Technical review of Commission Decision 2010/477/EU concerning MSFD criteria for assessing GES Work flow and progress 20/21 October 2014 12th WG GES meeting, Brussels A. C. Cardoso, G. Hanke, F. Somma

Review set-up JRC and ICES operate in partnership to deliver scientific and technical support for the MSFD implementation as identified in the CIS Work process agreed Expert networks set-up Meetings/workshops held

Descriptor Lead Expert involvement D1 JRC-ICES MSFD Expert Network D2 JRC D3 ICES ICES Expert network D4 ICES Expert Network D5 D6 D7 D8 MSFD Expert Network Contaminants D9 D10 MSFD Technical Group Marine Litter D11 MSFD Technical Group Noise

Review progress Expert networks consulted on all Descriptors Review templates filled for all Descriptors Compilation of main issues (DG ENV, Milieu, JRC, ICES): GES_12-2014-05_Manual_BackgroundNote_V2 Technical discussions ongoing

Overall considerations Review of the different descriptors is at different degree of maturity Comments from WG GES welcome, but timing slightly different for each group of descriptors (see individual roadmaps). Final review will incorporate WG GES comments.

Review Roadmap D1 – D2 – D5 20-21 Oct 2014 - WG GES June 2014 Call for experts July 2014 Template JRC → experts September 2014 Template experts → JRC May 2014 Template Milieu → JRC October 2014 Comments incorporated 17 Mar 2014 - WG GES

Technical basis for review Next steps D1 – D2 – D5 20-21 Oct 2014 - WG GES December 2014 Draft review JRC → EG (second round) Oct 2014 Draft proposal for open issues 22-23 April 2015 - WG GES Technical basis for review COM DEC 2010/477/EU January 2015 Draft review EG → JRC 23 March 2015 Final review JRC → WG GES Comments from EG and CC incorporated

D1: Key conclusions + issues still under review More effort is needed to conclude to common agreed methodological standards and GES boundaries (wherever feasible) GES definition on a Criterion or Descriptor level (quantitative definition of GES and aggregation methods) Specify the content of the ecosystem criterion and clarify links with other “state” descriptors Specification of common characteristics (at least regionally or sub-regionally) and potential revision of Table1 of Annex III of the MSFD Ways to take into account biodiversity assessments under other EU legislations (in particular Habitat and Birds Dir)

D2: Key conclusions + issues still under review To resolve issues of terminology efforts should be made to build upon existing glossaries, e.g. OSPAR glossary. Division of opinions on the inclusion or exclusion of criteria Further discussion will be necessary related to alien species impacts and links with status descriptors (cross-cutting issue) No consensus on definition threshold values and reference points both in relation to the feasibility and the specific values

D5: Issues still under review MSFD-WFD links /harmonisation for eutrophication assessment (eutrophication not being explicitly addressed in WFD, guidance on how to harmonize WFD GEcS with MDFS GEnS) Common assessment methods vs regional and sub-regional hydrological and ecological differences (numerical adjustments may be necessary, e.g. baseline and thresholds, to reflect these differences) Quantifiable GES and use of GES boundaries/thresholds would require a number of conditions (e.g. accounting for confidence limits and uncertainties in numerical criteria values, accounting for regional differences in eutrophication process), similar to WFD Intercalibration Link with other descriptors (e.g. D4, D6, D7) need to be clarified with respect to variables to be assessed/monitored: aim is to avoid double assessments. Update of the directive implementation MSFD Competence centre

D7 workflow D7 in-depth assessment is available (MCC website) (http://mcc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/document.py?Num=0&mot=in-depth%207&classement=&code=201409161418) D7 expert network set-up (8 countries) Questionnaire document prepared for D7 Expert Network Review template filled and commented Discussions in MSFD expert network ongoing (mail + CIRCABC)

D7 issues There are no harmonised approaches. Guidance document is needed Clarification of the pressure-impact chain is needed! Definition of time and space scales is needed. Baseline, parameters and GES are not well defined and need to be clarified

Technical basis for review Next steps D7 20-21 Oct 2014 - WG GES December 2014 - January 2015 Ongoing discussion on identified issues 28.11.2014 Comments via Expert Network (GES) WG GES (April 2015) Technical basis for review COM DEC 2010/477/EU January – March 2014 Cross-Cutting workshop input and finalization of recommendations

D8/9 workflow D8 and D9 are separate Descriptors but reviewed together Contaminant Expert Network review meeting 2.-4.7.2014 Discussion document prepared and commented (mail + CIRCABC) Template filled, commented Discussions ongoing Comments by GES preferably through MSFD Expert Network on Contaminants Additional Network Members are welcome

D8 issues WFD/MSFD harmonization is ongoing Substances (WFD PS core set, other relevant substances) Matrix selection (water, sediment, biota, species) Assessment (EQS/others, scale and aggregation) Monitoring strategy (sampling set-up, trend monitoring) Biological effects (strategy, core set, specifications) Acute pollution (coverage, specifications)

D9 issues Relation and coordination D8/D9 Substances (Food Safety regulation core set) Matrix (Species selection, tissues) Assessment (EU Food Safety Thresholds) Compliance criteria (Frequency of exceedance and contaminant number) Monitoring strategy (traceability, sampling set-up)

Technical basis for review Next steps D8/9 20-21 Oct 2014 - WG GES January – March 2014 Cross-Cutting workshop input and finalization of recommendations 28.11.2014 Comments via Expert Network (GES) WG GES (April 2015) Technical basis for review COM DEC 2010/477/EU December 2014 - January 2015 Ongoing discussion on identified issues February 2014 Contaminant Expert Network meeting

D10 workflow Review performed by Technical Group on Marine Litter Kick-off during Riga meeting (11.-13.6.2014) Discussion document prepared and commented Discussions in TG ML Template filled, discussions ongoing

D10 issues Sources and pathways (identification and quantification) Impact (current research is considering also ingestion in other species, entanglement) Micro Litter (indicator or size category) Litter categories (minimum operational requirements as category core list) Methodological standards (lack of agreed methodologies for some indicators) Scales and Aggregation (to be discussed)

Technical basis for review Next steps D10 20-21 Oct 2014 - WG GES December 2014 - January 2015 Ongoing discussion on identified issues 28.11.2014 Comments via Expert Network (GES) WG GES (April 2015) Technical basis for review COM DEC 2010/477/EU January – March 2014 Cross-Cutting workshop input and finalization of recommendations 2015 TG ML review meeting

Next steps On Descriptors 1,2,5 WG GES will be invited to comment on an advanced draft for consultation prior to submitting to WG GES meeting in spring 2015 On Descriptors 7,8,9,10 WG GES is invited to comment until 28.11.2014, preferably through the MSFD Expert Networks (where MS have experts), others can comment directly