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Flounder Faces Pollution and Overfishing in Baltic Sea

A photo of a European flounder in the Baltic Sea.
(© OCEANA Carlos Minguell)

For centuries, the Baltic Sea has provided European flounder (Platichthys flesus) and other fish for millions of people to consume. Since the early 1980s, the nations surrounding the sea have coordinated their efforts to protect its health through the Helsinki Commission. In addition to being overfished, the Baltic Sea is one of the more polluted bodies of water in the world. You can read about some of the impacts that chemical pollutants have had on European flounder on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species website. View other images of Baltic Sea life in a photo gallery of Oceana’s 2011 expedition.