No. Overall the monitoring programme is deemed to constitute the most appropriate framework to meet the requirements of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive on the basis of the current level of knowledge on the marine environment. Major data limitations identified by the MSFD Initial Assessment will, to the extent possible, be addressed through the implementation of the monitoring programme. However, it is also acknowledged that some data or knowledge gaps need to be addressed through research or pilot surveys prior to establishing and implementing monitoring regimes. Plans to address such knowledge gaps have been explored throughout the development of the monitoring programme and need to be further evaluated in parallel to the implementation of the monitoring regimes. Limitations of the individual monitoring programmes are described in subsequent sections of this report. The development of the monitoring programme is an iterative process and the programmes as reported will be updated on the basis of improved knowledge throughout the MSFD reporting cycles.