Assessing the First MSFD Implementation Cycle in Greece under Biodiversity and Contaminants Descriptors

The present work constitutes an assessment of the first implementation cycle of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC in Greece by focusing on biodiversity and contaminants, i.e., descriptors 1 (biodiversity), 4 (food webs), 6 (seafloor integrity), 8 (contaminants), and 9 (contaminants in seafood), and by following the directive’s requirements regarding Articles 8—Initial Assessment, 9—Definition of Good Environmental Status, 10—Establishment of Environmental Targets, 11—Monitoring Programmes, and 13—Programmes of Measures. In this study, the analysis that was conducted investigated the integration of the Com Dec 2010/477/EU criteria and the indicators that have been applied for each descriptor and the approaches and standards that have been used in order to determine the adequacy of the directive’s implementation towards the achievement of the GES, the consistency of Articles 8, 9, 10, 11, and 13, and the integration of existing EU legislation and regional/ international agreements or policies as well as the level of coherence among EU Mediterranean MSs. Overall, Greece addressed the requirements of Articles 8, 9, and 10 rather inadequately for D1, D4, D6 and partially adequately for D8, D9, integrating existing legislation to a certain extent. The implementation of Article 11 was satisfactory for all of the descriptors regarding monitoring the needs and the progress towards GES, whereas the measures that were established under Article 13 need to be improved in the forthcoming update.

The Plankton Lifeform Extraction Tool: a digital tool to increase the discoverability and usability of plankton time-series data

Plankton form the base of the marine food web and are sensitive indicators of environmental change. Plankton time series are therefore an essential part of monitoring progress towards global biodiversity goals, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity Aichi Targets, and for informing ecosystem-based policy, such as the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Multiple plankton monitoring programmes exist in Europe, but differences in sampling and analysis methods prevent the integration of their data, constraining their utility over large spatio-temporal scales. The Plankton Lifeform Extraction Tool brings together disparate European plankton datasets into a central database from which it extracts abundance time series of plankton functional groups, called “lifeforms”, according to shared biological traits. This tool has been designed to make complex plankton datasets accessible and meaningful for policy, public interest, and scientific discovery. It allows examination of large-scale shifts in lifeform abundance or distribution (for example, holoplankton being partially replaced by meroplankton), providing clues to how the marine environment is changing. The lifeform method enables datasets with different plankton sampling and taxonomic analysis methodologies to be used together to provide insights into the response to multiple stressors and robust policy evidence for decision making. Lifeform time series generated with the Plankton Lifeform Extraction Tool currently inform plankton and food web indicators for the UK's Marine Strategy, the EU's Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and for the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR) biodiversity assessments. The Plankton Lifeform Extraction Tool currently integrates 155 000 samples, containing over 44 million plankton records, from nine different plankton datasets within UK and European seas, collected between 1924 and 2017. Additional datasets can be added, and time series can be updated. The Plankton Lifeform Extraction Tool is hosted by The Archive for Marine Species and Habitats Data (DASSH) at https://www.dassh.ac.uk/lifeforms/ (last access: 22 November 2021, Ostle et al., 2021). The lifeform outputs are linked to specific, DOI-ed, versions of the Plankton Lifeform Traits Master List and each underlying dataset.

Response of Food-Webs Indicators to Human Pressures, in the Scope of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive

