MS/Art8/2018/D6/Belgium/NE Atlantic: Greater North Sea — Marine Information System for Europe

Member State report / Art8 / 2018 / D6 / Belgium / NE Atlantic: Greater North Sea

Report type	Member State report to Commission
MSFD Article	Art. 8 Initial assessment (and Art. 17 updates)
Report due	2018-10-15
GES Descriptor	D6 Sea-floor integrity/D1 Benthic habitats
Member State	Belgium
Region/subregion	NE Atlantic: Greater North Sea
Reported by	RBINS - Scientific Service MUMM
Report date	2020-01-14
Report access	ART8_GES_BE_20200110.xml

Belgian Part of the North Sea (ANS-BE-MS-1)

Simplified table

GES component	D6
Feature	Benthic broad habitats																																				Physical disturbance to seabed	Physical loss of the seabed
Element	Infralittoral coarse sediment					Infralittoral mud		Infralittoral rock and biogenic reef																					Infralittoral sand
Element code	HabBenInfralitCoarSed					HabBenInfralitMud		HabBenInfralitRock																					HabBenInfralitSand
Element code source	Habitats (D1-D6) http://dd.eionet.europa.eu/vocabulary/msfd/broadHabitatTypes/view					Habitats (D1-D6) http://dd.eionet.europa.eu/vocabulary/msfd/broadHabitatTypes/view		Habitats (D1-D6) http://dd.eionet.europa.eu/vocabulary/msfd/broadHabitatTypes/view																					Habitats (D1-D6) http://dd.eionet.europa.eu/vocabulary/msfd/broadHabitatTypes/view
Element 2
Element 2 code
Element 2 code source
Element source	EU					EU		EU																					EU
Criterion	D6C3	D6C5				D6C3	D6C5	D6C3	D6C5																				D6C3	D6C5							D6C2	D6C1
Parameter	Other	Habitat condition	Other			Other	Habitat condition	Other	Other																				Other	Habitat condition	Other						Extent	Extent
Parameter other	Distribution EUNIS habitats level 3		Abundance of Branchiostoma lanceolatum in Nephtys-Ophelia habitat	Abundance of Echinocardium cordatum in Nephtys-Ophelia habitat	Abundance of Pestarella in Nephtys-Ophelia habitat	Distribution EUNIS habitats level 3		Surface hard substrate vs soft subtrate	Disturbed clusters of Pomatoceros triqueter	Disturbed specimens of Asteria rubens	Relative occurance of adult specimens of Alcyonidium spp.	Relative occurance of adult specimens of Alcyonium digitatum	Relative occurance of adult specimens of Flustra foliacea	Relative occurance of adult specimens of Haliclona oculata	Relative occurance of adult specimens of Mytilus edulis	Relative occurance of adult specimens of Ostrea edulis	Relative occurance of full grown reefs of Buccinum undatum	Relative occurance of full grown reefs of Sabellaria spinulosa	Species Richness among Ascidiacea	Species Richness among Bivalvia	Species Richness among Bryozoa	Species Richness among Cnidaria	Species Richness among Echinodermata	Species Richness among Gastropoda	Species Richness among Malacostraca	Species Richness among Maxyllopoda	Species Richness among Polychaeta	Species Richness among Porifera	Distribution EUNIS habitats level 3		Abundance of Echinocardium cordatum in Abra habitat	Abundance of Lagis koreni in Abra habitat	Abundance of Lanice conchilega in Abra habitat	Abundance of Mya spp. in Abra habitat	Abundance of Owenia fusiformis in Abra habitat	Abundance of Venerupis corrugata in Abra habitat
Threshold value upper		0.6					0.6																							0.6
Threshold value lower
Threshold qualitative	Stable within accury margin		Positive trend in average density of adult specimens (or frequency of occurrence)			Stable within accury margin		No negative trend	Decreasing trend		Positive trend								Stable or positive trend										Stable within accury margin		Positive trend in average density of adult specimens (or frequency of occurrence)
Threshold value source	National	Other (specify)				National	Other (specify)	National	Other (specify)																				National	Other (specify)
Threshold value source other		Commission Decision 2008/915 / EC for EQR and qualitative (no threshold) for Margalef Diversity Index for Fisheries Assessment.	National				Commission Decision 2008/915 / EC for EQR and qualitative (no threshold) for Margalef Diversity Index for Fisheries Assessment.		National																					Commission Decision 2008/915 / EC for EQR and qualitative (no threshold) for Margalef Diversity Index for Fisheries Assessment.	National
