Member State report / Art9 / 2012 / D11 / Spain / NE Atlantic: Macaronesia

Report type Member State report to Commission
MSFD Article Art. 9 Determination of GES (and Art. 17 updates)
Report due 2012-10-15
GES Descriptor D11 Energy, incl. underwater noise
Member State Spain
Region/subregion NE Atlantic: Macaronesia
Reported by Division para la protección del mar. D.G. Sostenibilidad de la Costa y del Mar. Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio ambiente.
Report date 2012-11-10
Report access AMAES_MSFD9GES_20121210.xml
GES component
D11
11.1 Distribution in time and place of loud, low and mid frequency impulsive sounds
11.1.1 Proportion of days with loud sound levels
11.2 Continuous low frequency sound
11.2.1 Ambient noise
Method used
WADA-SD-CAN: DESCRIPTOR 2. Once introduced, alien species are components of ecosystems that can be evaluated by means of condition indicators, but in terms of good environmental status they should be considered as a pressure on native ecosystems. Thus, what will guarantee good environmental status in relation to this descriptor will be the absence of pressure, that is, the absence of alien species. However, given the irreversibility of the great majority of processes of establishment of alignant species, it is not possible to consider the BEA as the absence of alignant species. For this reason, the criteria associated with the descriptor are oriented on the one hand towards maintaining the status quo, that is to say, to reducing the rate of new primary introductions and limiting the expansion of those already established, which reduces the possibility of negative impacts, and on the other hand refers to the direct evaluation of these impacts. For the same reason as mentioned above regarding the irreversibility of the invasions, these impact indicators should give an account of the temporal evolution of the degree of negative impact, and consider that the BEA is achieved by reducing the rate of increase of these impacts.
br />According to what was explained in the previous section, in the sense that alien species are in fact a pressure that threatens the good environmental status of ecosystems, the BEA should not be defined as the result of a particular state of alien species, but rather as a function of the state of native biotas. In fact, the BEA in relation to descriptor 2 consists of the achievement of the BEA with respect to descriptors 1 (biodiversity), 3 (commercial species), 4 (food webs) and 6 (integrity of the bottoms). In addition, taking into account the characteristic of pressure on the marine environment that involves the algae species, a second characteristic of the BEA can be established in reference to the minimization of pressures. Therefore, the Good Environmental Status of descriptor 2 is defined in these two facets
AMA-ES-SD-CAN: DESCRIPTOR 4. Due to the scarcity of information on this descriptor in the Canary Islands Marine Demarcation, it has been decided to define Good Environmental Status in a qualitative way.
AMA-ES-SD-CAN: DESCRIPTOR 5. According to the DMEM, Good Environmental Status (GES) with respect to eutrophication is achieved when “human-induced eutrophication is minimized, especially adverse effects such as loss of biodiversity, ecosystem degradation, massive algae blooms and oxygen deficit in deep waters”. It is clear that minimizing the effects of eutrophication occurs when the impact of nutrients released from ocean sources remains below a threshold that does not produce effects on the marine environment. This maximum threshold will depend on the characteristics of each area (hydrographic conditions, currents, ecosystem structure, etc.). Therefore, it should be defined specifically for each area of study within the Demarcation. In the evaluation presented in the previous section, areas of relatively homogeneous productivity have been defined, which are therefore expected to present a high degree of sensitivity to nutrient enrichment.
In practice, it is not possible to quantitatively define, with the available data, that maximum threshold of nutrient load. Alternatively, we propose to evaluate the eutrophication in the coastal areas of the Demarcation by comparison with the open sea areas. According to this evaluation, it is possible to define a BEA for each of the indicators (or group of indicators) in the terms shown in Table 5.6. As can be seen, the definition includes two complementary criteria for defining the EA for each group of indicators: time trends and reference values.
The indicators of Descriptor 5 are hierarchically structured, so that only if a trend towards an increase in nutrient concentration is detected, not linked to hydrological variability, quantifiable effects on the concentration of chlorophyll or phytoplankton communities attributable to contamination can be expected. However, similarly to what was done for Criterion 3.1, a definition of the BEA can be suggested for Criterion 3.2:
"The BEA corresponds to SSB/SSBMSY being ≥1 for at least 50% of the stocks and not {;0. 6 for no stock."
