Synthesis of EEA-led EMMA workshops on: Towards a ‘converging’ framework for monitoring and assessments of European marine waters Synthesis of EEA-led EMMA workshops on: Operational oceanography Ecological processes and biological elements Chemical loads and burdens Eva Royo Gelabert Project Manager Marine assessments

First of all… Presentation based on workshops’ Report (document EMMA 07/3/1), which holds all this information and more! THANKS to all who made the workshops happen - prior, during and after the events (e.g. revision of Reports) Very positive and constructive experience with high interest and participation from countries, conventions and other organizations

Content EMMA last meeting and roadmap EEA activities to fulfil “active” EMMA roadmap objectives EEA-led EMMA workshops: Themes, Aims, Structure, Process and Outputs Detail on ‘Outputs’ (suggested) ‘Next steps’

EMMA last meeting and roadmap Main aim April 2006 meeting: Developing the EMMA roadmap to facilitate, in particular, arriving at the “Initial assessment” under the Marine Strategy Directive (MSD) Common understanding  Beneficial to “converge” towards a common set of indicators to support (pan) European marine assessments (PEMA), including those required by the MSD and the EEA’s EEA leading this task as we see a lot of scope of making the most of what exists, and assisting others in doing the same

EEA activities to fulfil “active” EMMA roadmap objectives Increasing efficiency of monitoring by looking at simplifying, streamlining and making comparable existing coastal/marine monitoring data Convergence of assessments: Leading development of a common set of pan-European marine indicators to be complemented regionally Both linked to EMMA roadmap objectives A.1 (regional inventory of indicators), and A.2 (national and regional inventory of monitoring) Main tool: EEA-led EMMA workshops

EEA-led EMMA workshops: Themes Operational oceanography: 23-24 October 2006 (to increase dialogue between “users” and “producers” of operational oceanography products) Ecological processes/biological elements: 20-21 November 2006 (we have great “needs”, what can we use already?) Chemical loads and burdens: 17-18 April 2007 (we have been doing this for some time now, how to take it a step further and e.g. improve reporting - by looking at an EEA ‘candidate’ indicator)

EEA-led EMMA workshops: Aims Original aim before EMMA 2006 meeting: ‘Foster networking towards streamlined monitoring and data collection’ A bit unfocussed and possibly too early: Data collection for what exactly (type of assessment)? One step back: Objectives and outputs re-formulated in view of EMMA roadmap New ‘combined’ aim: Part helping with ‘streamlining of monitoring’ and part with ‘convergence of assessments’

EEA-led EMMA workshops: Structure ‘Combined’ aim reflected in structure: 50% presentations on the context (MSD & EEA ‘needs”) and existing monitoring and assessment, e.g. from WFD and Habitats Directive, that could support MSD implementation and PEMA to a certain extent 50% joint work and discussion on assessments (e.g. indicators) by experts from countries, conventions and other organizations  ‘Indicator Tables’ and an EEA ‘chemical candidate’ indicator for workshops 3 This allowed covering 100% of the objectives of the workshops and delivery of 70% of the desired outputs

EEA-led EMMA workshops: Process (1/4) 2 main documents as preparatory material per workshop: ‘Indicator Tables’  A.1 (regional inventory of indicators), ‘Monitoring Tables’  A.2 (national and regional inventory of monitoring) ‘Indicator Tables’: MSD Annex II (“Initial assessment”) divided into the 3 themes of the workshops (overlaps) 1 table per Annex II quality element divided in several determinands (e.g. invertebrate bottom fauna: species composition, biomass, etc.)

EEA-led EMMA workshops: Process (2/4) Tables filled with REGIONAL (and EEA) indicators, ecological quality objectives (OSPAR) and data sets (from all or most countries in a sea) (Annex I, EMMA 07/3/1) ‘Data sets’ to capture conventions integrated thematic assessments and operational oceanography products Focus on ‘existing’ but assessments in the pipeline also noted Expert discussions at workshops: ‘Gap analysis’ in relation MSD ‘needs’ and, indirectly, PEMA’s Verification and addition of information to tables using also ‘Monitoring Tables’

EEA-led EMMA workshops: Process (3/4) ‘Indicator Tables’ revised after each workshop, and revised again, analyzed and compiled into one at the end of the series (Annex II, EMMA 07/3/1) Final aim of process: Establish regional assessment ‘commonalities’ towards the development of a pan-European common set of indicators for the marine environment Report to EMMA: We have sufficient information to put forward a final analysis on possible ‘commonalities’ (suggested) ‘Next steps’: Detailed technical comparison of ‘commonalities’ to establish whether they are ‘real’ and possibilities for harmonisation No action on ‘gaps’ for the moment

EEA-led EMMA workshops: Process (4/4) ‘Monitoring Tables’: Draft per workshop. Never completed. Difficult to compile because it required detailed information at the national level from a large number of sources Decision to limit their scope for workshops and to postpone their further development. Thus, this needs to be targeted to supporting the detailed analysis of the regional assessment ‘commonalities’ Available in CIRCA: See links in Annex II to document EMMA 07/3/1

