MCC Documents Repository

The inconsistency in the determination of the Good Environmental Status for species assessment under the first cycle of the EU's Marine Strategy Framework Directive emerged in a harmonisation exercise. This exercise was launched with the species' identification of MSFD Descriptor's 1 concern and the collection of the operational or developing indicators and methods for the status assessment and classification of marine species. The latter was materialised with this report, by collecting information from several sources including the Regional Sea Conventions and the relevant marine and environment EU policies. The methodological standards and the threshold setting processes can be harmonised at three levels, to achieve consistent GES determination for the species assessed under the MSFD: i) MSFD criteria; ii) species groups, and iii) spatial scale. The next step will be to further evaluate the operability and suitability of these indicators and methods, associate them with data availability and propose the best possible option for the status classification of species at those three levels.

Reducing litter in the coastal and marine environment is a major and priority challenge in the effort to preserve biota, ecosystems, as well as goods and services that humans derive from seas and oceans. The identification of the most abundant beach litter items, the 'Top Marine Beach Litter Items', is a matter of concern for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), the EU Plastics Strategy and in general for the prioritisation of measures against marine litter. Specific measures are needed to prevent further inputs and reduce the abundance of litter items.

The 2018 reporting on updates of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Articles 8, 9 and 10 will be supported by web forms to aid completion of the XML files by Member States. It is planned to use, wherever possible, drop-down lists to facilitate data entry, thereby also helping to ensure consistency in the data entered. This report outlines a process to prepare a list of contaminants for use in 2018 MSFD D8 reporting (as drop-down lists in the reporting web forms). This list assists in using a harmonized nomenclature for the unambiguous identification of the substances, thereby facilitating consistency in the data entry. Additionally, the compilation of the list allows for comparisons between Member States and marine regions that may support the processes of selection of relevant contaminants for D8 assessments.

JRC produced reference lists of species and habitats for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), following the recommendations listed in the COM DEC 2017/848/EU and shared them with the marine biodiversity experts proposed by the EU Member States, for their evaluation. This task is part of the mandate to JRC (GES_18-2017-03) to facilitate Member States data entry, as part of the MSFD reporting obligations, in the EEA reporting web-forms, while increasing consistency and harmonization across Member States. The scope of this technical report is: i) to describe the methodology applied for the synthesis of the reference lists; ii) to provide directions to the experts to evaluate and update them; iii) to provide Member States with the possibility to consult the reference lists (embedded in this document) for any future MSFD related task.

The identification of priority chemicals is a challenge for regulators, managers and researchers all around the world. This report compiles in a single list more than 2700 substances (or groups of substances) coming from main lists of chemicals compiled by relevant global conventions, European legislation, European regional seas and dedicated research work. Although not all of these contaminants are of concern for the marine environment or for a particular MSFD region/sub-region/Member State, this general overview should help understand the different options and support further developments for the monitoring and assessment of chemical pollution in European marine waters. Discussion and collaboration between the different stakeholders and expert groups will be necessary for an efficient way towards an equally high level of protection for healthy and productive oceans. This compilation also assists in using a harmonized nomenclature for the unambiguous identification of the substances of concern. It may also serve as a basis for discussions about procedures for grouping/combining substances at European level. This is expected to facilitate consistency in the upcoming 2018 MSFD data reporting.

COMMISSION DIRECTIVE (EU) 2017/845 of 17 May 2017 amending Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the indicative lists of elements to be taken into account for the preparation of marine strategies

COMMISSION DECISION (EU) 2017/848 of 17 May 2017 laying down criteria and methodological standards on good environmental status of marine waters and specifications and standardised methods for monitoring and assessment, and repealing Decision 2010/477/EU

Marine litter is a global concern with a range of problems associated to it, as recognised by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Marine litter can impact organisms at different levels of biological organization and habitats in a number of ways namely: through entanglement in, or ingestion of, litter items by individuals, resulting in death and/or severe suffering; through chemical and microbial transfer; as a vector for transport of biota and by altering or modifying assemblages of species. Marine litter is a threat not only to marine species and ecosystems but also carries a risk to human health and has significant implications to human welfare, impacting negatively vital economic sectors such as tourism, fisheries, aquaculture or energy supply and bringing economic losses to individuals, enterprises and communities.

The MSFD workshop on biodiversity (MSFD D1), held in Ispra JRC (7th-9th of September 2015) aimed to provide clear proposals and conclusions on some of the outstanding issues identified in the D1 review process and included in the review manual (D1 review version, May 2015: https://circabc.europa.eu/w/browse/46d2b7ba-d2fd-4b3c-9eaf-18c7cb702b53) in support to the review of Commission Decision 2010/477/EU.

This report represents the result of the scientific and technical review of Commission Decision 2010/477/EU in relation to Descriptor 10. The review has been carried out by the EC JRC together with the MSFD Technical Group on Marine Litter, and has considered contributions from the GES Working Group in accordance with the roadmap set out in the MSFD implementation strategy (agreed on at the 11th CIS MSCG meeting). The report is one of a series of reports (review manuals) including Descriptor 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 that conclude phase 1 of the review process and, as agreed within the MSFD Common Implementation Strategy, are the basis for review phase 2, towards an eventual revision of the Commission Decision 2010/477/EU. The report presents the state of the technical discussions as of 30 April 2015, as some discussions are ongoing, it does not contain agreed conclusions on all issues. The views expressed in the document do not necessarily represent the views of the European Commission.