Member State report / Art9 / 2018 / D1-C / Germany / NE Atlantic: Greater North Sea

Report type Member State report to Commission
MSFD Article Art. 9 Determination of GES (and Art. 17 updates)
Report due 2018-10-15
GES Descriptor D1 Cephalopods
Member State Germany
Region/subregion NE Atlantic: Greater North Sea
Reported by Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und nukleare Sicherheit
Report date 2020-02-17
Report access DE_ART9_GES.xml

GES component
D1
D1-C
D1C1
D1C2
D1C3
D1C4
D1C5
Marine reporting units
  • ANSDE_MS
Features
  • Coastal/shelf cephalopods
GES description
The GES for D1 is defined, inter alia, by: ... the coastal waters in accordance with the Water Framework Directive are in good environmental status and in good chemical status. ... are in a favourable conservation status for the habitat types of Annex I (habitat type 11) to the Habitats Directive relevant to the marine sector in the North Sea. ... the species of Annex II to the Habitats Directive, relevant for the marine sector in the North Sea, as well as species of the Birds Directive relevant to the marine sector in the North Sea, are in favourable conservation status due to the quality of their food habitat. ... the species, species groups and habitats listed in the Wadden Sea are in good condition. ... the objectives are achieved by single species or group specific conventions (e.g. ASCOBANS, seaport). ... the Ecological Quality Objectives (EcoQO), as defined by OSPAR. The species group of cephalopods has not been evaluated. Explanation: Germany does not update the general description of good environmental status (GES) from 2012 at descriptor level in this reporting exercise. Over the reporting period, Germany has worked with the North Seas countries in the framework of the EU?s MSFD process and in OSPAR to develop methodological standards (indicators, evaluation procedures). Specific aspects of criteria and indicators that contribute to a quantitative assessment of good environmental status are reported in the reporting scheme Art. 8_GES. For the assessment of the criteria set out in Commission Decision (EU) 2017/848, the relevant assessments under other EU directives shall be taken into account under Article 8_GES, taking into account, as far as possible, the regional assessments that have been coordinated so far and, on a case-by-case basis, supplemented by national assessments.
Determination date
201810
Update type
Same as last reported determination
Justification for non-use of criterion
Justification for delay in setting EU/regional requirements
The relevance of the cephalopods for the determination of good environmental status of German North Sea waters is currently unclear: For example, the burden of encumbrance is unclear. There is no directed fishery in Germany, but bycatch occurs. These are extremely low at between 2 and 20 tonnes. As regards the assessment of the state of octopus in the North Sea, there is currently no coordinated assessment procedure and the data base is uncertain. The high annual fluctuations in abundance make it difficult to define good environmental status for the populations concerned. Scientific Working Groups under the auspices of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) are working on the development of methods and the collection of data.