1. River Fish Intercalibration group D. Pont,Cemagref, France)
Coordination:
D. Pont,Cemagref, France)
N. Jepsen (JRC Ispra)

2. PILOTE EXERCICE (May 2006 – June 2007 ) 21 MS
Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland,
Italy, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Netherland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain
Objectives:
Comparison of reference conditions
Description and comparaison between national methods
Testing common metrics at European level
Results:
Feasibility of the intercalibration exercise using common metrics
at the European level
Lack of well-defined common criteria reference sites selection
Common metrics not calibrated for particular situations
(Mediterranean rivers, Hydro-morphological pressures)

3. River-Fish Intercalibration Meeting (April 21-22 2008. Ispra, Italy)
INTERCALIBRATION EXERCICE (2008 – 2009)
25 MS
Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, England,
Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg,
Netherland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United. K.
River-Fish Intercalibration Meeting (April Ispra, Italy)
Defining common reference criterias
All data centralized in one common database
- Pre classification of pressure
- Environnemental variables
Evaluation and Testing of a new set of common metrics (EFI+ project)
Comparison between National Methods within Regional groups
Harmonizing H/G and G/M class boundaries between MS.

4. LIST OF PRESSURES - Consistency in setting reference conditions
Deviation from « no pressure » status acceptable ?
Nb of ref. sites
Pressure evaluation: ref. sites list / responses to different pressure-types ?
length of river segments:
1 km for streams (catchment <10 km2), 1 km for small rivers (catchment km2), 5 km for medium-sized rivers ( km2), 10 km for large rivers (>1000 km2)

5. METHOD ICM (Option 2) Common metrics (EFI+ project)
All Europe (no GIGs)
No river types
Regional comparison (Option 3)
National methods
Nordic group
Alpine group
Lowland-Midland Group
Mediterranean-S. Atl. Group
Danubian Group
Reference sites selection
GIGs
GIG 1
GIG 2
GIG 3
All sites
(common database)
River types 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 4
Common Metrics
Modelisation / Standardisation
(natural environment variability)
Associated uncertainties
GIG / Type specific BQE values

6. Common approach (ICM, Option 2)
- ICM computation
- ref. conditions between Countries / Reg. Groups
High/Good & Good/Moderate boundaries comparisons
Associated uncertainties
Common database
All considered sites
(ICM & national)
Ref sites list
Environm. variables
Fish data
Pressure types
- ICMs (EFI+ link)
- National methods 3
Discussion
Agreements
INTERCALIBRATION
Specificities
(Environment, pressures)
Deviation from Ref. Crit.
Ref sites list
Fish as indicator ?
Data collection
National methods (~13)
Option 3
General meetings 1 3
Nordic
Alpine-type
Mountains
Lowland
Midland
Mediterranean
South-Atlantic
Danubian
Regional meetings

7. June 2008: Standardized database structure send to all MSs (Access)
TIMETABLE
April 2008: 1st IC Meeting (Ispra). Definition of objectives and time table
May 2008: Commented reference criteria lists collected (15th May). Synthesis back: end of May
June 2008: Standardized database structure send to all MSs (Access)
Link between tables: sitecode, date, longitudinal/latitudinal coordinates
Environmental variables, Pressure list
National method results would be included in specific table (one table per method)
October 2008: Sites with fish data, environmental variables and pressure data submitted
25/26 November 2008: 2nd IC Meeting (AT). Database analysis. Reference sites list
15th February 2009: Deadline for results from National methods and Common Metrics
May 2009: 3rd IC Meeting. Draft reports from the regional groups . Results and Discussion
July 2009: 4th meeting. Final discussion about H/G and G/M classes boundaries
September 2009: Draft final report
October 2009: Final report: methodology, results, boundaries between Class 1/2/3
Questions, & environmental situations remaining open. Future tasks.

8. Link between EFI+ project and Fish IC group
Evaluation and Adaptation of the European Fish Index (EFI+)
EFI + European Project ( )
East-European countries, Mediterranean countries
Fish community responses to hydro-morphological pressures
Fish responses to connectivity impairment (diadromous species, historical data)
Large floodplain rivers (defining reference condition with historical data)
Age-length based metrics
EFI+ metrics used as common intercalibration metrics
Common Meetings EFI+ project & Fish IC group
- Meeting Ispra 2007
- Final Conference Hull, 2009)