I have been surprised at how lax Finland is about the Baltic Sea. Granted, some Finnish MEP’s have shared insights and cooperated for the good of our 28

sea. The most visible result of this was the budget and funding created for the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. Money was allocated for it even though the Finnish and Swedish governments didn’t want it. After that, funds from the budget have been used, among other things, for projects that lessen the stress on Finland’s adjacent waters. Finland could shift the focus of Nordic cooperation toward the Baltic Sea and try to create a more influential Baltic Sea bloc in the EU. The Mediterranean countries have long-standing experience in this.”

The Baltic Sea strategy isn’t only about environmental issues. How do you see the financial significance of the Baltic Sea for Finland?

“A good and current example is the EU Sulphur Directive for Maritime Transport. Dropping the maximum sulphur content of marine fuel to 0.1 percent by 2015 means extra costs of 1.2 billion euros for industry in Finland. The bill will be paid by the export industry and shipping companies. Had we supervised our interests better, we could have achieved the same health benefits with a smaller reduction and less than ten percent of the costs. But it must also be said that the sulphur content is not being reduced to keep the Baltic Sea cleaner, but for the good of human health. The sulphur emissions of ships do not actually impair the condition of the Baltic Sea.” “This is a much more important issue than, for example, the collateral securities from Greece, let alone the Schengen membership of Romania and Bulgaria.

Yet only a fraction of the political energy applied to those questions has been focused here. One might actually ask if Finland has weakened its negotiation power in the important questions concerning the Baltic Sea by flexing its muscles in peripheral matters.”

You mentioned the sometimes faulty logic in Baltic Sea issues. What do you mean?

“Our national logic failed badly, for example, concerning deep-sea fishing for salmon in the Baltic Sea. A small interest group got their will through, even though the economic importance of the issue was like a drop in the Baltic Sea. The salmon stocks have decreased radically due to legal and illegal overfishing.

And as if this wasn’t enough, the dioxin content of salmon is so high that it is recommended to restrict its consumption.”

“Commercial fishing for salmon should be banned for a prescribed time in the whole Baltic Sea. That would also eliminate the entire question of what is legal and what is illegal salmon fishing. About its financial significance, the monetary value of the whole annual catch of salmon is less than one million euros. This loss of income would be easy to reimburse, even entirely, from state funds. The question is how important we consider preserving the salmon stocks of the Baltic Sea.” “In the end, protecting the Baltic Sea is really all about what we value.”

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The grey heron is among our most majestic alien species. You can meet one more often nowadays, since its population has grown strongly. This has happened to most sea and shore birds due to, for example, warmer winters and the decrease of environmental toxins and hunting. The Baltic Sea is a harsh place to live, even for birds. We have over 460 bird species, of which 21 are actual archipelago species.

The survival of the sea eagle from near extinction is a success story of Baltic Sea protection. But not everyone is pleased with the growth of the cormorant population. It is a pity, because by making use of research data and aligning interests, all species could find their place.

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Traditional archipelago trades have long since been insufficient to secure the livelihood of the islanders. The significance of tourism as an additional source of income has grown year after year.

Today’s tourist is increasingly demanding and doesn’t always settle for ascetic independent travel.

In addition to high-quality program and accommodation services, people value authentic things.

Historical fortresses and lighthouse islands still attract the most visitors, but nature tourism is the fastest growing sector. Even though the nature of the archipelago is sensitive, it can still withstand many more visitors if we only respect nature and the identity of the archipelago.

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Children of the Sea Childhood summers, endlessly long. Warm and clear water, caressing sunshine. Fishing with dad, falling asleep to the sound of waves against the boat. Swimming again and again, and going back into the smoke-scented warmth of the sauna. No gourmet meal can ever beat fish soup made on an open fire on the shore. There are half a million summer cottages in Finland, one fourth of them on the coast or on islands. And holidaymakers don’t stop on the shore, either. Out on the waters is the place to be, one way or another, so everyone’s got to have some kind of boat. Pleasant memories are associated with every cottage and boat, each one unique and unforgettable. Ours is a sea of millions of memories.

The most profound memories come from our childhood and youth. When Finns buy or build a summer cottage, they may secretly believe they are returning to past times of happiness. When the environment takes a turn to the worse, when the water is no longer crystal clear, or when the yield of the fishing net is scant, they are personally offended. It is like their very childhood is being spoiled.

Almost always, summer memories are the most cherished. A recurrent story is that of summer inhabitants who swear they will live year-round at the cottage, but when the dark hood of November is pulled over the face of the archipelago, they sneak back to their central heating and porcelain toilets in the city.

Recharging, relaxing amidst nature, time alone or together with friends and family. That is what children of the sea of all ages seek. And they find it again and again.

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M책rtenson and Steppenwolf Echoe Around the Sauna Shore

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When soprano Karita Mattila comes to the archipelago for a summer holiday from her tour of the world’s opera stages, the first song she plays on her gramophone on the porch of her sauna is Lasse Mårtenson’s “Kaikki paitsi purjehdus on turhaa” (“Everything but sailing is futile.”) After an opening toast, she gives the composer guru her traditional summer phone call.

“Tapio had an H-boat, and that was the first boat I sailed. It was a romantic time.

There wasn’t even a toilet on board, so we had to get along very well. And we did.”

“I am very happy to have had the privilege of making music with Lasse, whom I admire greatly. In addition to the theme of sailing, many of his touching songs are my favourites. One that comes to mind in particular is “Ankkuripaikka” (“Berth”), an awesome song!

Karita travelled abroad already at a young age, first to study, then as a star at opera houses and concert halls. The cosmopolitan does not suffer from chronic homesickness: she feels at home everywhere, and her circle of friends is scattered around the world. But naturally, just before her summer holiday, thoughts of sailing, friends in Finland, and the steam of her own seashore sauna start creeping to mind.

The first evening at the cottage often stretches until dawn. When the radiant sun rises in the horizon, the volume knob once again turns clock-wise, and the melodies of Sibelius’ Finlandia fill the summer morning.

“We heat the sauna and swim every day in the summer. Or rather it is more like dipping into the water, especially in early summer. And we barbecue, of course.”

“The neighbours haven’t complained yet, perhaps because Finlandia blends into nature and that particular moment so perfectly. A few times in recent years, however, sleep has caught me off guard before I got to Finlandia. I wonder if age has something to do with it!”

