Assessment of the eutrophication status of transitional,coastal and marine waters within OSPAR |
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Authors: | Ulrich Claussen Wanda Zevenboom Uwe Brockmann Dilek Topcu Peter Bot |
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Institution: | 1.German Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt),Dessau,Germany;2.Ministry of Transport,Public Works and Water Management, RWS-North Sea Directorate Water and Shipping,Rijswijk,The Netherlands;3.Institute for Biogeochemistry and Marine Chemistry,Hamburg University,Hamburg,Germany;4.Rijkswaterstaat Waterdienst,Lelystad,The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | 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 |
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Keywords: | Eutrophication Assessment OSPAR Comprehensive procedure German Bight North Sea |
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