1. Assessing the environmental status in the Mediterranean Sea: a case-study in Saronikos Gulf to be extended to the regional sea
Angel Borja (AZTI), Alexandra Pavlidou (HCMR), Nomiki Simboura (HCMR)
MEDCIS General Assembly, 21st – 23rd February 2018, Athens
medcis.eu

2. (Nested Environmental status Assessment Tool)
Introduction
NEAT
(Nested Environmental status Assessment Tool)

3. Develop a case study test of the assessment tools’ performance
OBJECTIVES
Establish nested sets of geographical assessment areas for the Mediterranean;
Develop a case study test of the assessment tools’ performance
Update the MSFD 2012 assessment for the Mediterranean
Develop ways of communicating assessment results in accessible manner to general public and policymakers

4. Task: Integration of the information and assessment
ASSESSMENT METHOD
Task: Integration of the information and assessment
We are using NEAT in the assessment:
Software for environmental assessment within the MSFD
Integrative assessment across indicators
Database with >600 indicators (DEVOTool)
Customizable by the user (in this case for the Mediterranean)
Tested in 10 case-studies across Europe
Tested in Caspian Sea, Saudi Arabia and Canada
Available free of charge
A pilot case study (Saronikos Gulf) completed in October 2017
Other case studies (using as many indicators as possible) or complete assessment for the Mediterranean (using few indicators) completed by the end December 2018

5. ASSESSMENT METHOD

6. S7-Psittalia Sewage Outfall: Heavily Polluted
Inner Saronikos Gulf: Moderately Polluted
Outer Saronikos: Slightly Polluted
Western Saronikos: Moderately Polluted
Elefsis Bay: Heavily Polluted
SARONIKOS CASE STUDY
Pressure Index classification

7. SARONIKOS CASE STUDY

8. SARONIKOS CASE STUDY
Why Saronikos Gulf?
Availability of data from several ecosystem components in order to assess the status of different MSFD descriptors covering a period of several years.
Available information on human activities and pressures, allowing us to use this area as a suitable testing case study, which can be extended to other parts of the Mediterranean.
Analyses Performed
Area Analysis: Non-Weighted by SAU
Area Analysis: Weighted by SAU
Area Analysis: Filtered by Descriptor. Non-weighted by SAU
Analysis before and after the upgrading the WWTP

9. 2 habitat types were defined: Benthic (rocky and sedimentary) and
SARONIKOS CASE STUDY
SARONIKOS CASE STUDY
2 habitat types were defined:
Benthic (rocky and sedimentary) and
Pelagic.
A total of 22 indicators over 10 stations were used throughout
The study area has been divided into five Spatial Assessment Units (SAU):
Psittalia (sewage outfall)
Τhe Inner Saronikos Gulf
Τhe Outer Saronikos Gulf
Τhe industrial zone of Elefsis Bay and
Τhe Western Basin

10. SARONIKOS CASE STUDY
No Weighted
The application of NEAT tool in Saronikos Gulf classified the whole Saronikos Gulf basin into GOOD status under both treatments.
Weighted by SAU Area
Psittalia and Elefsis bay, the most impacted sub-areas of Saronikos Gulf were classified into MODERATE and POOR status, respectively.

11. SARONIKOS CASE STUDY
Area Analysis: Filtered by Descriptor. Non-weighted by SAU
Filtered by D1, D6
Filtered by D1, D6
Filtered by D5
Filtered by D8
Organic sediment contamination, benthic fauna and vegetation, mammals and alien species are the most impacted ecological components in Saronikos Gulf.

12. Analysis before and after the upgrading the WWTP
SARONIKOS CASE STUDY
Analysis before and after the upgrading the WWTP
Before
Regarding the assessment in relation to the advancement of WWTP it appears that the water column and sediments’ chemical parameters showed an improved status after the WWTP upgrade in Psittalia, while the biological components remained more or less at the same status
The benthic vegetation ecosystem component through the EEIc index showed a statistically significant difference between the ‘before’ and ‘after’ treatments of the data.
After

13. OVERALL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
NEAT shows gradients of indicators/status according to the distance from pollution source.
NEAT results are in line with previous assessments of the area according to the known pressures
Overall improvement of status is due to the progress of the recovery processes in the Gulf, the inclusion of new data and use of more indicators from the outer gulf
NEAT status
Simboura et al., 2005
Uusitalo et al., 2016
Simboura et al., 2014
Simboura et al., 2016
Present study
Data range
2012
Integration method
One-out-all out
NEAT
Two-out-all out
Decision tree
No of indicators 3 17 2 13 22
Psittalia
POOR
MODERATE
Inner gulf
GOOD
Outer gulf
(only fish & alien)
GOOD (all indicators)
Elefsis Bay -
OVERALL
MODERATE IN 2 SAUs (Psittalia and Inner Sar).

14. EXPANDING THE EXPERIENCE TO THE MEDITERRANEAN
Use indicators that can cover all the region or large subregions (e.g. fish mortality for some stocks)
Use indicators with large cover that can be split to smaller SAUs (e.g. chlorophyll)
Use indicators which can be abundant in some regions but not in others (e.g. contaminants)
Use national areas with much data (e.g. Greece) and others with less (e.g. Malta)
Use small areas with much data (e.g. some MPAs)
Combine all the information to see the feasibility of the approach

15. EXPANDING THE EXPERIENCE TO THE MEDITERRANEAN: another region
NEAT APPLICATION IN IONIAN SEA-GREECE-12 INDICATORS-5 COMPONENTS

16. CONCLUSIONS
NEAT shows gradients of indicators/status according to the distance from pollution source.
NEAT demonstrates the effectiveness of management measures taken (Psittalia WWTP), showing temporal changes
NEAT results for Saronikos Gulf are in line with previous assessments of the area according to the known pressures.
NEAT shows also the Overall Status changes of Saronikos, using long data series ( ) and a large number of indicators and SAUs.
The results can be shown at different geographical levels, MSFD descriptors and ecosystem components
This tool can be applied to the whole Mediterranean, to show spatial differences in the status

17. Thank You!