Back to the cottage gramophone (in reality it is a modern stereo). One might think that a soprano that has dazzled at the Metropolitan in New York, La Scala in Milan, and the Vienna Opera House, who is an honorary doctor of the University of Turku, would listen to the best arias or most massive choir scenes.

But her taste of music is more free and wild.

Karita Mattila spent her childhood in a rural landscape of fields, and she became a seafarer in her adulthood, when she had to buy a car. Car salesman Tapio Kuneinen became her travelling companion, manager, and husband. And captain on their shared boat trips.

“I listen to Finnish rock artists like J. Karjalainen and Mamba, Vesku Loiri’s poetic songs, and tangos by Matti Salminen—all kinds of music! Sometimes I get rowdy and play Steppenwolf, Joe Cocker, Tina Turner, or Bruce Springsteen. One of my favourites is George Thorogood’s Bad to the Bone. Jazz is perfect for meditation, for example, Abbey Lincoln and the classics, starting from Ella. Or then “Ystävän laulu” (“Friend’s Song”), by Jaska Ryhänen!

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A three kilometre-thick mass of ice shaves the granite like a gigaton rotary planer. Strollers on the shore can feel with their fingers which way the ice moved.

The vast masses of water from the melting glacier assorted the loose materials neatly like in a giant gold pan. A ridge formed here, a moraine deposit there, and shore stone plots, “Devil’s fields”, here and there.

Ice ages come and go, creating water systems and moving them. Our sea is also the remnant of a glacier. Another ice age will come one day.

Educated guesses of when that will happen are various. If you take a flat stone formed by the ice age and throw it skilfully on the water, perhaps the number of times it bounces will tell you when the next great winter will come. Every bounce stands for five millennia.

The primate now feeling the shore rock’s grooves or trying to bounce a stone off the water has his own role to play in the flash of history between the ancient Littorina Sea and the coming thick ice.

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“I am… …Benjamin, I’m ten years old, and this is my sister Bettina, who is 8. For us, summer means being at sea on our boat. Mom and dad laughed once in the winter, when I asked what we did before we had a boat.”

fish soup that often. If I’m totally honest, our mom isn’t very good at making it.

Sometimes mom teases dad for being a landlubber. Before we got the boat, dad barely ever went to sea. But really, dad’s a very good captain.”

“Our boat isn’t quite ordinary. It’s a little like a floating summer cottage, made of a trawler. It has a big terrace with a barbecue and furniture. It’s really fun that there’s room for a PlayStation, TV, scooter, and a jolly-boat. Although in the summer, we watch TV much less than at home. Quite often we play games the whole family together. We always do all kinds of things together.”

“We’ve visited pretty exciting places, too. For example, fortresses like Jussarö and Katanpää. Not just anybody could visit them in the olden times. We’ve even been to the Isokari lighthouse.”

“Everywhere we stop, there’s always lots of fun stuff to do. At every marina, we meet new friends to swim and fish with. We have these long-shafted dip nets that we use to catch stuff from the sea. Once, my friends and I caught two buckets of jellyfish and fish. We usually barbecue all the fish we catch, and we know precisely which fish was mine and which my sister’s. We don’t eat

Sometimes in the summer, it rains and gets pretty windy. Once we had to stay a whole day in the shelter behind an island. That doesn’t matter much, but algae is really crummy. Once, we came to this really cool place and we wanted to go swimming right away. But we couldn’t go because the sea was full of bluegreen algae. It was like pea soup. And once, Bettina got really scared when she was out on the jolly boat, and the wind started spinning in a really weird way.”

“In this picture, we are travelling on our boat. When we I’m sure we’ll still want to spend our summers at sea.”

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grow up,

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What we call untouched archipelago nature has actually often been moulded by human activity in a few centuries. Beautiful oak forests were born when grazing cattle cleared the long hay and brush. Nowadays, the domestic animals of the archipelago are not only sources of meat, milk, or fur, but landscape managers as well. This environmental management professional, caught on film in Berghamn, Nauvo, doesn’t ruminate too much on his job description!

Using islands as grazing ground has had its effects on the archipelago bird species as well. Many insect-feeding birds can be seen poking around hoof prints. Even the golden plover, which nests on northern bogs, can sometimes be seen hopping around on the shore meadows.

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The Calming Sea When Petri Vehanen’s family bought a cottage off shore from Rauma, it was the fulfilment of a life-long dream. “My mother told me that when I was born in 1977, starting the next summer, we were always by the sea. The sea is an element that has grown to be a part of me. It is impossible to imagine what summer would be like without it. I suppose the sea is an essential part of being an inhabitant of Rauma. Free time with the family at the cottage or fishing with friends are perfect counterbalances to the hectic hockey season. When people ask me how I like being at the cottage, I often answer, “Well, there are worse ways to spend time, aren’t there?”

Petri Vehanen sees the maritime environment as part of a larger entity, the endurance of which is really being put to the test nowadays. “It is obvious that we can’t live like this for long, heedless to the tolerance of nature. We have to start rethinking our consuming according to how much nature can take in the long term. This means we have to give up something. We can’t leave future generations an unreasonable burden because of our present consumption habits.”

Vehanen is a team player all the way, and he emphasizes the individual’s part in the matter. “None of us can escape responsibility. If we hand our responsibility over to the larger community, it becomes faceless and weak.”

Ice hockey is the most followed sport in Finland. It is easy to imagine the whirlwind Vehanen was thrown into in spring 2011, when Finland won the long-anticipated world championship. As the number one goalkeeper, Pete was one of the most important links and brightest stars of the team. “Before the championship, I’d played a couple of seasons on the team Kazan of the Russian KHL, and I’d been pretty far from the media and publicity. The hullabaloo in Finland after the championship was quite a contrast. After all that, it was very relaxing to withdraw with good friends to the cottage to sauna-bathe. That was perhaps the best championship party. I have often said that for me, the sea is first and foremost a soothing element.”

Petri Vehanen has achieved a lot in his career. He is not only World Champion but KHL Champion as well. But nevertheless, the experienced sportsman is still hungry. When his contract with Ak Bars Kazan ends, Pete will once again skate in his familiar Äijänsuo arena and play for Rauman Lukko, in a way closing a circle. At the same time, a dream will come true. “I’m really excited about playing for Lukko again. It will make it possible for me to both play hockey and spend time at the cottage.” In addition to sports-related achievements, there is also much to do at the cottage. “Fishing is my favourite pastime. A proper goal in that field is to double my record pike and reach the 10k-mark.”