Understanding food webs environmental condition is a challenging task since evaluations are limited by data on key ecosystem elements, by the availability of indicators that incorporate relevant guilds and by the difficulty in establishing cause-effect relations between pressures and health status, as multiple overlapping pressures can affect taxonomic elements differently. The present work aims to investigate food webs assessment under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), revealing gaps and future research needs in the North Eastern Atlantic. To understand reporting patterns, information on the criteria employed and the resulting assessment trends of Descriptor 4—Food webs were surveyed from the MSFD reports. A multivariate analysis was applied to food webs assessment status and spatially overlapping anthropogenic pressures to understand if the assessment was detecting pressures, considering fish elements. Results revealed that reporting strategies varied between Member States. High reporting effort was exhibited by the United Kingdom in opposition to Ireland or France. Reporting of other groups other than fish and plankton was limited to the United Kingdom due to the availability of monitoring programs and data. The analysis applied to criteria considering fish elements reinforced that reporting strategies and trends differed between countries, although some similarities were found for the Bay of Biscay and Iberian coast and the Celtic Seas. Food webs assessment trends for fish were variable in Spain and were stable or increased in Portugal and the United Kingdom. Anthropogenic drivers significantly influencing food web trends for fish elements were fishing, and climate anomalies in the southern Bay of Biscay and Iberian coast, while eutrophication and chemical contamination had effects on trends in the Celtic Sea and the North Sea. Results allowed to establish a relation between anthropogenic effects and food web patterns, however, these were limited since food webs assessment is incongruent in terms of criteria used and data is still limited at relevant scales. This study reinforced the necessity to increase Member States harmonization and calibration to improve our understanding of food webs environmental status.

A Drop in the Ocean: Patchy Evidence on the Societal Benefits of Marine Litter Reduction

The benefits of marine litter reduction to society, which are mostly non-market ones, need to be valued and quantified in monetary terms to be included in cost benefit analyses required by the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive. This article investigates the extent to which these benefits can be derived from existing studies. We review the available empirical evidence and analyze its key characteristics based on descriptive statistics. Comparing the availability of estimates with the requirements for the EU Member States, we find a striking mismatch between the data available and the information required, which cannot be alleviated by benefit transfer. This finding is valid for both, ex-ante and ex-post, evaluation attempts. We conclude that the evidence available at present is too patchy to derive country-wide policy implications to the extent necessary to comprehensively conduct the evaluations required by the Directive.

Diversity Loss in Coralligenous Structuring Species Impacted by Fishing Gear and Marine Litter

Coralligenous structuring species (CSS) form a group of marine megabenthic species with an engineering capacity. Since they are highly vulnerable to anthropogenic activities, they have been selected for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) monitoring programs. The pressure and impact of fishing gear and marine litter on these species were evaluated through the image analysis of 54 remotely operated vehicle (ROV) routes along the Campania coasts (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy). CSS density was calculated as the number of colonies/100 m2. Anthropogenic pressure was estimated as the frequency of frames showing longline, nets, other gear, plastic objects, metal objects, and other litter; while the impact was expressed as the frequency showing necrosis/epibiosis, broken/upturned and covered/entangled colonies. Cnidaria dominate in the Napoli, Campanella and Capri areas, while Bryozoa dominate in Cilento N and Cilento S areas. Campanella and Capri appeared to be the least heterogeneous despite their higher CSS densities, which was possibly related to the dominance of a few species. These areas were the most affected by showing the highest numbers of fishing gear (longlines) and marine litter (metal objects) recorded, amongst which longlines are the most abundant. In addition, these fishing areas are either close to a large urban center or located along popular touristic routes. In all the areas, colonies with necrosis/epibiosis (CNE) impact are present with low-moderate values, while the category gears covering/entangling (GCE) impact prevails in the Campanella and Capri areas, and this is strictly connected to the high presence of fishing gear.

Underwater noise in the Slovenian Sea

Continuous underwater noise has been monitored in the Slovenian sea near the lighthouse foundation at Debeli Rtič since February 2015, according to the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Anthropogenic noise sources (e.g. seawater densities, dredging activities and cleaning of the seafloor) and meteorological noise sources (e.g. wind speed and precipitation) were analysed in relation to the measured underwater noise levels using several graphical and statistical methods. The results of this study showed that average equivalent continuous underwater noise levels were, by 11 dB (L eq,63 Hz) and 5 dB (L eq,125 Hz), higher in the intervals when dredging activities took place than in the intervals when these activities were absent. Variation in underwater noise levels was partly related to the variation of the ship densities, which could be explained by the relatively small acoustic propagation in the shallow seawater. Precipitation level did not indicate any significant association with the variations in continuous underwater noise levels, though some larger deviations in the wind speed were found to be associated with the larger fluctuations in continuous underwater noise levels.