Code / 3-1
Category / CMNT
Agenda Item / 3–Review of general section and summaries of monitoring programmes
Submission date / 3.4.2014 /
Submitted by / Secretariat
Reference
Background
A draft of the general section of the monitoring manual was presented to MORE 8/2014. The meeting proposed changes and agreed to submit further comments to the Secretariat by 3 February which was later extended to 28 February. The Secretariat has compiled the contributions and made an updated draft based on these changes.Some comments have been kept for discussion at the meeting.
Action required
The Meeting is invited
-todiscuss the new draft, further reviseit as appropriate, and agree on how to finalize the general section and summaries of the monitoring programmes.
HELCOM monitoring manual
General description of monitoring
- Introduction
Development of HELCOM monitoring and assessment
Monitoring is since long a well-established function of the Helsinki Convention.Monitoring of the physical, chemical and biological variables of the open sea started in 1979 while monitoring of radioactive substances started in 1984.
The first assessment report on the effects of pollution on the marine environment was published in 1980. Since 1987 a periodical assessment of the status of the marine environment has been published every 5 years approximately.
Since the 2000s the occasional production of reports has evolved to a more coordinated and periodical publication of Baltic Sea thematic and holistic assessments. This development was supported by the adoption of the Data and Information Strategy (2004) and the first version of the HELCOM Monitoring and Assessment Strategy (2005).
In 2007 the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) was adopted which meant to put in to practice the ecosystem approach to the management of human activities. The BSAP further emphasizes the need to monitor and assess the change in the marine environment and progress towards the visions, goals and objectives of the action plan.
In 2010 the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting decided to establish HELCOM as the regional platform to coordinate the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) in the Baltic Sea region. The Meeting also agreed that the common understanding of Good Environmental Status (GES) should be based on the common visions, goals and objectives of the BSAP as well as on jointly developed quantitative targets and indicators.
Current Monitoring and Assessment Strategy
The HELCOM Monitoring and Assessment Strategywas revised in 2013 with the aim of supportingan indicator-based assessment approach and monitoring, and to be in line with other international monitoring and reporting requirements. It is based on shared objectives and a set of common principles for coordinated monitoring. Specifically, the new Strategywas revised in order to:
- Support regionally coordinated activities of the HELCOM Contracting Parties regarding monitoring and assessment of the Baltic Sea i.e. the implementation of the BSAP and the requirements of the EU MSFD.
- Adjust the cooperation on monitoring to the latest technical and scientific developments.
- Enlarge and strengthen the monitoring component of the Strategy.
- Provide a hierarchy of sub-divisions of the Baltic Sea that should be used in monitoring and assessment purposes.
The general principles of the Strategy are translated into concrete specifications and requirements through the ongoing (2014) revision of the HELCOM monitoring programmes, guidelines and manuals. This will follow European processes such as the MSFD CIS for those Contracting Parties that are also EU member states.
Aims of HELCOM monitoring
Aims of monitoring
HELCOM monitoring focuses on parameters that are indicative of:
- The state of the environment.
- The prevailing anthropogenic pressures and their impacts.
- The progress towards objectives and targets.
- The effectiveness of measures.
The set of parameters monitored enables the production of regional assessment products described in attachment 3 (HELCOM Assessment System) of the HELCOM Monitoring and Assessment Strategy.
HELCOM monitoring is carried out in such a way that an assessment with adequate confidence and precision is achieved.
The requirement for HELCOM monitoring arises from the BSAP and the MSFD andit is linked to the commonly agreed and Baltic-Sea-wide applicable set of HELCOM core indicators.
The regional joint coordinated monitoring programme is hence primarily serving, in an integrated manner, the methodological elements laid out by the core indicators.