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“Well Then, What Say You and I Get Engaged?”

The view from the highest point of the rocky island of Suomenlinna is breathtaking. Many loving couples have strolled on the cliff, and the granite boulders have heard hundreds of love vows. In August 1965, a question was asked on the cliff that resulted in one of Finland’s most famous family businesses.

Heikki Salmela and Kirsti Sivula had just graduated from vocational school and ended up as workmates at the summer restaurant Walhalla in Kustaanmiekka, Suomenlinna. Heikki was chef, and Kirsti was pantry chef. When their summer jobs were finished, they had to decide if they would go their separate ways or if they would share their future.

“Well then, what say you and I get engaged?” Heikki asked. Kirsti responded by showing him her requirement list that she had written in a little notebook with a dog on the cover: these things I expect my husband to promise. He cannot be a drunkard. He must take good care of his wife and be gentle. He must always wear his ring. Heikki promised to obey the list, and Kirsti said yes.

Heikki and Kirsti became spouses, colleagues, and co-entrepreneurs to the point of being workaholics. They launched the Hesburger fast food chain, which employs 4000 people nowadays with a turnover of 200 million euros.

Now, four decades later, in the Salmela family business, they look to the sea in a whole new way. When the greasiness of the wastewater from Hesburger’s logistics centre and central warehouse gave cause for negotiations with the environmental authorities, Heikki started studying what kind of innovations had been made for wastewater treatment. In this way, the Salmelas ended up owners of the environmental technology company Clewer Oy. Heikki is excited about their results: 54

“Technology has been developed for wastewater management that is like digital TV in comparison with analogue TV. And the wildest thing about it is that aquarium tests prove it to work in fish farming as well. We believe that in the future, fish can be brought to the table without polluting any water at all.

The water that fish have swum in can be recycled and all the dirt and nutrient remnants can be removed. The same technology is already in operation in the car-washing lines of our company. Only 50 litres of new water is used to wash one car; 500 litres is continuously recycled. In old-fashioned car washes, those hundreds of litres of waste water, which contain heavy metals and harsh detergents, are run into the sewer.”

“This was meant to be our retirement hobby, but now I see that in my old days I have to learn to be a chemist and biologist,” Heikki says, laughing. Then he grows serious and continues.

“The world is full of dirty wastewater. In Finland, we shrug our shoulders and say that it is St. Petersburg that is causing all the cyanobacteria. I ask, is cyanobacteria related to salmon that swims up the rivers and into lakes, too?

Finland is pouring huge amounts of nitrogen into our waters through inefficient water treatment plants.

“Five decades ago, I was fishing with my father on a rock we called “Saappaanklopo” (“Boot Shoe”) on Airisto off the coast of Turku. I remember being able to see a shoal of fish swimming ten metres below the surface. I recently took my grandson to the same place. The visibility was about ten centimetres. We really have to fix this mess.”

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For artists, the sea is an endless source of inspiration. For a whole generation of poets, a pine clinging to a coastal rock was the symbol of the people’s unbending will. A forlorn boat among the rushes has been captured on countless canvases and in the lyrics of wistful songs. Swelling sails: what a symbol of freedom and a new era! A port waiting for a ship can be a symbol of aching longing. And somewhere out there, far, far away, waves ripple on the forever sunny shore of a wonderland, unreachable by the prisoner of this icy country.

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According to research, tens of thousands of Finnish babyboomers would like to live year-round at their summer cottages. Land use authority is held by municipalities, which see this enthusiasm in varying ways. On one hand, new tax-payers would be welcome; on the other hand, there are concerns about the possible effects of permanent dwelling on the structure of the population centre.

A wave of moving to the cottage has actually been ongoing since the turn of the new millennium. People often live half the year or more at the second home, without officially moving to the municipality. The increase of age groups in retirement is accelerating this development, and ice fishers are an increasingly common sight in the archipelago, even during weekdays.

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Seafarers The nature of the seas as both barriers and links between nations has vastly changed over time. No longer than one hundred years ago, the sea voyage from Turku to Stockholm lasted days on end. People did not embark on the trip without good reason. When the sea was frozen, one wouldn’t even think about it. Today, millions of people make the crossing back and forth every year in less than 24 hours, and the greatest fear concerning ice is perhaps that they’ll run out of cubes for drinks.

People say that Finland lives of the forest. This still holds true, to some extent, but Finland is absolutely dependent of the sea.

Ships carry 90% of our exports and 70% of our imports. The Baltic Sea is one of today’s busiest sea routes. It is constantly ploughed by a couple of thousand ships, from oil tankers and freighters to passenger ferries. The Finnish Maritime Cluster puts bread on many tables. Over 43,000 people work in shipping, ports, and the maritime industry, 7,500 of them aboard ship.

As leisure time has increased, boating has become the most important form of recreation for hundreds of thousands of Finns.

There are an estimated 750,000 boats in Finland, but no one knows exactly how many unregistered rowboats, dinghies, canoes, or other tubs are actually floating on the waves.

The rapid growth of sea traffic has also entailed threats. Emissions cause eutrophication, and the likelihood of serious oil spillage has increased. International cooperation for increasing maritime safety is ongoing and has accomplished results. Boater awareness is at a fair level, and environmental harm caused by boating is quite little nowadays.

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Finland’s coast is so difficult to navigate, especially in poor weather, that the national defence people sometimes compare the rocky waters to a natural minefield, impassable by those unfamiliar with the routes. The professional pride of those responsible for maritime safety is justified. They head out on rescue missions even when the weather forecast for seafarers begins with serious warnings. Visible and faultless route markers are the foundation of maritime safety.

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Reposaari–Almost the Capital Reposaari, Fox Island in English, Räfsö in Swedish, and Räpsöö in local vernacular, is a 1000 inhabitant residential area of Pori in the delta of the Kokemäki River by the Bothnian Sea. To visitors, it presents itself as a friendly and intriguing miniature city. It offers impressive views to the sea and interesting details. Various styles of attractive wooden houses and a lush harbour park make it a picturesque island. By the way, the Finnish name is a mistake, because the Swedish word Räf does not refer to a fox (Repo is a synonym for fox), but a reef. The true name is derived from the under-water reef that rose due to uplift and became an island.

