The Baltic Sea is a unique and sensitive brackish-water ecosystem vulnerable to damage from shipping activities. Despite high levels of maritime safety in the area, there is a continued risk of oil spills and associated harmful environmental impacts. Achieving common situational awareness between oil spill response decision makers and other actors, such as merchant vessel and Vessel Traffic Service center operators, is an important step to minimizing detrimental effects. This paper presents the Next-Generation Smart Response Web (NG-SRW), a web-based application to aid decision making concerning oil spill response. This tool aims to provide, dynamically and interactively, relevant information on oil spills. By integrating the analysis and visualization of dynamic spill features with the sensitivity of environmental elements and value of human uses, the benefits of potential response actions can be compared, helping to develop an appropriate response strategy. The oil spill process simulation enables the response authorities to judge better the complexity and dynamic behavior of the systems and processes behind the potential environmental impact assessment and thereby better control the oil combat action.

Global, regional and national policies and regulations are providing incentives to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in ports, and the first step in this effort is to obtain a detailed overview of the main sources of emissions. The rapid developments in port GHG mapping have led to the need for a case study to assess the effectiveness and practical use of these methodologies and to suggest best practices for ports just starting this mapping process. Here, we present the current state of the art in the assessment of GHG emissions in ports. This analysis enabled us to identify the most promising methodologies to assess GHG emissions in ports in an efficient, reliable and near real-time manner. We then tested the best methodologies and practices that emerged from the review articles to build a GHG assessment system in the Port of Tallinn. Finally, we assess the advantages and disadvantages of current approaches and suggest promising ways forward.

Oil spills pose significant threats to marine ecosystems, and while existing tools simulate spill dispersion and predict impacts, they often lack full integration of accident specifics, detailed drift simulations, and thorough impact analyses. This paper presents the EcoSensitivity decision support system, a comprehensive platform designed to improve oil spill responses by integrating immediate and cumulative environmental impact assessments. The EcoSensitivity system addresses these gaps by combining the Accidental Damage and Spill Assessment Model (ADSAM), oil drift modeling, and the PlanWise4Blue (PW4B) application, which enables high-resolution cumulative impact assessments. This unified tool provides decision-makers with rapid, data-driven insights, facilitating a more informed and effective response to oil spills. EcoSensitivity represents a substantial advancement in operational modeling, supporting ecosystem resilience and aiding in strategic planning for marine conservation.

Uncertainty is an endemic condition of the Baltic Sea herring (Clupea harengus membras, L) fishery management. It is a condition exacerbated by the...