Minutes of the 6Th Working Group Meeting of GES

Marine Strategy Framework Directive

Good Environmental Status (GES) Working Group

Brussels, 5 April 2011

Venue: Conference Centre Albert Borschette / Room 1C

MINUTES

Present: 69 people

Absent: Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia

All presentations referred to can be found in CIRCA

1. Opening of the meeting and Adoption of the Agenda

The Commission opened the meeting and welcomed the participants.

The Draft Agenda that was sent to the WG Members prior to the meeting was agreed upon as the basis for the discussion. The Commission informed also that CIRCA Marine is currently being restructured for a better overview. The new set-up will include presentations and other relevant documents, especially from work on going in the different regions to facilitate sharing of information

2. Approval of Minutes of 22 October 2010 meeting

No new comments were made so the minutes were approved.

3. Update of the activities agreed by Marine Directors at 2 December 2010 meeting, in relation to GES

a) Revised ToR for WG GES

The Commission informed that the Draft revised ToR, for the activities of the WG GES in 2011, were approved by MDs

b) Technical Subgroups on Litter and Noise: outputs from first meetings

Technical subgroup litter (by the Commission): The group delivered a progress report. In general the group is very active although some MS representatives did not yet provide the requested information. The 5th International Marine Debris Conference was held 20 - 25 March in Hawaii, during which commitments were made by e.g. the plastic industry and the Commission. During the conference, attempts were made and will continue to be made to put litter on the international agenda of Rio + 20. A Green Paper on plastic waste in the environment will be produced by the Commission (2011). So far the linkages to global processes are not very strong but are desired (e.g. expert group of United Nations).

In the future the EU needs to ensure more involvement and visibility in areas of direct importance to the EU as well as other countries. It was widely agreed that the outputs of the Task Group on Litter, in particular guidance for MS on characterising GES and target setting which is due at the end of 2011, will be delivered too late. This is because MS will have to be already advanced in the drafting of their public consultation documents. The Commission feels that having the full results of the Technical group before the end of 2011 will be impossible however a preliminary report on the exchange of experiences on defining GES will be requested from the group alongside a request to share any documentation which may assist MS in delivering their obligations in 2012. It was noted that a consideration of monitoring methodologies and requirements should be undertaken in good time prior to the deadline for implementing programmes of monitoring by 2014..

Technical subgroup underwater noise (by the Commission): A group of experts (incl. representatives of stakeholders such as the oil and gas industry) had a 1st meeting (Feb 2011). They discussed the work plan and assigned tasks leaders. The group has requested that MS: (i) Fill out and send back the noise-related questionnaire accompanying the recently circulated progress report; (ii) Collect data on noise events that took place in the past in order that they can establish an overview of dates and locations with high level noise from certain activities. This willbe used to help define GES (by 31.5.11). MS can expect advice from the TSG Noise in the setting of targets possibly before the end of 2011.. They will also elaborate on the need to incorporate other types of energy input in future assessments of GES. It was highlighted that the recently finished ASCOBANS questionnaire on noise and marine mammals represents a valuable source of information which should be utilised in order to avoid duplication of effort in MS responding to the noise questionnaire. The Commission further encouraged the use of the extensive information and data collected through the EIA process and recognised that more work is needed within the Task Group to operationalise the two indicators for MS

c) Information from ICES (not previously included in the Agenda)

ICES had sent a brief information note to the WG, just before the meeting (uploaded in CIRCA, in the meeting Documents folder: other related documents), on their initiative regarding indicators on fisheries and fish communities, especially for MSFD Descriptor 3. Therefore a brief explanation on this theme was provided by ICES, which wishes to provide the MS and RSCs with internationally consolidated scientific advice regarding Descriptor 3 and fish and fisheries input relating to other MSFD Descriptors, notably Descriptors 1, 4 and 6.

