1. Marine Strategy Framework Directive: progress report
David Connor
European Commission
DG Environment
Marine Environment and Water Industry Unit
Marine Expert Group of Birds and Habitats Directives
8 December 2016, Brussels

2. Outline Revision of GES Decision and MSFD Annex III
Article 8 guidance on assessments
Map of marine regions and subregions
First updates for Articles 8, 9 and 10 in 2018
Commission assessments
Licencing and permitting report

3. Art. 12 assessment on Art. 8, 9, 10 COM(2014) 97 + SWD(2014) 49
Very comprehensive: the first time so much information is gathered on marine environment at EU level
Public consultations and dialogue with stakeholders
Better policy integration (Water Framework Directive, Habitats and Birds Directives, CFP better taken into account in marine policies)
More cooperation in Regional Sea Conventions
Gaps in information and knowledge identified, but often without a clear plan to address them

4. DG Environment, Unit D.2 Marine Environment and Water Industry
Article 12 follow up
To increase adequacy: Review Commission Decision 2010/477 on GES criteria and MSFD Annex III
To improve coherence: strengthen the role of Regional Sea Conventions
Advice to incorporate data/knowledge gaps in monitoring programmes
Advice to review targets and relate them to (coordinated) programmes of measures
To support MS through tailor-made projects

5. Revision of Decision 2010/477/EU and MSFD Annex III
Aims to improve coherence between Art. 9 (GES), Art. 8 (assessment), Annex I (descriptors) and Annex III (elements)
Provides a simpler, clearer basis for determination and assessment of GES
Ensures better coherence with other EU legislation, including reuse of standards and assessments
Strengthens regional/subregional coherence
Proposals were approved in MSFD Regulatory Committee on 10 November 2016

6. Decision on GES criteria and methodological standards
Art. 9(1)
Determination of a set of characteristics of GES by Member States
Use of Decision including specification of criteria elements and setting of threshold values for criteria, where needed, specific to (sub)region
Informs on characteristics of MS waters
Provides determination of GES for the marine (sub)region
Annex III
Ecosystem elements
Pressures
Annex I
Descriptors
Provides criteria on which to base determination of GES
Art. 8(1)
Initial assessment:
Analysis of features and characteristics and current environmental status
analysis of pressures and impacts
Art. 9(3)
Decision on GES criteria and methodological standards
To ensure consistency and to allow for comparison between marine regions and subregions of the extent to which GES is being achieved
Provides assessment of extent to which GES has been achieved

7. Ecosystem, including food-webs (D1, D4)
20/09/2018
Assessment of specific pressures and their impacts on ecosystem elements (Art. 8.1b) D2
Assessment of ecosystem elements (Art. 8.1a) D8
Non-indigenous species
Commercial fish & shellfish
Eutrophication
Physical loss & hydrographical changes
Physical disturbance
Contaminants
Contaminants in seafood
Litter
Energy, including underwater noise
Other pressures
(Annex III, Table 2a)
Fish groups (D1, D3)
Cephalopod groups (D1, D3)
Pelagic broad habitats (D1)
Benthic broad habitats (D1, D6)
Bird groups (D1)
Mammal groups (D1)
Reptiles (turtles) (D1)
Ecosystem, including food-webs (D1, D4) D3 D9 D5
D10
D6, D7 loss
D11
D6 disturb-ance
Other
pressures 7

8. GES criteria Primary criterion Secondary criterion
Integration: pressure-impact-state
Assessments of pressures for Article 8(1b) D2 D3 D6
D6, D7 D5
D8, D9
D10
D11 -
Non-Indigenous Species
Extraction of wild species
Physical disturbance
Physical loss & hydrological change
Nutrient & organic matter input
Contaminants
Litter
Sound and other energy
Other P S
D2C1
D2C2
(Total catch)
D6C2
D6C1
D7C1
D5C1
D8C1
D8C3
D9C1
D10C1
D10C2
D10C3
D11C1 D11C2
Annex III Table 2a
Assessments of state for Article 8(1a) D1
Species groups
D1C2
D1C3
D1C4
D1C5
D3C2 D3C3
D2C3
D3C1
D1C1 ?
D8C2
D8C4
D10C4
Pelagic broad habitats
D1C6
D5C2 D5C3 D5C4
Benthic broad habitats
D6C4
D6C5
D6C3
D7C2
D5C5
D5C6
D5C7
D5C8 D4
Eco-systems
D4C1
D4C2
D4C3
D4C4
20/09/2018
Pressure
Impact
State
See spreadsheet for detail on each criterion. Black numbers = primary criteria, Blue smaller numbers = secondary criteria.
Assessments under Art 8.1b address each pressure and its impacts (columns) on mobile species, pelagic or benthic habitats (which ones depend on nature of the pressure).
Assessments under Art 8.1a address the different ecosystem elements (rows) using the state criteria (green column). These assessments should reflect the collective impacts upon them from all relevant pressures and so can draw upon the outcomes of the pressure-based assessments if the impacts are assessed in a suitable way (i.e. per species/habitat/group).