The Joint Monitoring System (attachment 1 of the Strategy) has been developed to meet national needs and facilitate reporting obligations in particular those of the HELCOM EU member states that report under the MSFD.It enables the assessment of the following components:
- Biological diversity: population trends, distribution and condition of species and changes in quality and quantity of habitats and biotopes
- Non-indigenous species: trends in arrival, quantities and impacts
- Commercially exploited fish and shellfish: trends in population, age and size structure
- Marine food webs: their occurrence at normal abundance and diversity; levels capable of ensuring the long-term abundance of the species and the retention of their full reproductive capacity
- Human-induced eutrophication: its effects such as losses in biodiversity, ecosystem degradation, harmful algae blooms and oxygen deficiency in bottom waters
- Sea-floor integrity: including benthic ecosystems
- Contaminants: concentrations and biological effects, including radioactive substances
- Marine litter:quantities properties and effects
- Underwater noise: levels and impacts
In addition, the monitoring system enables the assessment of pressures and impacts, including the extent and intensity of human activities, in terms of:
- Physical loss of, or damage to, habitats, e.g. through smothering, sealing, siltation, abrasion and selective extraction of living and non-living resources
- Inputs of:
- heavy metals and synthetic hazardous substances
- radioactive substances
- nitrogen and phosphorus as well as organic matter
- Introductions of:
- non-indigenous species
- microbial pathogens
- marine litter
- energy, including underwater noise
- Alteration of hydrological and hydrographical conditions through human activities, including a change in salinity and temperature, as well as acidification
- Selective extraction of species, including incidental non-target catches (e.g. by commercial and recreational fishing.)
- Cumulative and synergetic effects of different pressures and impacts
HELCOM monitoring is mainly driven by indicators and associated parameters for assessment purposes. The indicator system distinguishes
-Core indicators: An indicator is science-based and reflects a component contained in the HELCOM system of the vision, goals and ecological objectives and/or MSFD descriptor.
-Pre-core indicators: An indicator that that has been identified as necessary by the Contracting Parties for the BSAP/MSFD purposes and on which there is a common understanding at the general level but where the content of the indicator is still underdeveloped and for which there is no coordinated monitoring.
-Candidate indicators: A candidate indicator is an issue that is being developed into a core indicator proposal.
-Supplementary indicators: A supplementary indicator is an indicator applied in a sub-regional basis agreed among the countries of the sub-region.
-Supporting parameters: are any parameters that assist in the interpretation of indicator results but do not measure for example distance to a target such as the GES.
See a detailed description in Annex 3 of MONAS 18/2013 (page 27)
Commitment of Contracting Parties in relation to the indicator system is as follows[MFV1]:
Climate change
There is a need to maintain and acquire data and knowledge of climate risks in the Baltic Sea region and in the marine environment to improve the understanding of climate change. This can enable assessment of the ability of the marine environment to cope, adapt to or recover from the effects the changes. There is also a need to increase data collection that serves this purpose.
HELCOM monitoring should be configured also to detect climate change and its impacts on the Baltic Sea marine ecosystem. Therefore, sites with relevant long-term data records will be sustained, whilst accommodating improved data collection techniques where appropriate. National long-term data series should be integrated to this region-wide framework.
The MSFD also recognizes the need to the determination of good environmental status may have to be adapted over time in view of the impact of climate change.
- Contracting Parties’ commitments
The Monitoring and Assessment Strategy, adopted by the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting in 2013, sets out the basis for how the HELCOM Contracting Parties commit themselves to design and carry out their national monitoring programmes and work together to produce and update joint assessments.
HELCOM joint coordinated monitoring and preparation of the various assessment products require that the Contracting Parties allocate adequate resources and commit to agreed schedules of activities. This includes ensuring that needed resources are available nationally, e.g., ships, laboratories, personnel, data management and analysis capacities and expertise.
The national monitoring is coordinated within and between Contracting Parties in order to use resources in an efficient way. Shared monitoring stations and activities, information and data are steps towards this direction.
The aim is to use limited resources as efficiently as possible and to seek the added-value from HELCOM coordination and collaboration as a return to the Contracting Parties.
