Assessment of the eutrophication status of transitional,coastal and marine waters within OSPAR

Eutrophication (nutrient enrichment and subsequent processes) and its adverse ecosystem effects have been discussed as main issues over the last 20 years in international conferences and conventions for the protection of the marine environment such as the North Sea Conferences and the 1992 OSPAR Convention (OSPAR; which combined and updated the 1972 Oslo Convention on dumping waste at the sea and the 1974 Paris Convention on land-based sources of marine pollution). OSPAR committed itself to reduce phosphorus and nitrogen inputs (in the order of 50% compared with 1985) into the marine areas and ‘to combat eutrophication to achieve, by the year 2010, a healthy marine environment where eutrophication does not occur’. Within OSPAR, the Comprehensive Procedure (COMPP) has been developed and used to assess the eutrophication status of the OSPAR maritime area in an harmonised way. This is based on classification in terms of the following types of areas Non-Problem Areas (no effects), Potential Problem Areas (not enough data to assess effects) and Problem Areas (effects due to elevated nutrients and/or due to transboundary transport from adjacent areas). The COMPP consists of a set of harmonised assessment criteria with their area-specific assessment levels and an integrated area classification approach. The criteria cover all aspects of nutrient enrichment (nutrient inputs, concentrations and ratios) as well as possible direct effects (e.g. increased levels of nuisance and/or toxic phytoplankton species, shifts and/or losses of submerged aquatic vegetation) and indirect effects (e.g. oxygen deficiency, changes and/or death of benthos, death of fish, algal toxins). The COMPP also includes supporting environmental factors. It takes account of synergies and harmonisation with the EC Water Framework Directive, and has formed a major basis for the EC eutrophication guidance. Recently, additional components, such as total nitrogen, total phosphorus and transboundary transports have been included in the assessment of, e.g. the German Bight. The second application of the COMPP resulting in an update of the eutrophication status of the OSPAR maritime area will be finalised in 2008, and will include the agreed integrated set of Ecological Quality Objectives (EcoQOs) with respect to eutrophication. Guest editors: J. H. Andersen & D. J. Conley Eutrophication in Coastal Ecosystems: Selected papers from the Second International Symposium on Research and Management of Eutrophication in Coastal Ecosystems, 20–23 June 2006, Nyborg, Denmark     

Applying Weight-of-Evidence in Retrospective Ecological Risk Assessment When Quantitative Data Are Limited

Retrospective ecological risk assessment attempts to identify likely causal agents to explain adverse effects that have occurred in ecological targets. It can never be decisive since it is post hoc and usually based on limited evidence that is rarely very quantitative. It can, nevertheless, be made more transparent, systematic, and logical, and less subjective. Based on human health epidemiological criteria we develop an approach that moves from systematic consideration of seven basic questions to assigning a likelihood of involvement of putative agents. The questions are: 1. Is there evidence that the target is or has been exposed to the agent? 2. Is there evidence for correlation between adverse effects in the target and exposure to the agent either in time or in space? 3. Do the measured or predicted environmental concentrations exceed quality criteria for water, sediment or body burden? 4. Have the results from controlled experiments in the field or laboratory led to the same effect? 5. Has removal of the agent led to amelioration of effects in the target? 6. Is there an effect in the target known to be specifically caused by exposure to the agent? 7. Does the proposed causal relationship make sense logically and scientifically? We identify 15 common scenarios of answers to the questions and illustrate the approach by reference to three real-world case studies (decline in benthos in a tropical marine bay, decline in fisheries in a temperate sea, decline in marine mollusc populations). The primary challenge in retrospective risk assessment is to make best use of the available evidence to develop rational management strategies and/or guide additional analyses to gain further evidence about likely agents as causes of observed harm.     

Tributyltin pollution biomonitoring under the Water Framework Directive: Proposal of a multi-species tool to assess the ecological quality status of EU water bodies

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is a key legislative action developed by the European Union in order to protect aquatic ecosystems. One of the concerning pollutants, listed in this directive as a priority hazardous substance, is tributyltin (TBT), a biocide largely used in antifouling paints and identified as a causative agent of imposex/intersex in gastropods. In order to integrate TBT pollution monitoring within this legislative framework, a practical exercise is here proposed to assess the evolution of surface water ecological status in Ria de Aveiro (NW Portugal). Three bioindicators – the caenogastropods Nucella lapillus, Nassarius reticulatus and Littorina littorea – were used under the general WFD benthic invertebrate quality element, and the vas deferens sequence index (VDSI) and the intersex index (ISI) were selected as biomarkers for the purpose of assessing the condition of this quality element regarding the impact of TBT pollution. Levels of VDSI in N. lapillus and N. reticulatus, and ISI in L. littorea, were surveyed in 2013 and compared with previous data available for the same species and study area in 1998 and 2005, providing a time lapse for a period of 15 years. VDSI and ISI values were converted into Ecological Quality Ratios (EQR) and EQR boundaries were set for each species in order to define the five ecological status classes (High, Good, Moderate, Poor and Bad). We propose N. lapillus as key bioindicator, however the combined use of further species is very useful to cover a wider study area. Based on the proposed method, it is concluded that the ecological status of the surface waters surveyed in Ria de Aveiro, concerning the impact of TBT pollution on the above benthic invertebrate taxa, improved considerably since 1998 and achieved a Good Ecological Status in 2013, thus meeting the WFD environmental objectives for this priority hazardous substance even before 2015.     

The challenge of assessing whether the OSPAR network of marine protected areas is ecologically coherent

As MPA networks continue to grow worldwide, decision makers and the public will need to be kept informed regarding progress made in meeting the underlying ecological goals of the networks. The twelve coastal European nations of the OSPAR Commission have agreed to establish within the waters of the Northeast Atlantic an “ecologically coherent” network of marine protected areas by 2010. An initial set of 81 MPAs in the Northeast Atlantic was accepted by the OSPAR Commission in June 2006, and as of 31 December 2006 six additional sites have been put forward. They amount to approximately 26,500 km², submitted by six of the twelve coastal nations. The job of assessing their ecological coherence has proven to be a difficult issue, and one that has not been attempted before. Assessment techniques that can cope with data-poor situations will prove most helpful, and with this in mind, three general approaches that can be used in data-poor situations and four specific examples of assessment techniques, are presented in this paper. Additionally, a brief summary of the current status of the OSPAR MPA network is provided. Guest editors: J. Davenport, G. Burnell, T. Cross, M. Emmerson, R. McAllen, R. Ramsay & E. Rogan Challenges to Marine Ecosystems