Member State report / Art8 / 2018 / D4 / Ireland / NE Atlantic: Celtic Seas
Report type | Member State report to Commission |
MSFD Article | Art. 8 Initial assessment (and Art. 17 updates) |
Report due | 2018-10-15 |
GES Descriptor | D4 Food webs/D1 Ecosystems |
Member State | Ireland |
Region/subregion | NE Atlantic: Celtic Seas |
Reported by | Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government |
Report date | 2020-08-31 |
Report access | msfd2018-ART8_GES_IE_Updated_24_July.xml |
Irish Assesment Area (ACS-IE-AA-001)
GES component |
D4
|
D4
|
---|---|---|
Feature |
Ecosystems, including food webs
|
Ecosystems, including food webs
|
Element |
Fish community |
Phytoplankton |
Element code |
FishCommunity |
QE1-1 |
Element code source |
Link to other vocabulary or code lists that may be relevant
|
Eutrophication (D5)(EQRs) http://dd.eionet.europa.eu/vocabulary/wise/ObservedPropertyBiologyEQR/view
|
Element 2 |
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Element 2 code |
||
Element 2 code source |
||
Element source |
EU |
EU |
Criterion |
D4C1
|
D4C2
|
Parameter |
Other
|
Other
|
Parameter other |
Fish
|
Phytoplankton
|
Threshold value upper |
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Threshold value lower |
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Threshold qualitative |
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Threshold value source |
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Threshold value source other |
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Value achieved upper |
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Value achieved lower |
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Value unit |
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Value unit other |
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Proportion threshold value |
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Proportion value achieved |
||
Proportion threshold value unit |
||
Trend |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Parameter achieved |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Description parameter |
For fish there are local increases and decreases but for the greater part of Irish waters, the situation is unclear. Demersal fish size decreased along the shelf edge waters to the west and near some coasts but increases towards the south of Ireland. For the pelagic fish community there were increases in the central Irish Sea and Celtic Sea. |
With the phytoplankton community there have been significant changes in community structure and energy flows. The strongest change was observed between small and large copepods and between non-carnivorous and carnivorous zooplankton, indicative of food web structure and energy flow between trophic groups. The holoplankton and meroplankton lifeform pair also experienced significant change, suggesting changes in linkage between the benthic and pelagic components of the ecosystem. |
Related indicator |
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Criteria status |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Description criteria |
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Element status |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Description element |
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Integration rule type parameter |
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Integration rule description parameter |
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Integration rule type criteria |
SPATIAL
|
SPATIAL
|
Integration rule description criteria |
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GES extent threshold |
||
GES extent achieved |
||
GES extent unit |
||
GES achieved |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Description overall status |
A key finding of the assessment was that the environmental status of Ireland’s marine food webs is currently unknown. There was evidence that components of the food webs are changing but it was not clear how they are affecting each other or the extent to which this is due to anthropogenic influence or associated pressures. Marine food webs are complex systems to gather detailed information on and to interpret with scientific accuracy. This is particularly the case in Ireland’s diverse and variable marine environment. |
A key finding of the assessment was that the environmental status of Ireland’s marine food webs is currently unknown. There was evidence that components of the food webs are changing but it was not clear how they are affecting each other or the extent to which this is due to anthropogenic influence or associated pressures. Marine food webs are complex systems to gather detailed information on and to interpret with scientific accuracy. This is particularly the case in Ireland’s diverse and variable marine environment. |
Assessments period |
1958-2014 |
1958-2014 |
Related pressures |
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Related targets |
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