Laila Vainio, chairwoman of the maritime rescue association Reposaaren Pelastusrengas ry (“The Reposaari Life-buoy”), regrets how little known her home island is. “On the other hand, it is no wonder, because even most people in Pori are unfamiliar with it. Reposaari was actually put forward—quite seriously—to be Finland’s capital. It may sound strange, but it is true! In the early 1700s, Professor Israel Nesselius of the University of Turku made the proposition.

His plan included opening an unbroken waterway from Saimaa Lake through Lake Päijänne and the Kokemäki River to the Gulf of Bothnia. Reposaari was to be Finland’s capital and a major port. Factors in favour of the island were that it was far from the eastern border, close to the capital of Sweden-Finland, and easily fortifiable. The big plans of Nesselius, progressive thinking in his day, were never carried out, as we know.

Laila Vainio’s maritime rescue association maintains one of the few stations that operate in their original location in the outer archipelago, far from the mainland. It isn’t very common to find a female chairperson of a maritime rescue association,

either. Only five percent of them are women, and even Vainio’s career began half by accident. “In the early 90s, my colleague asked me to come to the annual meeting, and I’m still on that path.” Her life-long connection to the sea began much earlier during her childhood summers with her grandparents at their fisherman’s home in Luvia. The seed of her passion for fishing was probably sown in the same place. “I fish in many different ways, but ‘rääkääminen’ is my favourite,” Laila says. Say what? Rääkääminen is such a purely Reposaarian name for drift net fishing that even Google can’t find it.

There are 57 voluntary maritime rescue associations in Finland. Like the others, Reposaaren Pelastusrengas does its own fundraising. The 8-euro annual membership fees of 300 members, or the city’s contribution of a few hundred euros, do not carry far. Laila Vainio offers a river of thanks to the active doingit-together-for-free spirit of the association. Transporting passengers during free time, selling textiles, towing service fees, and support from businesses are all crucially important, not to mention the support of the head association, without which they could not operate. Vainio emphasizes the importance of belonging to Trossi, the Finnish Lifeboat Institution. People are naturally always carried to safety free of charge, but the expenses caused by assisting a boat are paid for by the boat owner. Members of Trossi get free assistance if their journey is interrupted. The problem is either fixed on spot, or the boat is towed to the nearest port. The annual fee of Trossi is tiny compared to the true costs of a towing operation.

Vainio says that a newer and increasingly demanded service is urn burial at sea.

“A location has been designated for this purpose just off the lighthouse island Kallo near Mäntyluoto. It will be my last resting place, too.”

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Fewer and fewer archipelago residents are trapped by ice or frost heave. The rise in standard of living has brought road access to many even remote islands. Nevertheless, there are still around four hundred permanently inhabited islands with only a cable or passenger ferry for the thousands of permanent inhabitants and tens of thousands of cottage dwellers. Up to half of even the permanent dwellers of these islands must arrange their passage with their own boats on their own expense.

Only around forty cable ferries are left in Finland, half of them at sea. The operators are trained and certified experts who master radars and VHF. The 16 passenger ferry routes of the Finnish coastal areas play an important role in transporting people and goods. The popular Archipelago Trails (or Ring Roads) complete the network.

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Unforgettable Sails Harro Koskinen can tell you exactly where he was and what he was doing when he saw a traditional sailing boat for the first time. In summer 1971, the Koskinen family’s motorboat had once again started acting up. They were returning from Sweden and were moored at the Karlby port on Kökar. This time the problem was a broken reverse gear. The father of the family had given up the hope of getting it fixed, but young Harro persistently continued the fight. He had tied the reverse gear lever to a pier pole, and was filing it with all his might, his shoulders aching, to make it shorter. At that moment, a small boat arrived with its sails bulging in the soft wind, and its old-style form and light manoeuvrability touched him immediately. After searching for thirteen years, Harro finally got his own “allmoge”, a rustic boat, and eagerly made long journeys with it. Later he started participating in traditional boat competitions, and when he acquired larger sails, he started being successful. Of course, the awards weren’t as princely in the 1980s as they had been in the time when factory owner Rettig, an enthusiastic sailor and prime mover of the sailing association Airisto Segelsällskap, offered the winner of the Kittuinen race in Houtskari a whole year’s tobacco!

Harro Koskinen has made sails and rigs, designed boats, and been a boat building consultant for over 20 years. His life-long enthusiasm forms the foundation of his expertise, along with the boat planning advice he got from his father and his studies of wooden boat building at the highly respected Kuggomskolan of Pernaja. Nevertheless, Harro is still remembered as a young rebel artist whose outrageous works shocked the whole country. His friends in the Finnish underground circles were Jarkko Laine, Markku Into, Mauri Antero Numminen, and other little terrors of the time. He sometimes had regrets for not being able to do anything without someone mentioning the Swine Messiah for which he was convicted of blasphemy in 1969. Now he can smile to see that the 70

atrocious swine works are valued treasures of art museums. The “blasphemer” has become a pastor’s spouse: Harro Koskinen’s wife is chaplain of the Lutheran church in Iniö. They spend their summers at the Iniö parsonage and winters mostly in an old archipelago house in Merimasku. The retired artist says he is fed up with making art. Maritime activities are more interesting.

Modern men may not remember all the cars they have owned, but boats are hard to forget. From half a century ago, Harro can easily list even every mooring of his father, who was a sheet welder at the Wärtsilä shipyard and taught new sheet-iron workers at vocational school.

“We bought our first boat in 1953, the year I went to school. Our moorings were in Hirvensalo, Pihlajaniemi, by the Föri—there was even a crane there for lifting boats—then at the City Theatre, and finally in Multavieru, opposite of the cathedral.”

“My father had a boat; my grandfather had a boat; and my great grandfather had a boat. Two of my sons have a boat. I have fixed many of them, and designed even more. I prefer sewing the sails out of modern sail fabric, rather than cotton, which is also a fine material.”

Harro is familiar with rowing tubs, “skötbåts”, “storbåts”, and other archipelago vessels. Koskinen’s latest acquisition is a Koster boat from Sweden. A Koster is a wide model originating from Koster Island off Sweden’s western coast. David Hällström composed the Koster Waltz at the Strömstad seaside restaurant.