9. International Conventions
20/09/2018
MSFD
WFD
IAS
Habitats
Birds
CFP
Contaminants in food
Nitrates
UWWTD
International Conventions

10. GES Decision – policy coherence
Descriptor
Topic
Links to other policies D1
Biodiversity
Habitats and Birds Directives D2
Non-indigenous species
Alien Invasive Species Regulation D3
Commercial fish and shellfish
Common Fisheries Policy, including Data Collection Framework D5
Eutrophication
Water Framework Directive D7
Hydrographical changes D8
Contaminants D9
Contaminants in seafood
Food standards Regulation
All
RSCs, RFMOs and other regional institutional cooperation structures (e.g. ASCOBANS, ACCOBAMS, GFCM, ICCAT)

11. Decision provides for clearer outcomes
Specified elements for assessment, or provision to define these at (sub)regional level
Fewer, more clearly defined criteria (42 criteria, of which 27 are primary)
Threshold values for each criterion, or provision to define these at Union or (sub)regional level
Various scales of assessment, related to ecological scales for the elements (state), management (pressures), other policies (CFP, WFD)
Specified ways to express the extent to which GES is achieved (e.g. X out of Y species are in good status, Z% of habitat or area is adversely affected)

12. Article 8 draft guidance
Provides a step-by-step guide for assessments, based on new Decision (Art. 8.1a and 8.1b)
Deals with higher level integration of assessments from indicators (does not cover data collection methods, aggregation of data in space and time, preparation of assessments)
Aims to support consistent outcomes from assessments for each descriptor
Due to be released for testing by MS and RSCs in early 2017

13. Clear outcomes of assessments: status and trends Example: commercial fish (from CFP, EEA 2015 report)

14. MSFD regions and subregions
Agreed 10/11/2016
Note 1: The area shaded in purple  and white indicates an area to which both the United Kingdom and the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark together with the Government of the Faroes have transmitted overlapping submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) in fulfilment of their respective rights and obligations under Article 76 and Annex II to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in order to determine entitlement of outer continental shelf areas. This map should not be used in any way to prejudice the determination of that question by the CLCS in due course.
Note 2: The area shaded in black and white shows the delineation of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 M from the territorial sea baselines of France, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom in respect of the area of the Celtic Sea and the Bay of Biscay, as provided by the four countries to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) and included in its recommendations issued on 24 March The map of the continental shelf’s extent shall be used without prejudice to the agreements that will be concluded in due course between these Member States on their marine borders in this area.
Note 3: The seas of Azov and Marmara are shown as shaded as they do not fall within the geographic scope of application of the Bucharest Convention.

16. Updates of Art. 8, 9, 10 in 2018
Update the determinations of GES, based on new Decision
Provide updated assessments, based on new Decision (extent to which GES is achieved), and demonstrate progress towards GES since 2012
Update environmental targets, and demonstrate progress in achievement of targets since 2012
Reporting:
reduce the level of detail reported (especially Art. 8)
re-use assessments from 2016 WFD (D5, D8), 2017 RSC assessments of common/core indicators (all descriptors, where available) and 2017 CFP stock assessments (D3)
re-cycle: regional assessments of relevant species could contribute to HBD reporting in 2019

17. Commission assessments
Article 12:
For Art (2012) – published 2014
For Art. 11 monitoring programmes (2014) – due early 2017
Article 16:
For Art Programmes of Measures (2016) – underway (awaiting reports from 10 MS); linked to WFD assessments (also underway, but delayed)
Article 20:
Commission evaluation report, due 2019

18. Licencing and permitting review
Report: Member States' use of the MSFD in the planning and operation of human activities including authorisation, permitting and licensing procedures
Released to MSCG for factual checking
Comments via MSCG member by 11 January