Marine and Coastal Environment

in Europe

Trine Christiansen

EEA main tasks & tools

• Networking � E.g. tools: Development of a European Environmental Information and Observation Network (EIONET) and management of European Topic Centers (ETCs)

• Reporting on the state and trends of Europe’s environment � E.g. tools: Indicators & Assessments

• Providing access to environmental information

� E.g. tools: Information Systems

32 Member Countries32 Member Countries300 National agencies300 National agencies

900 Experts900 Experts

www.eionet.europa.ewww.eionet.europa.euu

http://dataservice.eea.europa.eu/http://dataservice.eea.europa.eu/

www.eionet.europa.eu/reportnet.htwww.eionet.europa.eu/reportnet.htmlml

EEA assessments: Our main reporting

tool

Some examples:

• 5-year cycle: State of the Environment

• Climate change Impacts (2004, 2008, 2012)

• 10 messages on biodiversity (2010)

• In 2012: State of water and state of coasts

Others: Working Documents and Technical Reports

What is SOER 2010?

SOER 2010- Synthesis -

SOER 2010- Synthesis -

Thematic assessments

Understanding climate change

Air pollution

Biodiversity

Water resources: quantity & flows

Soil

Freshwater quality

Consumption and environment

Material resources and waste

Land use

Mitigating climate change

Adapting to climate change

Marine and coastal environment Assessment of global megatrends

Political megatrends

Country assessments

Urban environment

Environmental megatrends

Each EEA member country (32) and EEA cooperating country (6) assessed all six environmental themes above.

Climate change mitigation

Nature protection and biodiversity

National and regional stories

Freshwater

Air pollution

Land use

Country profiles

Common environmental themes

Waste

Economic megatrends

Technological megatrends

Social megatrends

Soil

Land use

Marine and coastal environment

Soil

Land use

The main take home message:

• Environmental policy works! - We are making progress.

• But significant environmental challenges remain — a core effort will involve implementing existing policies more comprehensively.

Black Sea ecosystem collapse in the 1980-

1990s

• Combined effects of climate change induced temperature increase,

nutrient enrichment, and over-fishing of the anchovy increased

ecosystem vulnerability

• The introduction of the comb jelly reversed the system to high

gelatinous biomass and low anchovy biomass in the late 1980s

Baltic Sea

Cod catches in the Baltic

050

100150200250300

1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

1000

tonn

es

Advice Total Allowable Catch Catch

• In the mid 1980’ies cod fisheries collapsed in the sea.

• This occurred as combined consequences of excessive nutrient loads and a climate change induced shift which changed salinity, temperature, and oxygen conditions to a state less favorable for cod reproduction.

• Reversal is possible by reducing nutrient loads and fisheries mortality of cod

• Plankton are shifting

their distributions

northward due to

increased

temperatures

• Effects the southern

range of the spacial

distribution of

Atlantic cod

• Scientists believe

that climate change

alone can decrease a

cod stock or trigger

its collapse

• Over fishing in Europe’s Seas continues to be a problem

• 21- 100 % of commercial stocks are fished outside safe biological limits, depending on species and sea

• Almost all stocks of cod, plaice and sole have declined and are currently not managed sustainably

• Over-exploitation of tuna and swordfish are of concern in the entire Mediterranean and the blue-fin tuna is threatened to extinction

Fisheries

Nutrient Enrichment: winter nitrogen

• Only a small fraction of measurement stations in European Seas show decreasing nitrogen concentrations.

Levels

Trends 1985-2008

Nutrient Enrichment: winter phosphorous

• Less than a quarter of all stations show decreasing phosphorous

concentrations

Levels

Trends 1985-2008

Chl-a concentrations and trends in ocean color

State and trend of 7 hazardous chemicals

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Reptiles (12)

Mammals (64)

Invertebrates (6)

Fish (39)

FV

Unknown

U1

U2

Nature Conservation: The Habitats and Birds Directives

15

• The more precise impacts of human activities

• The impact of climate change on marine habitats and biodiversity

• Changes in marine biodiversity due to temperature and salinity changes

Predicted biodiversity impact due to ocean warming.From Cheung et al, Fish and Fisheries, September 2009

we need to better understand:

Climate Change

Arctic ice extent

Sea surface temperature

Produced by MyOcean in situ Tac but not yet used by EEA

Global ocean mean heat contentRole of GMES:

•Need to better understand the main drivers of climate change impacts in regional seas

•MyOcean can clearly contribute, but needs to enter into the right fora e.g. In context of regional sea conventions to achieve a more wide spread community acceptance .

In-situ TAC Climate Change indicator:

Another example:

Sea floor habitat types depend on:

Sea floor salinityWater transparencySea floor geologyBathymetry

Broad scale sea floor habitat maps

Making physical data ecologically relevant

Celtic SeasNorth Sea

Western Mediterranean

Marine Protected Areas Marine Protected Areas

(e.g. Natura2000)(e.g. Natura2000)

Marine Strategy Framework Directive for the Protectionand Conservation of the Marine Environment

EU Integrated Maritime Policy, incl. CFP

Water Framework Directive

Coastal area

New EU policy context: Ecosystem based

management

Cyclical approach of Marine Strategy

Framework Directive

6 year cycle

To be repeated every 6 years

Assessments moving to ecosystem services

•Better expression of impacts on human health and socio-economics

SOER 2010 Synthesis: the basis for a coherent narrative to guide responses across sectors

World economy

Production Consumption

Global ecosystem

Natural capital provides material inputs…

…and absorbs waste outputs

With a limited sustainable throughput of resources, long-term economic growth requires enhanced resource efficiency

24

Thank you!

http://www.eea.europa.eu/soer/europe/marine-and-coastal-environment