HELCOM thus offers a platform for the Contracting Parties to jointly plan and coordinate monitoring and assessment activities and to share resources to increase cost-efficiency and quality of data and assessment products as well as to fine-tune and optimise the activities to match national and international needs and obligations.
Other issues:
Deadlines for reporting
Cruise cooperation [AW2]
- Structure of the HELCOM monitoring system
The HELCOM monitoring system has been built over the years including:
- ThePollution Load Compilationprogrammes (PLC-Air and PLC-Water): They quantify emissions of nutrients and hazardous substances to the air, discharges and losses to inland surface waters, and the resulting air and waterborne inputs to the sea.
- TheCOMBINE programme: It quantifies the impacts of nutrients and hazardous substances in the marine environment, also examining trends in the various compartments of the marine environment (water, biota, sediment). The programme also assesses physical forcing.
- Monitoring of radioactive substances (MORS): It quantifies the sources and inputs of artificial radionuclides, as well as the resulting trends in the various compartments of the marine environment (water, biota, sediment).
- The coordination of the surveillance of deliberate illegal oil spills around the Baltic Sea, and the assessment of the numbers and distribution of such spills on an annual basis.
HELCOM has developed a suite of monitoring guidelines in support of those programmes (PLC-water guidelines, COMBINE monitoring manual, MORS guidelines) and other monitoring activities (e.g. coastal fish guidelines, seals monitoring guidelines).
The HELCOM monitoring manual integrates the existing HELCOM monitoring activities and requirements and the new monitoring activities/requirements, arising from assessment needs under the BSAP and from monitoring requirements of HELCOM EU Member States under the MSFD, into one manual. Figure 1 illustrates the current system and the structure of themanual. The manual is organised along thematic programmes (summarised in section 6), including human activities. Programme topics (list in section 6) provide details about the monitoring activities and links to
- the detailed technical guidelines and standards agreed for coordinated monitoring
- the data and map service with monitoring-related data products
- the HELCOM core indicators and Baltic Sea Environment Sheets for which the HELCOM monitoring system provides the data basis and which contribute to thematic and holistic assessments
Current system / Monitoring Manual
Figure 1 Current system and Monitoring Manual
The HELCOM monitoring manual provides a detailed and transparent documentation of the monitoring programmes and activities in Baltic Sea region, the associated coordination among Contracting Parties and the state of coherence and consistency of monitoring across borders and regimes. The manual is intended to support HELCOM EU Member States in reporting information about monitoring programmes and activities relevant for the MSFD.
The manual will be revised when there is a need for changes in the Programme content or new technical guidelines. The official version of the manual is available electronically via the HELCOM home page. Users of pdf copies are requested to check against the official online version[AW3].
- Regional cooperation on monitoring
The Principles of the HELCOM Joint Coordinated Monitoring System (attachment 1 of the HELCOM Monitoring and Assessment Strategy) underline the benefits of coordination and cooperation to optimize monitoring and data sharing in the Baltic Sea region. They also stress the need to harmonize monitoring and ensure quality of data to achieve comparable and region-wide assessment products. HELCOM provides the platform for deciding how, when and where coordinated monitoring should be carried out to meet these requirements.
The HELCOM Assessment System (attachment 3 of the HELCOM Monitoring and Assessment Strategy), including the production of thematic and holistic assessments, also requires a high degree of cooperation of Contracting Parties, observer organizations and the scientific community as well as cooperation across HELCOM bodies.
- Coverage of HELCOM monitoring (Q1a – 1 e, Q3b)
Transboundary impacts and features
According to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, by reason of the transboundary nature of the marine environment, Member States should cooperate to ensure the coordinated development of marine strategies for each marine region or subregion. Since marine regions or subregions are shared both with other Member States and with third countries, Member States should make every effort to ensure close coordination with all Member States and third countries concerned.
