1. OSPAR progress on use of the decentralised option for reporting on monitoring programmes required under Article 11 of the MSFD presented by Richard Moxon
DIKE 8/2013/13 summarises the current state of play in OSPAR, and shows how OSPAR is likely to further develop its plans to utilise the decentralised reporting option over the coming months.

2. BASIS FOR THE WORK
The decentralised reporting option in the “Recommendations for implementation and reporting on monitoring under the Marine Strategy Framework Document “ provides the possibility for Member States (and presumably also for regional Seas Conventions) to publicly present information on their monitoring programmes in such a way that it can be used directly for reporting at EU level
“in order to take advantage of this option, the information ( for example, presented as ‘fact sheets’) needs to be prepared in a structure that follows the reporting approach outlined in Annex 2 .

3. Recent paper to OSPAR Intersessional Group on the Directive (ICG MSFD) analysed whether OSPAR Contracting parties who are EU member States can make reference to OSPAR monitoring programmes in their national Article 11 reports, using a decentralised process which is compatible with the reporting sheet approach and structure which WG DIKE has been developing
OUTCOME: YES WE CAN ! But currently only for those monitoring programmes which are already well developed and coordinated by OSPAR, and already used for regional assessments.
Our provisional conclusion was that OSPAR had suitable well-developed information on D5, D8 and D10 which would suit the decentralised option. Ideas about how to do this follow.

4. Reporting at Sub-programme level most appropriate
The latest version of reporting sheet in DIKE 8/2013/03 asks questions on monitoring at 3 levels:
general (applying to all programmes) ,
programme level (referring to specific descriptors),
and sub-programme level (referring to specific types of monitoring programmes needed for a particular descriptor.
First provisional conclusion was that the main area where OSPAR could easily provide information in a suitable form was at the sub-programme level.
Main reason is that there are no Programmes/descriptors where OSPAR is the only organisation which Member States use for MSFD monitoring programmes. Most descriptors involve monitoring for other requirements too (e.g. National legislation, EU Directives)

5. Analysis focused on descriptor 8 (contaminants) as a test case:
We judged that perhaps 7 sub-programmes were relevant for reporting. You can see these highlighted in yellow in Annex 1 in the top row. (One sub-programme applies more to Descriptor 9)
concentrations of metals and organics in the water column
concentrations of metals and organics in sediments
concentration of metals and organics in biota
biological effects (currently TBT) Maybe more if candidate indicators adopted
Monitoring related to specific spills which occur in UK waters
inputs of selected metals and organics from rivers, sewage works and industrial installations, and the atmosphere
concentrations of metals and organics in seafood for human consumption
(relevant to descriptor 9)
More discussion may be needed about sub-programmes: some of these which use similar methodologies might be grouped together ??

6. Wow Fred ! It says here that your name is Carcharon Carcharias and you are a designated sub-programme under the MSFD Common Implementation Strategy monitoring report sheet. Wait till I tell the others !!

7. First shot at answering the Questions for sub-programme Question 9 of the reporting sheet
Annex 1 of the paper shows the UK’s first provisional first attempt to answer the suite of questions set out in the sub-programme “question 9” section of the DIKE 8/2013/03 paper.
This deals with parameters, methods, AQC/QC, density and frequency of sampling
We used for the 7 sub-programmes which had been identified, and had a shot at answering the questions, and also an assessment was made of where making reference to OSPAR information might be appropriate.

8. The Analysis showed that OSPAR had suitable information for 4 of the 7 sub-programmes
concentrations of metals and organics in the water column
concentrations of metals and organics in sediments
concentration of metals and organics in biota
biological effects (currently TBT) Maybe more if candidate indicators adopted
Monitoring related to specific spills which occur in UK waters
inputs of selected metals and organics from rivers, sewage works and industrial installations, and the atmosphere
concentrations of metals and organics in seafood for human consumption
(relevant to descriptor 9)
No:
OSPAR does not monitor metals and organics in the water column as concentrations usually well below detection limits in marine waters
Yes, partially: WFD monitoring applies, but an OSPAR fact sheet will provide the answers for metals and organics in sediments measured in the CEMP.
Yes, partially: WFD monitoring applies but an OSPAR fact sheet will provide the answers for metals and organics in biota measured in the CEMP
Yes
An OSPAR sheet could provide the answers from joint TBT biological effects monitoring reported to HASEC
No: OSPAR does not carry out coordinated monitoring programmes on spills in UK waters. Monitoring of spills with transboundary implications is coordinated under the Bonn Agreement.
Yes, partially:
An OSPAR fact sheet could provide the answers from the OSPAR RID and CAMP programmes
OSPAR does not have programmes which analyse samples of seafood from commercial fishing grounds in North and Celtic Seas. UK has a national programme for this

9. How an OSPAR fact sheet on D8 might look
The OSPAR fact sheet for D8 would focus on those sub-programmes where OSPAR had well established information to which OSPAR Contracting parties who are EU member States could refer to in their national reporting sheets, and have a structure, based on the EU reporting sheet questions that would make easy cross-reference possible

10. How the OSPAR Fact Sheet might look to enable simple read across from National Reports
UK National report
OSPAR Fact Sheet
Sub programme
Metals and Organics in sediment
Metals and Organics in sediment
9.a
Which elements (e.g. ecosystem components, pressures are monitored
WFD related text
OSPAR related: UK uses the OSPAR CEMP elements: See OSPAR fact sheet on D8 section 9a for details
Which elements (e.g. ecosystem components, pressures are monitored
Appropriate OSPAR text plus any relevant weblinks 9b
which parameters are measured?
WFD related text
OSPAR related: UK uses the OSPAR CEMP parameters. See OSPAR fact sheet on D8 section 9b for details
which parameters are measured?
Appropriate OSPAR text plus any elevant weblinks
9.c
What is the method used for monitoring (data collection)?
WFD related.text
OSPAR related: UK uses the OSPAR CEMP methods. See OSPAR fact sheet on D8 section 9c for details
What is the method used for monitoring (data collection)?

11. Next Steps
A further developed fact sheet for D8 will be developed for presentation at the OSPAR Coordination Group (COG) in November, where further discussion, and more formal agreement to develop the OSPAR fact sheet approach should be obtained. Following agreement and refinement of the approach at COG, the aim would be to make rapid progress to develop similar fact sheets for D5 (by the experts on eutrophication) and D10 (by the experts on Marine Litter), so that Member States will be able to use them in their national Article 11 reports for these descriptors A WORD OF WARNING: ASSESSMENT OF REPORTING SHEETS BY THE COMMISSION MAY BE MORE ONEROUS THAN USUAL

12. Article 12 assessment
UK reporting sheet
Leaked Commission concept document proposing a more rigorous article 12 assessment on MSFD monitoring programmes