EEA-led EMMA workshops: Outputs (1/2) Main workshops outputs: 3 Reports + 3 revised ‘Indicator Tables’ All in CIRCA (DRAFTS for workshop 3). See links in document EMMA 07/3/1 Workshop Reports include 2 types of conclusions and recommendations: Indicator-related  Analysis of the revised ‘Indicator Tables’ with regards existing ‘gaps’ to MSD and PEMA ‘needs’ Non indicator-related  Reflecting discussions on ‘monitoring’ and other issues, including further development of Annex II of the MSD

EEA-led EMMA workshops: Outputs (2/2) All (untouched but grouped) workshops’ conclusions and recommendations are found in the workshops’ Report (EMMA 07/3/1): Sections 3 & 4 (indicator-related) Sections 5 & 6 (non indicator-related) Recommendations only put forward in: EMMA 07/3/2 (indicator-related) EMMA 07/3/3 (non indicator-related) For discussion/endorsement by EMMA after this presentation

Outputs: ‘Gaps’ (1/2) Directly from workshops’ analyses Defined as no or insufficient existing, forthcoming and/or planned REGIONAL (or EEA) assessments to meet MSD or PEMA ‘needs’ for a given determinand Shown in Section 3 of EMMA 07/3/1 and listed in Section 4 (recommendations 13-16) = list in EMMA 07/3/2 Habitat types Zooplankton communities Benthic invertebrate fauna ‘biomass’, ‘mortality’ and ‘productivity/annual variability ’Fish ‘population and age/size structure’ Marine mammals Sea birds Other species (e.g. turtles) Aquatic flora (angiosperms and macroalgae)

Outputs: ‘Gaps’ (2/2) Nutrient cycling Primary production ‘Health issues’ arising from chemical pollution Biological effects from chemical pollution Physical loss Physical damage of the sea floor Non-physical disturbance Dumped munitions and dumping of dredged material Inputs of non-synthetic compounds from urban wastewater treatment plants Changes (from human activities) in ‘thermal conditions’, ‘turbidity’ and ‘salinity’ Biological disturbance from ‘inputs of microbes’ Biological disturbance from fisheries

Outputs: ‘Commonalities’ From analysis done after workshops as part of developing the big Report Defined as sufficient existing, forthcoming and/or planned REGIONAL (or EEA) assessments to meet MSD or PEMA ‘needs’ for a given determinand Analysis shown in Section 3 of EMMA 07/3/1 and summarized on Table 2 = Table A in EMMA 07/3/2 Listed also in Section 4 of EMMA 07/3/1 (recommendation 1) = list in EMMA 07/3/2 Here! http://circa.europa.eu/Public/irc/env/marine/library?l=/workingsgroups/europeansmarinesmonitori/emma_30-31_2007/1_-_documents/recommendations/_EN_1.0_&a=d

Next steps : ‘Gaps’ No action recommended on these at the moment It is suggested to wait, at least until MSD is adopted, and re-consider them at an EMMA plenary meeting Meanwhile note that: There may not be regional or EEA assessments on these MSD determinads, but there are RTD projects, international processes and other EU laws (e.g. WFD), implemented at the regional level, which could be used as ‘inspiration’/building block to develop them ‘Gap’ now = opportunity for earlier ‘convergence’

Next steps: ‘Commonalities’ Recommendations listed in Section 4 of EMMA 07/3/1 = list in EMMA 07/3/2. It is suggested that EMMA goes through list Main suggested ‘next step’  To carry out a ‘detail technical comparison’ of ‘commonalities’ to establish whether they are ‘real’ and possibilities for harmonisation(Annex III, EMMA 07/3/1) Process to follow also suggested as well as priorities: Set mostly on the basis of “existing/under development” versus “proposed” regional assessments Priority 1: Second-half of 2007 and 2008 Priority 2 : Afterwards Once MSD is adopted, it is suggested to re-consider them at an EMMA plenary meeting due to e.g. changes to Annex II

Next steps: Non-indicator related recommendations (1/2) A result of many interesting discussions during workshops on important issues relating to development /implementation of the proposed MSD as well as PEMA, including the EEA’s Listed in Section 6 of EMMA 07/3/1 and summarized in EMMA 07/3/3, e.g. Synergies with and lessons learnt from the implementation of the Water Framework Directive  A MSD Common Implementation Strategy is suggested

Next steps: Non-indicator related recommendations (2/2) It is suggested that EMMA takes note and ensures that possible follow-up action is taken by those who could be responsible, e.g. Assessment considerations in relation to the proposed Marine Strategy Directive and EEA assessments  Several recommendations on improving the EEA “candidate” core set indicator WHS6 “Hazardous substances in marine organisms” in the short and long term Relevant for EEA/ETC-WTR, in particular NIVA and ICES; Member States/EIONET; and conventions

Thank you very much for your attention! Eva.Gelabert@eea.europa.eu