Title :

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

Author(s) :

Magliozzi, Chiara [Auteur]
European Commission - Joint Research Centre [Ispra] [JRC]
Palma, Marco [Auteur]
Druon, Jean-Noël [Auteur]
European Commission - Joint Research Centre [Ispra] [JRC]
Palialexis, Andreas [Auteur]
European Commission - Joint Research Centre [Ispra] [JRC]
Abigail, Mcquatters-Gollop [Auteur]
Plymouth University
Ioanna, Varkitzi [Auteur]
Rafael, González- Quirós [Auteur]
Elena, Gorokhova [Auteur]
S.I. Vavilov State Optical Institute
Birgit, Heyden [Auteur]
Laura, Boicenco [Auteur]
Artigas, Luis Felipe [Auteur]
Laboratoire d’Océanologie et de Géosciences (LOG) - UMR 8187 [LOG]
Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale [ULCO]

Journal title :

Marine Policy

Pages :

105467

Publisher :

Elsevier

Publication date :

2023-02

ISSN :

0308-597X

English keyword(s) :

Good environmental status MSFD
Plankton indicators
Marine water column
Satellite

English abstract : [en]

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 ...
Show more >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.Show less >

Language :

Anglais

Popular science :

Non

ANR Project :

Observing and anticipating the evolution of River-dominated ocean margins in the 21st century

Collections :

• Laboratoire d'Océanologie et de Géosciences (LOG) - UMR 8187

Source :

Harvested from HAL