According to the HELCOM Monitoring and Assessment Strategy, for the purposes of regional monitoring and assessments, the Baltic Sea can be sub-divided into sub-basins as depicted in HELCOM sub-divisions of the Baltic Sea (Attachment 4 of the HELCOM Monitoring and Assessment Strategy). Different hierarchical sub-division levels can be used depending on the needs:
- the whole Baltic Sea
- dividing of the Baltic Sea into 17 sub-basins
- further dividing each of the 17 sub-basins into coastal areas (extending to 1 NM seaward from the baseline) and off-shore area (waters beyond 1 NM seaward from the baseline)
- further dividing the coastal areas into water bodies or types according to the WFD. Other sub-divisions can be agreed and used provided they remain within the boundaries and use the nomenclature of the described hierarchical system. The scale of sub-division to be chosen may differ depending on the monitoring and assessment purpose.
To maximise their use for national purposes, regional monitoring and assessment results are also presented in formats (e.g. point/station maps) that allow displaying them within national boundaries (EEZ, 12 nm) and showing hot spots.
Each Contracting Party is responsible for monitoring of their catchments, territorial waters and exclusive economic zones. Coordinated monitoring brings added value to the national monitoring.
Joint monitoring and assessment providesthe basis for consideration of transboundary impacts, such as eutrophication, and the state of transboundary features such as mobile species.
BSAP themes and MSFD GES descriptors
Baltic Sea Action Plan Ecological Objectives
The Baltic Sea Action Plan is a programme to restore the good ecological status of the Baltic marine environment by 2021. It was adopted by all the coastal states and the EU in 2007 at the HELCOM ministerial meeting in Krakow. It is a crucial stepping stone for wider and more efficient actions to combat the continuing deterioration of the marine environment resulting from human activities.
Moreover, the Plan provides a concrete basis for HELCOM work by incorporating the latest scientific knowledge and innovative management approaches into strategic policy implementation. Itstimulates even closer and goal-oriented multilateral cooperation around the Baltic Sea region.
The Baltic Sea Action Plan is based on a vision, four main goals, and a number of ecological objectives associated to the goals (Figure 2). The overarching visions is: A healthy Baltic Sea environment, with diverse biological components functioning in balance, resulting in a good ecological status and supporting a wide range of sustainable human economic and sustainable activities.
Figure 2 HELCOM Vision goals and objectives
MSFD GES descriptors
For those HELCOM Contracting Parties being also EU Member States the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD, 2008/56/EC) establishes a framework within which the Member States shall take the necessary measures to achieve or maintain good environmental status of the marine environment by the year 2020 at the latest (Article 1). In Annex I of the MSFD there are eleven qualitative descriptors for determining good environmental status (GES):
- Biological diversity is maintained. The quality and occurrence of habitats and the distribution and abundance of species are in line with prevailing physiographic, geographic and climatic conditions.
- Non-indigenous species introduced by human activities are at levels that do not adversely alter the ecosystems.
- Populations of all commercially exploited fish and shellfish are within safe biological limits, exhibiting a population age and size distribution that is indicative of a healthy stock.
- All elements of the marine food webs, to the extent that they are known, occur at normal abundance and diversity and levels capable of ensuring the long-term abundance of the species and the retention of their full reproductive capacity.
- Human-induced eutrophication is minimised, especially adverse effects thereof, such as losses in biodiversity, ecosystem degradation, harmful algae blooms and oxygen deficiency in bottom waters.
- Sea-floor integrity is at a level that ensures that the structure and functions of the ecosystems are safeguarded and benthic ecosystems, in particular, are not adversely affected.
- Permanent alteration of hydrographical conditions does not adversely affect marine ecosystems.
- Concentrations of contaminants are at levels not giving rise to pollution effects.
- Contaminants in fish and other seafood for human consumption do not exceed levels established by Community legislation or other relevant standards.
- Properties and quantities of marine litter do not cause harm to the coastal and marine environment.
- Introduction of energy, including underwater noise, is at levels that do not adversely affect the marine environment.
Relationship between the BSAP Ecological Objectives and the MSFD Descriptors