ICES have initiated a working group composed of a core team of fisheries experts (based on the previous Task Group 3) whose aimis to produce a report on the available stock assessment data relevant for descriptors 3, and to provide possible data contribution also for other descriptors: 1, 4 and 6, including suggestions for further work. All MS are invited to participate, including stakeholders. ICES will be holding a workshop on Descriptor 3 (commercial exploited fish and shellfish) in July, open to all. Information will be circulated ASAP. A draft report for descriptor 3 is expected by the end of 2011 which was again noted by MS as arriving too late in the implementation process. MS requested that any documentation be made available at the earliest opportunity, even if still considered to be in draft form.. Some MS articulated fears that the ICES report might be perceived by the Commission as a standard rather than a suggestion. The Commission advised this would not be the case and such a document would be seen as advice to support MS in their implementation. It was also highlighted by MS that ICES should ensure a wide range of expertsare engaged in the drafting process, recognising that this task is a national obligation and practical guidelines are the desired outcome.

Other information from the Commission

i) A Workshop on WFD/MSFD synergies was proposed by France at the last Marine Directors meeting, to be held during Autumn 2011. At the moment no further information is available regarding the date: possibly it will be postponed to early 2012.

ii) The Commission informed about a previous joint initiative of water and biodiversity experts which tries to create linkages between Water-HD-Marine, their first task being to update the FAQs. This update will probably be available on the Habitat/Water Directive pages.

(iii) Spain also informed about an upcoming national event linking WFD and MSFD.

4. Determination of GES and establishment of environmental targets

4.1 – General issues

a) Development of a common understanding to approaches for defining GES and development of targets and indicators, and of a common terminology (Presentation 4.1.a is available in CIRCA).

Co-lead Germany informed on the work of the informal drafting group, established at the last GES meeting. He informed that the document that was circulated before the meeting is only a 1st draft, based on existing material and documents (e.g.. presented in HELCOM and OSPAR). It does not yet include comments from the Drafting group itself. The plan is to elaborate a 2nd consolidated Draft document to be circulated to the next WG GES, for comments.

Updates from the MS working groups of the GES tables:

(i) The Baltic: Finland gave an update on the work in their region, where, as already informed at last WG GES meeting, HELCOM has been agreed by all contracting parties, to be the platform of coordination for MSFD implementation. In the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP), a system of vision, goals and ecological objectives reflecting the good environmental status has been adopted. A series of thematic environmental assessments (europhication, hazardous substances, biodiversity, maritime transport) have been published as well as the HELCOM initial holistic assessment. These can serve as basis for the initial assessment work. The HELCOM secretariat informed about two projects, coordinated by the Joint Advisory Board, on the regional implementation of MSFD, based on common principles: (i) HELCOM-CORESET: Development of a core set of indicators with targets; (ii) HELCOM TARGREV: Eutrophication targets (which includes an agreement on common set of indicators for targets).

(ii) The North-East Atlantic: SPAIN and the OSPAR Secretariat informed on the latest developments as to GES-related work within the OSPAR maritime area (Presentation 4.1.b is available on CIRCA). Following the OSPAR Ministerial Meeting (Bergen, Norway, 20-24 September 2010), OSPAR put in place a new working structure for facilitating the regional coordination by Contracting Parties of their implementation of the MSFD. Under this structure an OSPAR Coordination Group (CoG) was established at advisory level as well as an Intersessional Correspondence Group ICG-MSFD. So far ICG-MSFD has met twice, on 16 November 2010 and on 10 February 2011, and its next meeting is scheduled on 19 April 2011 and following that September 2011. A questionnaire has been circulated to all CPs to gather information on progress towards implementation at a national level. This work is on-going and can be made available to interested parties. Advice documents have also been produced by the appropriate Committees. These provide coordinated advice for CPs on the characterisation of GES and the establishment of targets and indicators. At the time of the current WG GES meeting, the state-of-play of work in OSPAR subsidiary bodies in relation to each descriptor for GES could be summarised as follows.

