The pollution of the world ocean waters largely depends on the extent of migration of contaminants from the earth surface. Therefore, pollution of the Gulf of Finland is a global problem for which the coastal countries are responsible. The emergence of HELCOM's hot spot detection was the beginning of the protection of the Baltic Sea. The results of the program showed that a certain contribution to the anthropogenic load on the waters of the Gulf of Finland is provided by the economic activity of livestock complexes located in the catchment area of the Gulf of Finland in the Leningrad region. The main causes of degradation of water bodies laid in the 70-s of the last century, in connection with the massive transfer of livestock and poultry on an industrial basis. All this was carried out without sufficient scientific justification of environmental and social consequences of environmental degradation. The results of the study show that the main problems of pollution entering the Gulf of Finland are natural factors: the increasing degree of precipitation, which contributed to the leaching of manure from the territories of the livestock complex and agricultural land on which manure was utilized, which could subsequently lead to the appearance of objects of accumulated environmental damage. At the same time, the degradation of sanitary systems for the disposal of manure effluents could significantly reduce the efficiency of treatment and cause the ingress of pollutants into surface water bodies located near the livestock complex. The reasons for these negative phenomena to date remain a failed policy in the industry, the lack of practice of “environmental debt” and management decisions on the treatment of objects of accumulated damage to the environment.