Anniversary as the champion of the fjords
In May, it is 25 years since Professor Mogens Flindt was employed at SDU. He originally came to Odense to teach civil engineers, but his skills in mapping the poor condition of fjords and the marine environment quickly became so sought after that he can now celebrate his anniversary as one of Denmark’s leading experts in ecology and the aquatic environment.
If Magnus Heunicke is the minister for the sea, then Mogens Flindt must be one of most dedicated lifesavers of the marine environment.
Mogens Flindt graduated as a biologist in the same year that Denmark’s first action plan for the aquatic environment was adopted in 1987. Using wetsuits and mathematical models as tools, he has worked tirelessly since then to document the afflictions of the aquatic environment and to restore nature and biodiversity in our fjords and marine areas.
Long before the dead Danish fjords became the focus of the media and politicians last year, Mogens Flindt saw with his own eyes how difficult it is for our Danish fjords to cope with all the nitrogen that is discharged, so he took it upon himself to swim around the fjords and plant new eelgrass seedlings. With its many ecosystem services, eelgrass can support an improvement in the environmental condition in a fjord.
Things are moving far too slowly
And when you talk to him, it becomes clear that there are no quick-fix solutions to the problems below the surface. The long-standing failure to protect the aquatic environment has caused so much damage that it will take many years to repair the damage.
- When I started in the field, it was right in the middle of all the appalling things, the environmental conditions were really awful back in the 1980s. Fortunately, the action plans for the aquatic environment have led to some changes, and we are starting to see improvements in some places. But there are still a lot of pressure factors that keep our aquatic environment in a poor state, and the pace of change is far too slow, says Professor Mogens Flindt.
And while he’s on the topic of how the aquatic environment is under pressure, there is no getting around the role of agriculture. And in this respect he can’t help but see red.
- For decades, cities and industry have been quite good at controlling their discharges from wastewater treatment plants, but agriculture continues to lag behind and still accounts for a large percentage of nitrogen runoff into the aquatic environment.
Mogens Flindt on the eelgrass debate
Eelgrass is not a rescue plan for our climate. That was the message recently from a number of key Danish marine researchers, including Mogens Flindt; but then why are they so keen to plant eelgrass in the fjords? We asked the professor in ecology about this:
- Although there has been a lot of debate about eelgrass lately, it’s important to make clear that re-establishing eelgrass beds is really important if we are to achieve a better state of nature in Danish waters. If we don’t get the eelgrass back, we will be leaving the fjords to fast-growing algae that keep the ecosystem in poor condition with recurring oxygen depletion.
- I would like to emphasise that we build and re-establish eelgrass beds for research purposes, to collect both positive and negative data on how it makes sense to restore our waters. But eelgrass cannot and must not be the sole remedy to ease the pressure on our waters. There are many pressure factors out there and eelgrass does a great job of creating biodiversity and well-functioning food chains as well as storing nitrogen, but it cannot stand alone, there is a great need to also reduce nitrogen discharges in coastal areas.
Nature is a top priority
The well-being of nature is clearly a top priority for the professor in ecology. Throughout his research career, he has been on a constant mission to document the harmful effects of discharges on the aquatic environment and, not least, to try to do something about the situation – both in collaboration with the authorities and out in the fjords.
- We are the heavyweight knowledge partner that supports the Danish Environmental Protection Agency and the municipalities with knowledge and data about what the problems are and how marine nature restoration must take place if we are to succeed in improving the condition of our fjords and marine environment, says Mogens Flindt.
He and his research group service the authorities in connection with the collaboration on the action plans for the aquatic environment, and he has been involved as an expert in, for example, the Ministry of Environment’s efforts to investigate whether marine interventions can remove nitrogen and phosphorus from the marine environment.
A thorn in the side
But such collaboration is not always without friction:
- They’re not always happy with my input. I’m definitely a thorn in their side at times, he says.
But he also senses that the knowledge and experience accumulated in the research group over the years really comes into play now that politicians are ready to provide urgent help to the Danish aquatic environment.
In May 2024, the Sund Vejle Fjord (Healthy Vejle Fjord) project – a collaboration between the University of Southern Denmark and the municipality of Vejle – received a national policy boost of DKK 39 million from the emergency package for the aquatic environment. The money will be used to enable the municipality of Vejle to buy upland land in the area, which will reduce nitrogen emissions to Vejle Fjord by approximately 24 tonnes per year.
Healthy Vejle Fjord
Set in Vejle Fjord, Healthy Vejle Fjord is Denmark’s largest marine nature restoration project and was developed through a collaboration between the municipality of Vejle and SDU. Since 2018, over 100,000 eelgrass seedlings have been planted across 6 hectares, 35 hectares of new mussel beds have been created, 8 hectares of stone reefs have been established and 34 tonnes of crabs have been harvested. The project has a budget of DKK 25 million and is funded by the Velux Foundation and the municipality of Vejle.
- Because a real biologist is in the field, as he says.
Mogens Flindt will be pulling on his wetsuit again already on the 8th of June for the Danmark Planter Ålegræs (Denmark Plants Eelgrass) event at which members of the public have the opportunity to help plant eelgrass at 32 locations across the country and at the same time shine a spotlight on how we take care of our marine environment. Learn more about the initiative here: https://www.taenketankenhav.dk/aalegraes (in Danish)
Meet the researcher
Mogens Flindt is a professor at the Department of Biology, and his research areas are ecology and the aquatic environment. He collaborates with a number of municipalities on research into the aquatic environment and nature restoration in areas such as Vejle Fjord, Odense Fjord and the coastal lagoon at Gyldensteen Estate, and he is a member of the steering committee for the Centre for Marine Restoration which is supported by the Velux Foundation and the Ministry of Environment.