In Sweden, hunting for seals and certain species of seabirds is regulated by the Hunting Act, the Hunting Ordinance and various supplementary regulations as well as other legally binding documents. The hunt can be carried out either as predator control, license hunting or general hunting. The different types of hunting have partly different purposes and conditions linked to the conduct of the hunt. The main purpose of the predator control is to limit the damage that wildlife causes to human activities and interests and in some cases the damage that a species causes to other animals and plants. In license hunting, the kills and thus the development of the game stock in question must be adapted to the availability of game and with regard to public and private interests. The hunt must also have a clear purpose, e.g. to prevent the damage caused by wildlife. In the case of general hunting, the hunting right holder has the opportunity to hunt an unlimited number of animals of the permitted type during the permitted hunting period, however, the hunting must be adapted to the availability of game. Predator control and license hunting is conducted following a decision by an authority. General hunting seasons are regulated in the Hunting Ordinance. The Hunting Ordinance also contains provisions that certain species may be hunted on the hunters own initiative to prevent the damage caused by wildlife. Historically, intensive hunting has been a contributing factor to some species being endangered, but today hunting is regulated so that it does not cause a negative impact on the viability of stocks. Hunting, however, is one of several human activities that must be monitored in order to be able to follow the development of different populations of birds and seals.

In the regular sampling carried out on board commercial fishing vessels in accordance with EU data collection regulations ((EU) 2017/1004, (EU) 2016/1251), as well as the regulation on the conservation of fishery resources and the protection of marine ecosystems (EU ) 2019/1241, information regarding by-catch is obtained. All fish species, commercial shellfish, mammals and birds are noted. Sampling takes place mainly on vessels fishing with various bottom trawls. Data collection carried out according to the EU data collection regulations is coordinated internationally between Member States in regional data collection coordination groups. Sweden participates in two such groups RCG Baltic and RCG North Sea and Eastern Arctic (to which the Skagerrak and Kattegat belong). Furthermore, a lot of international coordination and development work is done within ICES´s various expert groups (for by-catches mainly WGBYC). Sweden participates actively in these groups. Pilot studies were carried out in 2017-2019 with the aim of conducting by-catch sampling in 2020 in fisheries that use passive gear (nets and hooks). The purpose is to increase knowledge about by-catches in these fisheries, to test whether it is possible to estimate by-catches by having observers on board fishing boats, and if this is an effective method. Sampling of nets in the Sound and in the Kattegat will be included in the regular sampling from 2020. However, no ongoing monitoring of passive gear is currently planned in the Baltic Proper as previous pilots observed fewer by-catches there. So based on risk, monitoring in the Sound and Kattegatt are therefore prioritized. The Skagerrak could possibly be added after the pilot study there is completed in 2021. The pilot studies have shown that it also works to monitor the fish with passive gear with the help of observers (the challenge is that the vessels are small). However, the question remains whether this is the most effective way of estimating the total amount of by-catches in the fisheries. The problem is that observers can only cover a small part of the total fishing effort and that by-catches of many species (such as harbour porpoises and various birds) are relatively uncommon. This means that there will be few observations and thus uncertainty in the estimates of the total amount of by-catches. In 2020, therefore, a new pilot project was initiated where surveillance with the help of cameras is tested and compared with surveillance with the help

Seabirds are an important part of the marine ecosystem, as most species are high up in the food chain. The monitoring of breeding and wintering birds along the coast and in the offshore areas aims to follow the population development over time, which can be affected by changing conditions in the food web but also by the direct impact that arises from a number of different human activities. The status of seabirds therefore gives a general indication of the state of the ecosystem and corresponds to the cumulative impact of different pressures. Breeding and wintering birds are nationally monitored annually along the Swedish coast. Standardized inventories of wintering birds along the coast of Sweden have been ongoing annually since 1967 and are coordinated internationally within the International Waterbird Census. Breeding birds have been monitored on a large scale since 2010. At the local level, monitoring of breeding coastal birds is also carried out in a number of coastal counties, where several of the programmes are linked to the national programme. With an approximate six-year interval, inventories of wintering seabird species in the offshore areas are carried out, in order to supplement the annual inventories. These inventories are coordinated internationally and were first carried out in 1992-93. In 2020, inventories will be carried out in the offshore sea areas within the HELCOM and OSPAR regions in order to improve knowledge of the species that live there, especially hareld (Clangula hyemalis). The inventories are coordinated with other countries around the Baltic Sea and the North Sea through the working group JWGbird. Somateria mollissima (Anas molissima) is also monitored, but was not in the element list