1. Activities of WG A Ecological Status
SCG Meeting
23 February 2010
Ursula Schmedtje, DG Environment
On behalf of Wouter van de Bund, JRC

2. Activities of WG A WG A has not held any meetings since November 2009.
Intercalibration working group meetings:
General COAST meeting: Jan 2010
Reference Conditions Working Group: 8-9 Feb 2010
Lack of members of MS to support COAST part of this work
WG Leaders met on 26 January 2010 to discuss the implementation of the work programme

3. 1. Intercalibration Coordination mechanisms in place:
activity coordinated by JRC
technical work carried out by GIGs and IC subgroups
cross-GIG BQE leads for rivers and lakes, NOT for COAST (!)
Work programme for 2nd phase of IC in place (endorsed by WDs in Nov. 2007)
IC Guidance adopted by WDs in Nov (3 Annexes missing)
missing annexes are under preparation:
Annex III on defining reference conditions and alternate benchmarks
Annex V on comparability criteria for setting class boundaries
Annex VI on contents of milestone reports
will be consulted with ECOSTAT 4 weeks prior to next ECOSTAT Meeting (8-9 April 2010)

4. 2. Harmonisation/Standardisation
Need for standardisation should result from intercalibration
Question on need for standardisation will be added in reporting template.
Quality assurance & quality control (QA/QC)
including lab comparison is an important topic but low priority for the moment
will become more important after intercalibration has been completed
In any case QA/QC should be in place at national level

5. 3. Ecological Classification
Classification of Ecological Status
Questionnaire to ECOSTAT in April
use info reported into WISE, if not sufficient include additional questions in questionnaire
Topics
all supportive QEs plus confidence & precision
Nutrient standards: how have they been used; analysis of information previously submitted by MS
Specific pollutants: information exchange with other ongoing activities (e.g. JRC-IES)
Hydromorphological QEs – how have they been integrated
Workshop on classification (if necessary) in early 2011
Information exchange with MSFD

6. 3. Ecological Classification
Definition of Ecological Potential
Sensitivity of biological assessment methods to hydromorphological pressures
Methodologies for assessing minimum flow requirements
Methodologies for defining GEP
Intercalibration of GEP
Workshop on GEP and related topics possibly in autumn 2011
Information exchange with HYMO Task Group
Alien species
focus on how AS affect biological assessment methods
Compile list of high impact species
Information exchange with MSFD

7. 4. Links with other activities
Information exchange with MSFD
Compare which elements are in both directives
Aim: to harmonise assessment in coastal/transitional and marine waters
Possibly organise joint workshop on GES assessment methods under WFD and MSFD
Information exchange with research projects
WISER, MIRAGE, BIOFRESH, REFRESH

8. Thank you for your attention.