The presentation is based on a multi-disciplinary study on the role of geneticbiodiversity in the governance of Baltic Sea Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Theaim of the study has been threefold:1) to review how genetic biodiversity is dealt with in international- and nationalpolicies and in regional management plans governing the MPAs,2) to explore possible explanations to the attention, or lack of attention, given togenetic biodiversity in the management of MPAs, and3) to evaluate the effectiveness of different forms of knowledge transfer,between science and conservation managers, on the topic of genetic biodiversityin marine conservation.