Almost everyone who has travelled even a bit by boat knows the song enough to hum the tune.

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There aren’t many port taverns anymore, and harbour romance remains only in our minds. But the significance of ports has not diminished. On the contrary, we are entirely dependent on year-round sea transport connections. Four fifths of our imports and exports go through our 50 international ports.

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To the waters would this vessel haste! And back to shore, too! The number of pleasure boats is steadily increasing, and even with thousands of marinas and docks, there is a shortage of moorings. Today’s boater appreciates an easy departure from close to home, with road access to the side of his boat. Respectively, services should be at hand when he arrives at port. Many of our large marinas are actually located in city centres.

The sea is the arena for many water sports, in which Finns have traditionally been quite successful: for example, we have seven Olympic medals in rowing and nine in sailing, not to mention achievements in other elite competitions. We’ve even celebrated a World Championship in Formula 1 boating. As a little point of trivia, canoers raced on a sea-track at the Helsinki Olympic Games—for the only time in Olympic history.

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Sari Multala

has raced on all the world’s oceans, but her home is always the

for taking care of our sea,” she reminds us.

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Baltic Sea. -“We

are all responsible

Love and Respect Sisko and Sari floated a plastic toy boat in the wake of the boat steered by their father. When night fell, they went ashore. The girls played and ran on islands and swam in the sea. That was how they spent their carefree, endless-feeling childhood summers.

Their boats have grown larger, but their love for the sea has never changed.

Three-time World Champion and two-time European Champion Sari Multala is one of our most successful competitive sailors. When she talks about the sea, like so many seafaring people, she mentions respect alongside love.

“You’ve got to respect the sea. You must carefully evaluate your skills and the condition of your boat. If you aren’t absolutely sure that your seamanship is sufficient, it is better to stay ashore. In harsh weather at sea, you have to know what you are doing because the sea and the wind are vastly more powerful than the human being.”

Sari Multala was given a true lesson in this in the Sydney bay in 2000. The wind grew suddenly and toppled her boat, which then drifted beyond her reach. She tried to climb aboard her Belgian training partner’s Europe dinghy, but it flooded, and the partners were left drifting in the water for half an hour.

The coast guard came to the rescue when a passing vessel had seen the two waving amidst the waves. When they read from a newspaper that a great white shark had attacked a surfer that very day in the adjacent cove, they had a “pretty nasty” feeling for a while. The drowning of a Swedish coach in the waters of Spain shocked the whole sailing world and served as a reminder of the mercilessness of the sea.

Contrary to what one might think, sailboat racing isn’t a lonely pastime.

“I may be alone in my boat, but I am seldom on my own. My coach, fellow competitors, and practice partners are with me in their own boats. Laser Radial sailing is what I do for a living, and training isn’t always pure fun. You must be highly focused at sea, and your fellow sailors concentrate on their own training.

But in my boat, I’m alone, so I like to go sailing for recreation with friends. The atmosphere then is very different.”

Sari Multala loves spending even her scant free time at sea, both above and under water.

“I love diving and the feeling it gives me. I don’t have as much time for it as I would like, but I hope I have more time in the future. I also like paddling, and sometimes I go fishing with my husband. I tried surfing in Australia, but that would require a lot of practice.

In spite of her many amazing experiences, the World Champion sailor’s best moments at sea sound very much like those of everyman: “Nothing beats spending time on holiday in the archipelago with my husband.

Living without schedules and planning my route according to the winds quite effectively take my thoughts away from the daily grind. Though not far from home, at sea I quickly escape into my own world and forget the push for success.

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Fog can disorientate even experienced seafarers, so good navigation skills are priceless. An experienced crew can still navigate with a chart, compass, protractor, divider, and a pencil and paper. Technology has brought us navigation tools. GPS devices are extremely helpful, but the best tool in fog is the radar. Many boaters use computer-based devices that combine a map and radar data on the same screen.

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Fog creates a mystical feeling on the sea. Colours change their hue, and shorelines blend into one. More formally put, fog and mist are moist opacity in the air. Observation stations record fog when visibility is less than one kilometre. In the familiar sea weather forecast, fog warnings are given when visibility is very poor. The air can also be hazy. Haze is dry opacity, formed of tiny particles like dust or smoke.

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The stormy sea and waves crashing on the shore are an impressive sight. If the forecasts of climate researchers come true, storms will become more common. Although in recent times there have been exceptionally strong winds, the conditions on our coasts cannot be considered particularly stormy.

We have an average of 20 storm days a year, and hurricane winds of over 33 metres per second have never been measured by our marine surveyors.

For those at sea, storm winds are definitely not child’s play. Luckily help is available and often used by those in trouble. The Border Guard undertakes over 500 rescue missions and around two hundred assistance calls each year. Valuable work is also done by volunteer sea rescue associations. Their 150 vessels set off on rescue missions over a thousand times every year.

Help doesn’t always arrive in time. Hundreds of shipwrecks have been found in Finland’s coastal waters. Diving enthusiasts can only guess the number of those yet to be found.

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During normal winters, our coastal waters are covered by ice from November to May. Winter seafaring, crucial to our economy, is made possible by our icebreakers, which are perhaps the finest page in our ship building history. The first sea liner built to navigate ice-covered waters was the steamship Express II, which began operating on the Helsinki-Stockholm route in 1877. Back then, nobody could have guessed how powerful today’s multifunctional icebreakers could be. They have always had their own, special place in our nation’s history. Perhaps the most famous of them was named after President Kekkonen. Our ice breakers have been used to carry State visitors, even heads of superpowers.

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From Suomen Joutsen to the Tragic Sinking of Estonia Suomen Joutsen (Swan of Finland), Ilmarinen, Keihässalmi, Malmi, Estonia. The most famous ships in Finland’s maritime history are also part of Commodore Raimo Tiilikainen’s life story. All Finns came to know of him in 1994 as he led the rescue operation after the tragic sinking of the passenger ferry Estonia. Only 12 hours before the accident, Tiilikainen had announced that he was resigning from service. “I was enjoying some wine with my wife to celebrate my last actual holiday, when the news came. Our holiday plans were immediately trashed.” The Estonia operation was thus the last task of the naval officer’s 36-year career, which included many extraordinary episodes.

