Status of pelagic habitats within the EU-Marine Strategy Framework Directive: Proposals for improving consistency and representativeness of the assessment

Anthropogenic activities have transformed the pelagic habitat in the last decades with profound implications for its essential functions. While the EU-Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC and the Commission Decision (EU) 2017/848 have set criteria and methodological standards for the assessment and determination of Good Environmental Status (GES) for pelagic habitats in EU waters, there is strong evidence that Member States have not yet harmonized the pelagic GES assessment across EU marine waters. Today, pelagic habitats are assessed by evaluating whether good status is achieved by each of the pelagic indicators, but this approach fails to observe the high variability of the pelagic environment. To this end, GES is not estimated at pelagic habitats scale but only for each individual indicator. This paper synthesises the latest developments on pelagic habitats assessment and identifies the main factors limiting the consistency of the assessment across Member States: i) coarse spatial and temporal scales of sampling effort as regards to the pelagic habitat dynamics, ii) little consideration of the whole range of plankton (and, to some extent, of zooplankton) size and trophic spectra, iii) lack of integrated hydro-biogeochemical and biological studies and collaboration among experts from different scientific fields, iv) limited availability of pressure-based indicators, and v) lack of integration methods of the pelagic indicators’ status for the GES determination. This analysis demonstrates the importance of maintaining a consistent sampling frequency and a spatially extensive network of stations across the gradient of anthropogenic pressures, where spatial environmental data can help objectively extrapolating field data.The authors would like to thank the Pelagic Habitats Experts, part of the MSFD Biodiversity Expert Network for the fruitful discussions on the harmonisation of the MSFD assessment and monitoring for pelagic habitats. CM, MP, JND, and AP were funded by the Joint Research Centre of Ispra (Italy). IV wishes to acknowledge support from the program “Monitoring and recording the situation of the marine sub-regions of Greece / Upgrading and functional updating of the MSFD monitoring network”, funded by national and EU funds under National Strategic Reference Framework 2014–2020 (MIS 5010880), and the European project ABIOMMED: Support coherent and coordinated assessment of biodiversity and measures across Mediterranean for the next 6-year cycle of MSFD implementation, funded by DG Environment (11.0661/2020/839620/SUB/ENV.C2), coordinator Dr. Kalliopi Pagou, HCMR.Peer reviewe

Chlorophyll a distribution in the Romanian Black Sea inner shelf waters in 2009 .

Abstract. In 2009, seasonal and spatial variability of surface chlorophyll a in Romanian inner shelf waters was studied on the basis of samples collected during four seasonal cruises conducted both in the Danube mouths and Constanta areas. The seasonal distribution showed three peaks; the first one was recorded in February (6.22 ± 2.63 μg/l), followed by a more pronounced one in early May (9.47 ± 6.88 μg/l) corresponding to the Danube’s higher discharges in spring. After a relatively low chlorophyll a in July, there was found the third peak in September (10.29 ± 8.18 μg/l) as a result of a strong diatoms bloom in the Portita area (south of the Danube mouths). Except for winter, the spatial distribution of surface chlorophyll a was characterized by high variability; the chlorophyll a concentrations measured in the Danube mouths area, especially in shallower stations along the Portita profile (> 20 μg/l in May and September), were much higher than those recorded on transect East-Constanta

Pelagic habitats under MSFD D1: current approaches and priorities : An overview of approaches towards D1C6 assessment

This report reviews the current situation as regards to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Descriptor 1 (Biodiversity) for pelagic habitats and serves as a basis for a workshop with Member States experts and scientists that will be held on March 9-10 2021. Recommendations are in the concluding section. Pelagic habitats cover the 71% of Earth’s surface and play an essential role in regulating temperature on land, producing oxygen and food. They are also a management challenge where the alterations of their physical, chemical and biological characteristics negatively impact their ecosystem functioning and services (e.g. provisioning services). To address these challenges, the MSFD has required the assessment of pelagic habitats against environmental targets to reach Good Environmental Status (GES). A key step in the pelagic habitat assessment is a thorough understanding of its physical, chemical and biological processes and the drivers that underlie the spatiotemporal variability in its ecologically relevant ecosystem components. However, pelagic assessments to date have not sufficiently addressed the functional and structural characteristics of pelagic habitats processes, which is limiting our ability to inform on their environmental status and to disentangle the anthropogenic drivers. This report evaluates previously published work on pelagic habitats assessments considering the actions and targets to meet the MSFD requirements. To do this, the report (i) summarises the main drivers of variation in pelagic habitat characterization; (ii) reviews the common empirical approaches used to assess pelagic habitats, the advantages, and challenges; and finally (iii) exposes a set of recommendations for characterising pelagic habitats in EU waters. Since the pelagic habitats are made of a highly dynamic fluid, appropriate spatiotemporal scales regarding data and methods must be considered to assess their GES. This applies in particular to the selected indicators to propose the effective and quantifiable GES targets that need to be reached

EMODnet Workshop on mechanisms and guidelines to mobilise historical data into biogeographic databases

The objective of Workpackage 4 of the European Marine Observation and Data network (EMODnet) is to fill spatial and temporal gaps in European marine species occurrence data availability by carrying out data archaeology and rescue activities. To this end, a workshop was organised in the Hellenic Center for Marine Research Crete (HCMR), Heraklion Crete, (8–9 June 2015) to assess possible mechanisms and guidelines to mobilise legacy biodiversity data. Workshop participants were data managers who actually implement data archaeology and rescue activities, as well as external experts in data mobilisation and data publication. In particular, current problems associated with manual extraction of occurrence data from legacy literature were reviewed, tools and mechanisms which could support a semi-automated process of data extraction were explored and the re-publication of the data, including incentives for data curators and scientists were reflected upon

CoCoNet: Towards coast to coast networks of marine protected areas (From the shore to the high and deep sea), coupled with sea-based wind energy potential

This volume contains the main results of the EC FP7 "The Ocean of Tomorrow" Project CoCoNet, divided in two sections: 1) a set of guidelines to design networks of Marine Protected Areas in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas; 2) a smart wind chart that will allow evaluating the possibility of installing Offshore Wind Farms in both seas. The concept of Cells of Ecosystem Functioning, based on connectivity, is introduced to define natural units of management and conservation. The definition of Good Environmental Status, as defined in the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, is fully embraced to set the objectives of the project, by adopting a holistic approach that integrates a full set of disciplines, ranging from physics to bio-ecology, economics, engineering and many sub-disciplines. The CoCoNet Consortium involved scientist sfrom 22 states, based in Africa, Asia, and Europe, contributing to build a coherent scientific community

CoCoNet: Towards coast to coast networks of marine protected areas (From the shore to the high and deep sea), coupled with sea-based wind energy potential

This volume contains the main results of the EC FP7 "The Ocean of Tomorrow" Project CoCoNet, divided in two sections: 1) a set of guidelines to design networks of Marine Protected Areas in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas; 2) a smart wind chart that will allow evaluating the possibility of installing Offshore Wind Farms in both seas. The concept of Cells of Ecosystem Functioning, based on connectivity, is introduced to define natural units of management and conservation. The definition of Good Environmental Status, as defined in the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, is fully embraced to set the objectives of the project, by adopting a holistic approach that integrates a full set of disciplines, ranging from physics to bio-ecology, economics, engineering and many sub-disciplines. The CoCoNet Consortium involved scientist sfrom 22 states, based in Africa, Asia, and Europe, contributing to build a coherent scientific community