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A comparison of the degree of implementation of marine biodiversity indicators by European countries in relation to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

Herman Hummel*
Affiliation:
Monitor Taskforce, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Yerseke, the Netherlands
Matt Frost
Affiliation:
Marine Biological Association, Plymouth, UK
José A. Juanes
Affiliation:
Environmental Hydraulics Institute (IH Cantabria), Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
Judith Kochmann
Affiliation:
Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Carlos F. Castellanos Perez Bolde
Affiliation:
University of Bologna, Polo di Ravenna, Italy
Fernando Aneiros
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Animal Biology, University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain
François Vandenbosch
Affiliation:
Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 6, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Roscoff, France CNRS, UMR7144 AD2M, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Roscoff, France
João N. Franco
Affiliation:
CIIMAR, Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental, Porto, Portugal
Beatriz Echavarri
Affiliation:
Environmental Hydraulics Institute (IH Cantabria), Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
Xabier Guinda
Affiliation:
Environmental Hydraulics Institute (IH Cantabria), Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
Araceli Puente
Affiliation:
Environmental Hydraulics Institute (IH Cantabria), Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
Camino Fernández
Affiliation:
Environmental Hydraulics Institute (IH Cantabria), Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
Cristina Galván
Affiliation:
Environmental Hydraulics Institute (IH Cantabria), Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
Maria Merino
Affiliation:
Environmental Hydraulics Institute (IH Cantabria), Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
Elvira Ramos
Affiliation:
Environmental Hydraulics Institute (IH Cantabria), Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
Paloma Fernández
Affiliation:
Environmental Hydraulics Institute (IH Cantabria), Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
Valentina Pitacco
Affiliation:
NIB, Marine Biology Station, Piran, Slovenia
Madara Alberte
Affiliation:
Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Riga, Latvia
Dagmara Wojcik
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental Ecology of Marine Organisms, Institute of Oceanography, University of Gdańsk, Gdynia, Poland
Monika Grabowska
Affiliation:
Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sopot, Poland
Marlene Jahnke
Affiliation:
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Naples, Italy
Fabio Crocetta
Affiliation:
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Naples, Italy
Laura Carugati
Affiliation:
Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy
Simonetta Scorrano
Affiliation:
University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
Simonetta Fraschetti
Affiliation:
University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
Patricia Pérez García
Affiliation:
Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Cádiz, Cádiz, Spain
José Antonio Sanabria Fernández
Affiliation:
Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Cádiz, Cádiz, Spain The BITES lab, Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Blanes, Spain
Artem Poromov
Affiliation:
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Anna Iurchenko
Affiliation:
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Artem Isachenko
Affiliation:
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Alexandra Chava
Affiliation:
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Christina Pavloudi
Affiliation:
Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
François Bordeyne
Affiliation:
Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 6, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Roscoff, France CNRS, UMR7144 AD2M, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Roscoff, France
Simone Fie Andersen
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Elizabeth Grace Tunka Eronat
Affiliation:
Faculty of Fisheries, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey
Taylan Cakmak
Affiliation:
Department of Nematology, Faculty of Biology, University of Ghent, Belgium
Paraskevi Louizidou
Affiliation:
Hydrobiological Station of Rhodes, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Rhodes, Greece
José Rico
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología de Organismos y Sistemas, Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain
Stela Ruci
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Science, University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania
David Corta Diego
Affiliation:
Ecohydros S.L., Santander, Spain
Sara Mendez
Affiliation:
University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK
Maria Rousou
Affiliation:
Marine & Environmental Research Lab Ltd, Nicosia, Cyprus
Laurence de Clippele
Affiliation:
Centre for Marine Biodiversity & Biotechnology, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK
Annukka Eriksson
Affiliation:
Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Marine Centre, Helsinki, Finland
Winnie van Zanten
Affiliation:
University of Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Anna Diamant
Affiliation:
Institute of Hydrobiology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
Valentina Kirienko Fernandes de Matos
Affiliation:
Departamento de Oceanografia e Pescas, Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Universidade dos Açores, Horta, Azores, Portugal
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: H. Hummel, Monitor Taskforce, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Yerseke, the Netherlands email: herman.hummel@nioz.nl

Abstract

The degree of development and operability of the indicators for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) using Descriptor 1 (D1) Biological Diversity was assessed. To this end, an overview of the relevance and degree of operability of the underlying parameters across 20 European countries was compiled by analysing national directives, legislation, regulations, and publicly available reports. Marked differences were found between countries in the degree of ecological relevance as well as in the degree of implementation and operability of the parameters chosen to indicate biological diversity. The best scoring EU countries were France, Germany, Greece and Spain, while the worst scoring countries were Italy and Slovenia. No country achieved maximum scores for the implementation of MSFD D1. The non-EU countries Norway and Turkey score as highly as the top-scoring EU countries. On the positive side, the chosen parameters for D1 indicators were generally identified as being an ecologically relevant reflection of Biological Diversity. On the negative side however, less than half of the chosen parameters are currently operational. It appears that at a pan-European level, no consistent and harmonized approach currently exists for the description and assessment of marine biological diversity. The implementation of the MSFD Descriptor 1 for Europe as a whole can therefore at best be marked as moderately successful.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2015 

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References

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