This interview was made on 13 September 2011, exactly 70 years after the sinking of the armoured warship Ilmarinen. The day is quite appropriate for Tiilikainen, who grew up and went to school in Naantali, and not the least because his father was a veteran who survived the destruction of the armoured warship. His father’s stories from the Mediterranean voyage of Suomen Joutsen or the destruction of Ilmarinen affected the little boy and his future career choice.

“But a naval officer’s career wasn’t an automatic choice, not even during my military service. I seriously thought about applying to medical school when I saw that the entrance exam books weren’t really that hard, and I was good at mathematics. The commander of my diver’s course didn’t ask me much about my intentions, but gave me a few days to hand in my application to cadet school. And that settled it.”

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In the early years of his career, Tiilikainen worked for several years as a diver and, among other occupations, as commander of the military diver’s course. The underwater world and its changes have become very familiar. “At its worst in the 1960s, horizontal visibility in the Baltic Sea was merely a few metres, while in the oceans it can be up to 40 metres. In search missions we often had to grope with our hands.”

Tiilikainen became Commander of the Raivaajaviirikkö mine-clearing division.

Then he commanded the mine layer Keihässalmi, and from there his career led to the Navy Headquarters. Amidst it all, he studied at the National Defence University. He finished his career in the Navy as commander of the mine warfare squadron and then moved on to the Border Guard. Tiilikainen’s hand can be seen clearly in Finland’s present-day maritime rescue system. In these tasks, he cooperated internationally with our neighbouring countries and the UN. “My military career culminated as Commander of the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard from 1988 to 1994. As the highest boarder guard authority, my area of responsibility stretched from Hanko through Åland half way through the Bothnian Sea.” During these years, a peculiar, even unique incident happened.

A trawler was in distress, and the crew abandoned ship. It was drifting toward international waters and out of the reach of Finland’s authorities. “I discussed the matter with other authorities, such as the Ministry of the Environment, who felt that the drifting ship was a threat to sea traffic. After that I ordered the ship to

be sunk, and the order was carried out. I think I’m the only naval officer who has ever ordered a ship to be sunk during peace-time.”

A more amusing story has to do with President Koivisto’s fishing trip to Åland. “MP Jansson and I both caught a fish, but Koivisto didn’t. A reporter said that such a thing wouldn’t have been possible in President Kekkonen’s time. Koivisto answered that “Urho (Kekkonen) was a good fisherman, but a sore loser.” Koivisto wasn’t as enthusiastic about fishing as his predecessor, and later he gave up fishing for volleyball at the presidential summer residence Kultaranta.”

Raimo Tiilikainen didn’t stop working after his military career.

In 1995, he was elected to parliament as a Finnish-speaking candidate on the listing of RKP (the Swedish People’s Party).

He served as an MP for one four-year term. After that, he continued his maritime career by working for about four years as the executive director of the Finnish Lifeboat Institution. His working career lasted thus for 44 years.

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A Living from the Sea Whoever wants to live off the sea can be no softie or cry-baby. The Baltic Sea can sometimes be a life-threatening workplace. The sea memories of professional sailors aren’t as charmed as those of summer vacationers who bask in the sun and buy their sailing shoes from fashion shops.

The number of professional fishermen on Finland’s seas has decreased. There are only around 500 full-time fishers of the annual catch of one hundred million kilograms. The most important fish is the Baltic herring.

The fishing industry has more significance than merely producing food for consumers. And not the least important is the fact that it helps to keep the archipelago inhabited year-round.

“We are happy for every single lamp shining through the window of an inhabited house,” says an old islander.

The opinions of the archipelago environmentalists and professional fishermen have inevitably collided. The green people see the growing populations of alien species as enriching the environment; professional fishers see them as a threat to their livelihood. Seals and cormorants are easy sparks of debate, but even much smaller creatures can be a nuisance. For example, predatory cladocerans have been carried to the Baltic Sea in ballast water tanks. They form a gluey mass that renders fishing nets or trawls useless. On the other hand, Baltic herrings love the bug, which may result in fatter “silver sides”. Alien species slip into the ecosystem, the same one where the fisherman has been for ages.

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The Freedom of the Seas “I have taken to the sea and the archipelago all my life. From my childhood, I remember our family’s boat chugging through the clanging shipyard area at the Aura River mouth toward our cottage in Airisto. I have fished with a net for over five decades. The quality of the catch and the shape of the net always reveal the condition of the sea.”

“Nowadays it is trendy to say that ‘the archipelago belongs to us all.’ Let me state that the archipelago belongs to the archipelago inhabitants. They have lived on their islands for hundreds of years and taken care of the built and natural environment, even when the islands haven’t represented any financial value.

Recent decades have shown that the beauty of the archipelago can also be measured in money, so new advocates have appeared.”

“Surviving in the archipelago demands not only coping alone and self-will, but cooperation as well. As chairman of the Åboland Fishermen’s Federation, I made the joke that 30 opinions might come up in a meeting of 20 people. On the other hand, the islanders had many successful shared projects, like building and equipping sailing ships. The most famous description of this is in Volter Kilpi’s ‘Alastalon salissa’, ‘In the Hall of Alastalo.’ The book was probably mostly written at a table in our present-day living room—we happen to live in the same apartment where Kilpi lived.”

“Finns have both an emotional and a rational relationship with the archipelago.

Mostly the present discussion churns around emotions. But we shouldn’t bypass the rational significance of the sea. In a logistical sense, Finland is an island.

80 percent of our foreign trade travels over the water. Nonetheless, shipping doesn’t seem to interest anyone politically. Reflagging ships and selling maritime companies to foreign owners haven’t stirred our decision-makers in any way.

The emission restrictions given for the North Sea and the English Channel have cut down the profitability of shipping in the Baltic Sea, just like the high, tax-like shipping route and port fees have done.”

“The sea is much more than the archipelago. It has opened the world to Finns. The sea has always connected and separated. Historically thinking, it has connected much more than separated. My home city, Turku, benefited significantly from the arrival of Swedish students from Stockholm. The mail came from Stockholm to Turku faster than it did to Gothenburg. When I think of this, I think of the freedom of the sea. Freedom is what the sea represents to me as a human being. Although I love the exceptionally beautiful lake regions of Finland, I always feel that the seacoast is my emotional home.