Value achieved upper										7.09					50.0		40.0	5.3	2.0	17.0	8.0	16.0	10.0	5.0	51.0		67.0	2.0									3454.0	8.49
Value achieved lower
Value unit									percentage										(number of) species																		square kilometre	square kilometre
Value unit other
Proportion threshold value
Proportion value achieved
Proportion threshold value unit
Trend	Unknown	Unknown				Unknown	Unknown	Stable	Unknown																				Unknown	Unknown							Stable	Stable
Parameter achieved	Unknown	No	Unknown			Unknown	Unknown	Yes	Unknown																				Unknown	No	Unknown						Not assessed	Not assessed
Description parameter	Mapping large benthic habitats based on acoustic measurement methods, sampling and observations.	Fishery 100% ongunstig, Aggregaatextractie 0% ongunstig, Windmills Unknown	Density and occurrence of long-lived and / or slow-reproducing species and habitat-structuring species			Mapping large benthic habitats based on acoustic measurement methods, sampling and observations.	Fishery Unknown, Mud % unfavorable	Ratio has been calculated in two test zones based on multibeam.	Keeled Tubeworm (Pomatoceros triqueter) clusters were present in 60% of the samples. It has proved practically impossible to look at the relative number of disturbed clusters, but a statement can be made about the presence of intact clusters. Small, medium and large clusters of P. triqueter were ...	The percentage of damaged Asterias rubens (Common starfish) was rather low. However, recent observations in wind farms have shown that this indicator does not provide reliable results. Any form of soil disturbance is excluded in the wind farms, but disturbed A. rubens are nevertheless observed. These results are therefore not taken into account when assessing the condition of the gravel beds.	No specimen of Alcyonidium spp. Found	No adult specimen of Alcyonium digitatum found, only small (<1 cm) observed	Only 1 small (<5 cm) and young specimen observed.	No specimens of Haliclona oculata found.	Most specimens of Mytilus edulis observed are small (<1 cm), 8 are medium (1-5 cm), and none are large (> 5cm). The medium specimens are over 1 year old and can be considered as adults (reproducing) (% of samples)..	No specimens of Ostrea edulis found.	40% or 7 full grown (>5 cm) reefs of Buccinum undatum in 4 samples observed (% of samples).	Some small reefs of Sabellaria spinulosa observed, only 1 full grown (% of samples).								No species detected			Mapping large benthic habitats based on acoustic measurement methods, sampling and observations.	Fishery 100% unfavorable, Mud 0.64% unfavorable	Density and occurrence of long-lived and / or slow-reproducing species and habitat-structuring species						Physical disturbance has been calculated per activity. Fishery affects approximately the whole area based on the current grid data (OSPAR). Other human activities account for a disturbed area of 2.5 à 3% per year with as two most important activities sand extraction ranging from 1.93 to 2.69% and dredging& dumping from 0.29 to 0.73. (link doc lars) fishery: ospar indicator)	Physical loss has been calculated per activity, for windmills and energy cables the surface doubled with an insignificant increase of 0.12 km2 during the period 2012 till 2016.
Related indicator	Habitats distribution and ratio hard/soft	Condition of Benthic Habitat Communities: the Common Conceptual Approach Condition of Benthic Habitat Communities: Hard and soft substrates	Condition of Benthic Habitat Communities: Hard and soft substrates			Habitats distribution and ratio hard/soft	Condition of Benthic Habitat Communities: the Common Conceptual Approach Condition of Benthic Habitat Communities: Hard and soft substrates	Habitats distribution and ratio hard/soft	Condition of Benthic Habitat Communities: Hard and soft substrates																				Habitats distribution and ratio hard/soft	Condition of Benthic Habitat Communities: the Common Conceptual Approach Condition of Benthic Habitat Communities: Hard and soft substrates	Condition of Benthic Habitat Communities: Hard and soft substrates						Extent of Physical Damage to Predominant and Special Habitats Physical loss and disturbance of the seabed	Physical loss and disturbance of the seabed