The value 0.6 is the result of 1/1.6, being 1.6 the value used in the definition of the BEA for Criterion 3. 1.
In an analogous way, the current state in relation to the BEA could be measured in a scale of 0 to 1, with the value 0 corresponding to the worst situation and 1 corresponding to the BEA, by means of the formula:
max[ 0 , 1 – proportion of red stocks – max{0, 0. 5 – proportion of stocks in green} When there is no SSBMSY (or precautionary biomass) reference point, it is not possible to work on the basis of columns 1 & 2 of Table 3.4. In that case, it would be possible to work with columns 3 and 4 of the table, which use the average of the biomass over the whole period,7)-T(T,B, instead of BMSY. The advantages of working with columns 3 and 4 over using columns 1 and 2 are that all stocks with main or secondary indicators are considered in the calculation and that the interpretation is consistent among them. However, it is very important to note that a value of 1 in this case would not necessarily correspond to the BEA, since the analysis is not based on BMSY but on the historical values of the B.
AMA-ES-SD-CAN: DESCRIPTOR 6
In none of the habitats is currently available adequate information on its extent and / or status. The spatial and methodological limitations do not allow to define at this time the BEA (Good Environmental Status) of the habitats as a quantitative value or point. Therefore, the definition of Good Environmental Status should not be the reference level established in the evaluation of the state, but a positive trend towards that level or stability, since in many cases the reference level is impossible to achieve (loss of irreversible habitat, high social costs, long-term time scale of recovery processes, etc.). On the other hand, the concept of Good Environmental Status must take into account the sustainable use of the seas and a level of human activity that is compatible with the conservation of marine ecosystems, in accordance with the ecosystem approach. Therefore, the BEA cannot be assimilated to the reference level, but must take into consideration other factors.
Marine reporting units
  • CAN-Aguas costeras DMA
  • CAN-producitividad, aguas de influencia del afloramiento africano (D5)
  • CAN-producitividad, aguas oceánicas occidentales (D5)
  • CAN-productividad, aguas oceánicas orientales(D5)
  • Demarcación marina canaria
  • Región Oceáno Atlántico Nororiental
  • CAN-Aguas costeras DMA
  • CAN-producitividad, aguas de influencia del afloramiento africano (D5)
  • CAN-producitividad, aguas oceánicas occidentales (D5)
  • CAN-productividad, aguas oceánicas orientales(D5)
  • Demarcación marina canaria
  • Región Oceáno Atlántico Nororiental
  • CAN-Aguas costeras DMA
  • CAN-producitividad, aguas de influencia del afloramiento africano (D5)
  • CAN-producitividad, aguas oceánicas occidentales (D5)
  • CAN-productividad, aguas oceánicas orientales(D5)
  • Demarcación marina canaria
  • Región Oceáno Atlántico Nororiental
  • CAN-Aguas costeras DMA
  • CAN-producitividad, aguas de influencia del afloramiento africano (D5)
  • CAN-producitividad, aguas oceánicas occidentales (D5)
  • CAN-productividad, aguas oceánicas orientales(D5)
  • Demarcación marina canaria
  • Región Oceáno Atlántico Nororiental
  • CAN-Aguas costeras DMA
  • CAN-producitividad, aguas de influencia del afloramiento africano (D5)
  • CAN-producitividad, aguas oceánicas occidentales (D5)
  • CAN-productividad, aguas oceánicas orientales(D5)
  • Demarcación marina canaria
  • Región Oceáno Atlántico Nororiental
Feature
  • Noise
Criterion/indicator
D11
11.1
11.1.1
11.2
11.2.1
GES description
Para el actual ciclo de estrategias marinas, se propone definir el buen estado ambiental de acuerdo con lo acordado en el grupo ICG-MSFD de OSPAR (ver Documento Marco de Estrategias Marinas), con el siguiente enunciado: Los ruidos impulsivos de alta, media y baja frecuencia y el ruido continuo de baja frecuencia introducidos en el medio marino a través de las actividades humanas no tienen efectos adversos sobre los ecosistemas marinos.
Threshold values
Threshold value unit
Proportion of area to achieve threshold value
Reference point type
Baseline
Assessment method
Development status