Christoffer Taxell Minister

Minister Christoffer Taxell and the museum ship Sigyn, which is the major investment of the Åbo Akademi foundation, led by Taxell, to preserve our maritime history.

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Traditional occupations will not completely disappear, but they have become smaller parts of the archipelago lifestyle.

Today’s islanders are multi-skilled jacks-of-all-trades, who derive their livelihood not only from the sea, but also from tourism, various services, and even remote work.

You can find old cotton fishing nets and genuine cork floats in the antique stores of the Helsinki area for a good price.

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Fishing for leisure is a common passion. Daily worries disappear like magic while holding a fishing rod, anticipating a bite. A powerful yank at the end of the line brings more pleasure than reaching the quarterly budget objective.

Even though professional fishermen do not consider anglers a threat, as they wade in the shore waters, seeking an experience or a self-caught meal, they have always defended their territory. When ice fishing was made an everyman’s right, the parliament had to make an order prescribed for the enactment of constitutional legislation.

When the same was done for fishing with lures, once again teeth were gnashed.

But today there is increasing mutual understanding that responsible recreational fishers and professionals are serving shared interests. A clean sea and keeping the fish stocks at a sustainable level are beneficial for both.

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Fishermen’s Nuisances “You have to be completely nuts or at least half crazy to start doing this,” says professional fisherman and multi-entrepreneur Magnus Ekström from Hanko about his choice of occupation. He knows what he is talking about. He has spent 45 years in the Hanko archipelago. He chose his future career already as a little boy when he often went fishing with local war veterans. You can understand his tongue-in-cheek comment when you listen to his long list of nuisances for today’s fishermen. The unsheltered and windy waters of Hanko are, as such, a challenging starting point. But that’s not all, not even close. “All around Hankoniemi, there are seals that come to feast as if to a laid table. In addition to eating from our nets, they also tear them, which has cost me thousands of euros.

Cormorants are another increasing problem. Each of them eats half a kilogram of fish every day. And not just any fish, but salmon, trout, and whitefish. It seems like they are mocking us by avoiding insignificant species like the carp family. And as if that wasn’t enough, then come the jellyfish! Sometimes the weight of them makes the nets sink to the bottom, and down there, they don’t catch fish very well.”

Ekström is one of today’s 500 or so full-time fishermen. In the mid 1980s, there were still almost 2000, which shows how rough the trade is. The Hangonkylä port is the centre of Ekström’s business. It hosts a fish store and the famous seafood restaurant På Kroken. Ekström’s delicacies can be enjoyed in the capital

region as well, since he has a shop at the Hakaniemi market hall. It is well known, for example, among embassies, and it has long been the purveyor of the Russian embassy. Ekström’s products have even ended up in Kremlin banquets.

Magnus’ long-term project is finally being realized as his new fish processing plant is rising in the port along with its smokehouse and cold store. “The new factory has taken 2.5 years to build, but now we can finally prepare high-quality fish for friends of good seafood. But I must say that preparing fish products has been made very difficult in Finland because of senseless regulations. Here, inspectors come measure the fish temperature, even if it is frozen to the table at the market! In Southern Europe, sellers wipe the flies of the fish, wrap them in newspaper, and put them in bags.” Ekström isn’t entirely satisfied with his home town, either. “Hanko is a beautiful, fine city. But my opinion is that we could have used our resources much more efficiently. For example, it wasn’t possible to establish a fish farm here, even though it would bring many new jobs.”

In spite of the challenges, or partly because of them, Magnus Ekström is a satisfied man. “I can’t complain much, when I’ve been able to work all my life with the sea and provide people with seawater delicacies.” New plans are constantly spinning in Magnus Ekström’s idea mill. It would be no wonder if his next projects are even wider on the international level.

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The landscape of the archipelago is extremely varying in the different areas of the Baltic Sea coast. The all-year inhabitants of the outer, almost treeless islands can be counted on just a few hands. The time when seal hunters lodged in temporary shelters on rock islets is long gone. One hundred years ago there were around 200,000 seals in the Baltic Sea. The large population almost wiped out the cod stocks.

When the seals were hunted down to near extinction, the cod returned. The growth of the cod stocks was stopped by eutrophication, which started the reign of the herring family.

Not even lighthouse keepers are needed on the barren rocks anymore.

One of the Baltic Sea legends is about a lighthouse keeper who tied his child to a rock by his foot to keep the wind from blowing the toddler into the sea.

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A Sea-Lover in Fresh Water Musician Erkki Liikanen feels like he has been evacuated twice. No personal memories remain of his first departure from the island Uuras off the coast of Vyborg: His mother Aini, whose father was a sea captain and the Vyborg Province marine surveyor, has told him how they fled from the war with four children. Aini’s brother was also a sailor aboard s/s Tirrenia, and he narrowly escaped the ship when its cargo of fertilizer and ammunition exploded on the Red Sea in 1953. But Erkki’s second evacuation was even more heart-wrenching.

His childhood landscape, the sawmill community on the island Hietanen off the Kotka coast, was destroyed to build a causeway and to expand the port in the 1970s. With an aching heart, Eki wrote the song “Hietanen Euroopan helmi” (“Hietanen, Pearl of Europe”), after saying a tear-filled farewell to his childhood home with his brother: “Hietanen, you were the Pearl of Europe, you were the soft bed of childhood, In the morning I woke to your beauty, and your lumber yards were calling.”

The buildings of the sawmill community remain only in memories and in a miniature that can be viewed at Maritime Centre Vellamo in Kotka. In the miniature, you can see that over 700 board stacks stood on Hietanen in the golden age of the Gutzeit sawmill.

In Eki’s childhood, you didn’t just pop over to the centre of Kotka from Hietanen.

To win the culture competition of the Kotka elementary schools, Eki had to get a rowboat ride to the fish port and pedal a borrowed bicycle to the central

school. During bad frost heave and fragile ice conditions, Hietanen residents simply had to stay on their island.

The sea provided a living for many people in Kotka in the 1950s. For the local musicians of Erkki Liikanen’s generation, it brought an audience. The customers of the popular barrooms Fennia, Seiska, and Meritorni were mostly sailors and the women who paraded themselves around the port. The musicians played with sailors who were jazz enthusiasts. Black-skinned men were not stared at in wonder in the Kotka of the 1950s. Kotka was Finland’s New Orleans, which fostered many personalities like Juha Vainio, Veikko Lavi, Pertti Metsärinne’s orchestra, and Erik Lindström, all of whom Erkki Liikanen knew.