Criteria status	Unknown	Not good				Unknown	Unknown	Good	Unknown																				Unknown	Not good							Unknown	Unknown
Description criteria	Significant methodological progress was made in the acoustic mapping of seabed habitats (sludge, sand and coarse-grained sediment). Changes were observed with respect to sediment mapping in the initial assessment, but are mainly due to a difference in methodological approach. A multi-criteria app...					Significant methodological progress was made in the acoustic mapping of seabed habitats (sludge, sand and coarse-grained sediment). Changes were observed with respect to sediment mapping in the initial assessment, but are mainly due to a difference in methodological approach. A multi-criteria app...		A method was developed to quantify silting up in gravel areas. Time series of acoustic measurements of the seabed mainly showed fluctuations within the error margin. More detailed seabed classifications made it possible to indicate variations in the gravel / sand ratio that could be related to changing sedimentation.																					Significant methodological progress was made in the acoustic mapping of seabed habitats (sludge, sand and coarse-grained sediment). Changes were observed with respect to sediment mapping in the initial assessment, but are mainly due to a difference in methodological approach. A multi-criteria app...
Element status	Not good					Unknown		Not good																					Not good
Description element	Nephtys-Ophelia habitat							Density of adult specimens on cobble fields based on size distribution, a positive trend is required of at least half of the most important and longliving species. For assessing species richdom in cobble fields is number of species per taxon a startingpoint for calculating trends in the future. - A methodology was developed to quantify silting up in gravel areas. Time series of acoustic measurements of the seabed mainly showed fluctuations within the error margin. More detailed seabed classifications made it possible to indicate variations in the gravel / sand ratio that could be related to changing sedimentation.																					Abra habitat
Integration rule type parameter	Other																																				Not relevant	Not relevant
Integration rule description parameter	Expert judgement. For occurance of important longliving and structuring benthic species, a specific proportion of the variables have to achieve good status (threshold methods), but trend cannot yet be evaluated.
Integration rule type criteria	Not relevant																																				Not relevant	Not relevant
Integration rule description criteria
GES extent threshold
GES extent achieved
GES extent unit	Proportion of area in good status																																				Not relevant	Not relevant
GES achieved	GES expected to be achieved later than 2020, no Article 14 exception reported																																				Not relevant	Not relevant
Description overall status	Due to the relatively poor score of the Belgian habitats due to fishing pressure (by means of the Margalef diversity index) in the OSPAR context, and to a very limited extent by the dumping of dredged material and aggregate extraction (by means of BEQI EQR scores with threshold 0.6), the soft sub...																																				Physical disruption is more difficult to estimate and is currently limited to the effective locations of human activities, plus a theoretical buffer. Fishing is omnipresent. OSPAR data for the period 2011-2015 showed important spatial differences in fishing intensity for the entire FDNZ, albeit w...	The spatial range of physical loss in the Belgian part of the North Sea is limited. The largest loss of the original habitat type is mainly related to protective rock deposits over the gas pipelines (8.08 km2). The share of wind turbines, energy and telecommunication cables (0.05 km2), wrecks (0....
Assessments period	2010-2016																																				2011-2016	2011-2016
Related pressures	All physical pressures																																				Physical disturbance to seabed	Physical loss of the seabed
Related targets	D6.T10 D6.T2 D6.T3 D6.T4 D6.T5 D6.T6 D6.T7 D6.T8 D6.T9 Target 12 Target 13 Target 14 Target 15 Target 16