BALANCEBALANCETowards an ecosystem-based approach to management of the marine ecosystem - linking the WFD, HD and

pMSD

1st Mtg. MARCOS, Copenhagen

16th of February 2007Johnny Reker

The Danish Forest and Nature Agency(www.balance-eu.org)

OUTLINE

• The BALANCE project• Marine landscapes in the

Baltic Sea • The MARCOS challenge

Submarine structures made by leaking gases in northern Kattegat. Photo: Dan Kaasby

SCOPE

BSR INTERREG IIIB region. The “BALANCE” project area includes The Baltic Sea,

Kattegat & Skagerrak

19 partners + 7 consultants

10 countries incl. Norway & U.S.A but excl. Russia

Budget Є4,7 mio.

Runs 2½ year from 1/7 2005

Covers the entire Baltic Sea

Funded by the BSR INTERREG IIIB Programme (DG Regio)

TRANSNATIONAL & CROSS-SECTORAL PARTNERSHIP

% partners per sector

19% Universities

4% Regional Authorities

20% Fisheries

12% Nature Conservation authorities

15% WWF15%

Environmental Research Institutes

15% Geological

Surveys

The Danish Forest and Nature Agency (Lead) The Geological Survey of Denmark and GreenlandThe National Environmental Research InstituteThe Danish Institute for Fisheries ResearchWWF DenmarkWWF GermanyInstitute of Aquatic Ecology, University of LatviaEstonian Marine Institute, University of TartuCoastal Research and Planning InstituteMetsähallitus Natural Heritage ServiceThe Finnish Environment InstituteThe Geological Survey of FinlandWWF FinlandThe Swedish Environmental Protection AgencyThe National Board of FisheriesThe Geological Survey of SwedenCounty Administrative Board of StockholmDepartment of Marine Ecology, Gothenburg UniversityWWF Sweden

AIMAim:Development of an informed management template for the Baltic Sea focused on marine spatial planning through cross-sectoral & transnational co-operation.

Activities: Identify & collate available BS marine data (physical, biological, socio-economic), meta-database

Identify & map marine landscapes & habitats in the Baltic Sea

Assessment of the Baltic MPA network & development of the “blue corridors” concept

Development of Baltic marine zoning plans in 2 pilot areas

Stakeholder communication strategy & dissemination

Characterisation requirements- similarities between directives

• Water Framework Directive (art. 5.1, Annex II): “- an analysis of its [river basin district] characteristics”

• Habitats Directive (art. 3.2, Annex I): “- shall contribute to the creation of Natura 2000 in proportion to the representation within its territory of the natural habitat types and the habitats of species…”

• Proposed Marine Strategy Directive (art. 7.a, Annex II): “- an analysis of the essential characteristics and current environmental status of those waters… and covering the habitat types, the biological components, the physio-chemical characteristics and the hydromorphology”

• All three directives (WFD art. 5.1, Annex II), pMSD art. 3.1, HD art. 1.c) requires a transnational approach covering entire ecoregions e.g. the Baltic Sea.

MARINE LANDSCAPES- characterising the marine environment

• It is a broad scale characterisation of the marine environment based on geophysical and hydrographical features.

• It is an cost-effective and suitable for describing offshore marine areas where biological data often are sparse.

• It was first developed by Roff and Taylor (2000) for predicting species assemblages based on geophysical and oceanographic data for Canadian territorial waters.

• The purpose was to enhance conservation of marine biodiversity through the establishment of a national framework of MPAs and can be applied for describing both the benthic and pelagic environment.

• The method has been applied in the North-western Atlantic through MESH, the UK through the Irish Sea Pilot Project and UKSeaMap.

Marine landscapes are defined as:

• Seabed features which occur away from the coast, i.e. the seabed of open sea areas. In this group, the marine landscapes comprise the seabed and water at the substrate/water interface;

• Coastal (physiographic) marine features such as fiords and estuaries where the seabed and water body are closely interlinked. In this group, both the seabed and the overlying water are included within the marine landscape;

• Water column marine landscapes of open sea areas, such as mixed and stratified water bodies and frontal systems. In this group, the marine landscapes comprise the water column above the substrate/water interface.

MARINE LANDSCAPES

THE BALANCE APPROACH

• Collate and analyse available geophysical and hydro-graphical information for the entire Baltic Sea & Kattegat

• Define and agree on an unified data format

• Decide a common platform for data handling, processing and projection of marine landscape map, e.g. ArcGis, WGS84, UTM

• Define standards for classifying Baltic marine landscapes

• A validation scheme to confirm the whether the predicted landscapes are describing the real life situation

• Evaluate the existing Baltic network of MPAs, identifying Baltic marine diversity hotspots & strategic tool for planning field work etc.

Sediment• 5 classes• First compiled

sediment map of the Baltic Sea

Salinity• Modelled in 7 km

grid in 20 layers• 6 classes based

on biogeographic distribution patterns of macroalgae and ecological requirements of commercial fish

• Salinity at the seafloor used

Seafloor within the photic zone

• Modelled • Based on Secchi

measurements from March to November over 10+ years

Halocline• Based on

modelled data

Secondary data layers:• Ice cover• Oxygen depletion (incomplete)

• Current velocity• Wave exposure• Bed Shear Stress• Temperature

• Data layers are merged for the entire region ~ ecosystem approach

Benthic marine landscapes of the Baltic Sea

Major basins

Biogeographic boundaries

Picks up known banks and reef areas

Field stations (salinity, temperature & oxygen)

Areas with suitable conditions (>11 PSU and >2ml O2/l) for survival of Cod egg.

Pelagic landscapes – a Baltic example

Areas with suitable conditions for successful Cod spawning.

• Is characterised by >11 PSU and >2ml O2/l

• Occurs as a 10-15 m layer at 55 to 70 m of depth where Cod eggs can both float and survive

• Show distinctive temporal variation

• Available volume influence the size of Cod cohorts

• Several species are linked to this pelagic landscape

Cod Reproductive Volume- a Baltic pelagic landscape

• Illustrating the applicability of marine landscape mapping

• Linking the physical characterisation to socio-economic utilisation of the marine environment

• It can be linked to models predicting climatic change showing the consequences to marine environment

• Easy to identify status…

FUTURE CHALLENGES?- bridging the gap between science and policies

• Validation

• Status assessment – can getting the characterisation right pave the road for one approach to assessing “ecological status”, “favourable status”, “environmental status”

• Shaping the marine landscapes to the needs and requirements of relevant directives

• Continue development

• Future implementation – one monitoring programme covers all, one management plan etc.

• MARCOS? – Our challenge will be to come up with recommendations & guidance that will help shaping and implementing a true ecosystem-based approach to management linking the three directives

Thank you for your attention