Proposals for a uniform concept for the future handling of whale strandings on the German coasts should be on the table in the fall. The federal-state working group on the North Sea and Baltic Sea has been tasked with presenting these by the next conference of environment ministers in the fall, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's environment ministry announced at the end of the spring conference of environment ministers in Leipzig. The weeks-long drama surrounding a humpback whale that stranded several times in the Baltic Sea had shown that clearer structures and coordinated procedures were needed.
"Such operations are highly complex," said Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Environment Minister Till Backhaus (SPD). Clear responsibilities, coordinated processes and a common approach across state borders are required. The decision that has now been taken shows "that we are not only taking the matter seriously, but also developing consequences from it".