Later the jazz-man Liikanen moved to Helsinki, then Forssa, and evolved into a dance singer, TV comedian, and the host of the successful Syksyn Sävel singing competition. But Kotka has always had a place in his heart. Erkki’s father’s traditional wooden seaworthy boat was moved from Kotka to the lake region, and now it chugs in fresh water, travelling the distance between Tammela and Forssa in half an hour. When Eki hears Junnu Vainio’s “Yksinäinen saarnipuu” (“Lonely Ash Tree”) or “Ääretön Aava” (“Limitless Open Sea”), his eyes begin to gleam. From his childhood on Hietanen, Erkki remembers vividly what an old man said to him and another boy when they were arguing about who owned the yard: “It is God’s, Gutzeit’s, not ours...”

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The highest lighthouse in the Nordic countries was built on a bare rock during one year, in 1906. The dimensions of Bengtskär don’t really hit home until you are standing with your neck bent, gazing up at the 52-metre finger of granite. Over 120 men and women from the islands Rosala and Hiittinen laboured on it like the builders of Cheops’ pyramid.

A chilling feeling comes from knowing that blood flowed over the rocks in July 1941. The Soviets, who controlled Hanko at the time, tried to explode the “eye of the sea” but met with fierce resistance.

There was no escape route from the battle, in which 30 Finns and almost 100 Russians died, pierced by bullets or shrapnel, or drowning in the water.

Not one of the landing troops surrendered.

Trying to imagine all this on such a tiny rock islet is shocking. The few metres from the shore rocks to the lighthouse were a bloody trail. Every crack in the rock was either a refuge or a death trap.

A hand grenade was needed to save the lives of the Finns fighting on the upper floors. Signs of the explosion can still be seen on the stone stairs.

Bengtskär is a popular tourist attraction. University people from Turku made a valuable cultural achievement by restoring it.

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“Nature Fixes Itself”

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Runeberg’s Day was on a Sunday in 2012. Lights were on in the election premises, as the nation was choosing its president for the next six years.

For Viola Gustafsson, it was a work day, and a happy one at that. The -20°C clear weather changed to a -10°C blizzard. From the nets slipped under the thick ice, so much zander was raised that she could carry many cooler boxes to the temporary store at the fish factory to wait for the truck. It was a real dream catch! You can’t always have fisherman’s luck, no matter how well you think you know the good waters. A couple of weeks earlier, the same amount of work resulted in a catch of precisely one zander!

Viola Gustafsson is an enterprising and patriotic Finn who feels great professional pride for her work and participates her home town’s business as a trustee. She expresses herself with clarity in her own mother tongue, Swedish.

“No, no, by no means was it självklart that I’d become a fisher. My parents were fishers, and when I saw how hard they had to work, I said, ‘Never! I’ll become a shop assistant or a lawyer. Anything, but not a fisher!’”

But like it happens to many islander girls, love decided for her. She got married with Torolf, and Viola found herself laying nets in the waters east of Kemiö and running the fisherman’s house on the island Träskö, which has belonged to the Gustafsson family for 11 generations.

“We started from scratch, and we’ve done quite well. Of course this is as much a lifestyle as it is an occupation. One year I calculated the average hourly pay. It was around five euros. But we don’t usually count the hours.

Picky consumers at the fish counter don’t understand how much the fisherman’s trade has changed in four decades. In their time, on Ramsö island in Särkisalo, Viola’s parents could sell a barrel of a few dozen kilos of Baltic herring to a travelling buyer. Today’s industry is hardly interested in batches of less than five tonnes. However, Viola never complains about how things used to be better.

She has a positive attitude toward the future of the Baltic Sea and her work.

“The water was in much worse shape for a while, but now we’ve been heading for brighter times. The quality of the fish has also improved. For example, now you can get such good and healthy Baltic herring that it actually brings a smile to my face. A while ago, for a few years, they looked so miserable that I hardly dared to look my customers in the eye. Over the decades, I have seen that nature runs in its own cycles. I think nature will ultimately fix itself.”

The steadfast islander goes out to her nets in any weather. Twenty degrees below zero and a biting wind are no obstacle when Viola and Torolf dip their hands into a hole in the ice.

“You’ve got to wear lots of warm clothes and a pair of big, heavy gloves.

When the sea is free of ice and there is a strong wind, there is no sense in fishing, because all you get is a broken and messed up net. But there’s no frost limit.”

An urban legend has it that archipelago residents can’t swim and don’t saunabathe. Viola laughs at such assumptions.

“I love to swim and sauna-bathe. But you can’t get me in cold water. Even at the swimming arena, I prefer the warmer children’s pool. I get enough of cold water at my nets.”

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Our Sea: The Baltic Sea in Many Lights © Markku Heikkilä, Harri Ekebom, Johannes Lahti, Pekka Vainio, Kirjakaari Jyväskylä 2012 • Photographs: Johannes Lahti and Pekka Vainio • Authors: Markku Heikkilä and Harri Ekebom • Graphic design and layout: Kati Lähdemäki, Kirjakaari • English translation: Aki Myyrä, Molehill Communications • Printed by Bookwell Oy, Porvoo 2012 • Publisher: Kirjakaari • ISBN 978-952-5969-16-0 Portraits: Jorma Tenovuo: Kaj Bärlund: Stefan Lindfors: Ville Itälä: Karita Mattila: The children: Petri Vehanen: Heikki and Kirsti Salmela:

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Outi Sarjakoski Pekka Vainio John Hackman Roni Lehti Lauri Eriksson The Fellman family album Kari Mankonen Markku Heikkilä

The production of this book was supported by: • The Turku University of Applied Sciences • The Turku University of Applied Sciences, Well-being Services

Laila Vainio: Harro Koskinen: Sari Multala: Raimo Tiilikainen: Christoffer Taxell: Magnus Ekström: Erkki Liikanen: Viola Gustafsson:

• Deltamarin Ltd • The city of Uusikaupunki

Johannes Lahti Markku Heikkilä Inka Porttila Johannes Lahti Markku Heikkilä Pekka Vainio Tapio Tuomela Markku Heikkilä