·  Descriptors 1 (biodiversity), 2 (non-indigenous species) 4 (marine food webs) and 6 (sea-bed integrity): based on the outcomes of an OSPAR/MSFD workshop on approaches to determining GES for biodiversity (Utrecht, the Netherlands, 23-24 November 2010), ICG-COBAM drafting group has prepared a draft OSPAR MSFD advice manual on approaches to determining GES, setting of environmental targets and selecting indicators for descriptors 1, 2, 4 and 6. The OSPAR MSFD advice manual will be further reviewed by the OSPAR Biodiversity Committee (BDC) in its forthcoming meeting (11-15 April 2011);

·  Descriptor 3 (commercial fish and shellfish species): CoG 2010 (19-20 October 2010) noted that some indicators for coastal fish populations would be relevant for OSPAR and some local stocks are not assessed analitically. At the meeting of the OSPAR Hazardous Substances and Eutrophication Committee (HASEC) (28 March-1 April 2011), ICES provided detailed information as to a planned activity for developing descriptor 3. The scope of this activity will support the preparation of initial assessments, definition of GES and targets and will be provided to OSPAR Contracting Parties for their futher decision;

·  Descriptor 5 (eutrophication): HASEC 2011 has agreed on an advice document on approaches to determining characteristics, targets and indicatores for GES descriptor 5 and also on Terms of Reference for an ICG to work up a proposal for environmental assessment criteria which can act as thresholds in relation to GES for concentrations of contaminants in sediments and biota;

·  Descriptor 7 (hydrological processes): work is underway built on the responses provided by OSPAR Contracting Parties to a questionnaire prepared by the Netherlands to identify approaches for determining GES, targets and indicators for this descriptor. A synthesis report of responses received will be presented to the meeting of ICG-MSFD in April;

·  Descriptors 8 (hazardous substances) and 9 (contamination of fish and seafood for human consumption): HASEC has identified a gap in seeking to link descriptors 8 and 9. While combining food and environmental monitoring for the purpose of descriptor 8 may be possible for shellfish, this cannot be achieved for fish;

·  Descriptor 10 (litter): based on the findings of a workshop held by ICG-ML to review progress on work at the EU and at national level as to this descriptor, EIHA 2011 has developed an example for an initial advice document for litter. This advice document is currently subject to further refinement;

·  Descriptor 11 (noise): work is under development as to the preparation of an initial advice document on this descriptor. This work is being taken forward by the Netherlands taking into account developments at EU TSG-Noise.

The European Commission emphasized that information on work developed in Regional Sea Conventions to facilitate the regional coordination of the implementation of the MSFD should be shared within all EU MS, belonging to all marine regions. This might be aided by participation of experts from different regions to other RSC meetings related to MSFD implementation and also with exchange of documents (particularly working documents). Denmark informed on the HARMONY project, which is a cooperation of the OSPAR and HELCOM countries Denmark, Norway and Sweden on methodologies to provide input to their initial assessments for the North Sea and target setting under the MSFD, using tools previously developed within the HELCOM framework. Project resutls (a holistic approach including a glossary) are expected to be available by the end of April 2011.

(iii) The Mediterranean: Greece informed about the activities linked to the adoption of the Ecosystem Approach roadmap for Barcelona Convention, that have been progressing, since 2010. A technical experts group on the Application of the Ecosystem Approach was set up, and an Integrated Assessment draft was prepared for all Mediterranean countries and is currently being peer-reviewed by the contracting parties. In the July 2010 meeting of this Group it has been agreed that the 11 descriptors of the MSFD are to be used as the basis for developing Mediterranean Ecological Objectives, criteria and criteria-related indicators. A timeline for future activities and a common terminology was established. The Commission stressed the importance of clarification around the common approach for GES. Furthermore, it was asked whether a date was set for the Governmental Nominated Experts meeting and if the approaches to Art. 9 and 10 will be discussed during that meeting, since feedback on the conceptual approach is needed at political level to make sure that all obligations are met.

(iv) The Black Sea: The work within the Bucharest Convention does not fall under MSFD umbrella although the aim is the same and thus the outcomes might be used in the IA. It is hoped that more countries within the Black sea will join in the implementation of the Bucharest Convention. An Initial assessment on the state of Black Sea will be discussed at the next meeting (27 April) in Istambul. Romania asked to include the MSFD issue in the Agenda of the meeting.