"We're here, we're loud because the Baltic Sea is being stolen from us!", chanted numerous water sports enthusiasts at the joint rally against the Baltic Sea National Park on Friday. Sailing yachts and motorboats sounded their horns loudly. According to the organisers, around 300 boats, 100 surfers and around 1,000 demonstrators gathered on land to protest against the national park plans of the Schleswig-Holstein state government.
The calm conditions with only a few knots of wind allowed the participants to be relatively close together. After organiser Jochen Czwalina from the "Free Baltic Sea Schleswig-Holstein" initiative opened the event with a short speech over the radio and loudspeakers, all the participating boats sounded their horns for several minutes. To clearly show the solidarity of all water sports enthusiasts, the entire group made their way to the beach at Strukkamphuk, where windsurfers, wingers and paddlers had gathered. After a subsequent parade of boats through the Fehmarn Sound, the rally ended at around 6.40 pm.
"No national park for party political reasons"
"I'm just speechless and delighted with so much positive support," summarised Jochen Czwalina afterwards. "We are the families, the clubs, the businesses, the hosts and the local visitors who love the Baltic Sea. We are all in favour of environmental protection and we practice it every day. But we are against a prestige object from some politicians in Kiel. We do not need to be patronised from above by a national park authority with federal and EU laws. We are against unjustified over-regulation of our Baltic Sea region. We are in favour of environmental protection that involves citizens and is shaped with us locally."
Björn Brüggemann, the spokesperson for the initiative, was also overwhelmed by the turnout: "All I see here are people who love the Baltic Sea. I see people of all professions and ages here. The peaceful protest that has been expressed here will hopefully finally be recognised by Minister Tobias Goldschmidt and Minister President Daniel Günther. We are all in favour of more protection for the Baltic Sea. But this does not go against the interests of the people. We don't need a national park for party political reasons."
The workshop for the water sports sector is scheduled for 11 July, where the various associations and interests can be heard and put forward their objections and views on the national park plans.
Headwinds from the tourism industry too
State Secretary Katja Günther also faced headwinds at a meeting with representatives of the tourism industry last week. According to the SHZ newspapers, there were fears of "competitive disadvantages" compared to other regions. "Everyone wants to protect the Baltic Sea, but not with a national park or announcements from above," said one representative. However, no concrete approaches were presented there either.
Meanwhile, in the state parliament's environment and agriculture committee, FDP MP Oliver Kumbartzky spoke of "devastating" feedback from the workshops that have taken place so far, according to SHZ. In a test vote, no one had spoken out in favour of a national park. Minister Tobias Goldschmidt responded by explaining that the events were intended to gather opinions, but "there is no plebiscite". The consultation with the interest groups should form the "basis for the decision", said the minister. However, decisions would be made by the state parliament.
