Member State report / Art11 / 2020 / D1-B / Sweden / NE Atlantic: Greater North Sea
Report type | Member State report to Commission |
MSFD Article | Art. 11 Monitoring programmes (and Art. 17 updates) |
Report due | 2020-10-15 |
GES Descriptor | D1 Birds |
Member State | Sweden |
Region/subregion | NE Atlantic: Greater North Sea |
Reported by | Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management Gullbergs Strandgata 15, 411 04 Göteborg Box 11930, |
Report date | 2020-10-16 |
Report access |
Descriptor |
D1.1 |
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Monitoring strategy description |
The monitoring of seabirds provides a basis for assessing state primarily on the basis of abundance. The monitoring also allows a qualitative assessment of the distribution and health status of certain species. The monitoring of by-catches and hunting has the potential to provide a basis for direct impact, while other human activities and pressures that may affect seabirds, such as physical disturbance, fishing, shipping and hazardous substances, including oil spills, are included in other monitoring strategies.
Large-scale changes in distributional range can be detected with current monitoring, although there is currently no indicator in place (criterion D1C4). The data collected in the monitoring of breeding seabirds will in the future be able to be used to assess the condition of the populations (D1C3), but there is no indicator in place yet.
By using the monitoring of different human activities and pressures (e.g. shipping, constructions, fishing and oil spills) the aim is to be able to use these data together with data on mobile species to assess D1C5. JWGbird (Joint Ospar/Helcom/Ices Working Group on Marine Birds) are currently working on developing an indicator for D1C5.
There are no targets in place specifically linked to marine birds, however, the targets for hazardous substances, eutrophication, marine litter, underwater noise and fishing activities are indirectly relevant to acheive good status also for birds.
The related measures may cause positive changes in the marine bird populations, but just as for the targets the linkage between the human activities and pressures and how they may impact the populations are not always crystal clear. |
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Coverage of GES criteria |
Adequate monitoring will be in place by 2024 |
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Gaps and plans |
Wintering birds – The assessment of wintering seabirds is based entirely on data from land-based countings. The large numbers of birds that wintering in the archipelagos are thus poorly represented. JWGbird advocates that coordinated flight inventories of wintering seabirds should take place at intervals of a maximum of 6 years, which is something that will be fulfilled at least in the short term with the flight inventories to be carried out during the winter of 2020. JWGbird is currently working on developing methods to assess wintering birds at sea according to D1C2.
Breeding birds – Knowledge of reproductive success over time would serve as an effective "early warning system" and would provide a basis for D1C3 (population condition). Within the monitoring of breeding coastal birds, reproduction data is collected for eider, but within a pilot inventory also for other species. Consideration should be given to including the pilot inventory in the continuously funded monitoring. Unused in this context is high-quality data collected outside the national environmental monitoring. Sweden will investigate what such data exists and their availability.
Bycatch – Monitoring is being improved thanks to a number of ongoing projects in the Baltic Sea, the Sound, Kattegat and Skagerrak. These projects are complementing the regular monitoring of commersial fisheries discards, where bycaught birds are noted by human observers onboard, but where numbers are too low to enable a confident assessment of D1C1. Cameras onboard are therefore being tested as a complement to the observers. |
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Related targets |
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Coverage of targets |
Adequate monitoring is in place by July 2020 |
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Related measures |
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Coverage of measures |
Adequate monitoring is in place by July 2020 |
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Related monitoring programmes |
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Programme code |
SE-D1-hunting |
SE-D1D3-bycatch |
SE-D1D4-seabirds |
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Programme name |
Hunting of birds and seals |
Bycatch |
Seabirds |
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Update type |
New programme |
Modified from 2014 |
Modified from 2014 |
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Old programme codes |
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Programme description |
In Sweden, hunting for seals and certain species of seabirds is regulated by the Hunting Act, the Hunting Ordinance and various supplementary regulations as well as other legally binding documents. The hunt can be carried out either as predator control, license hunting or general hunting. The different types of hunting have partly different purposes and conditions linked to the conduct of the hunt.
The main purpose of the predator control is to limit the damage that wildlife causes to human activities and interests and in some cases the damage that a species causes to other animals and plants. In license hunting, the kills and thus the development of the game stock in question must be adapted to the availability of game and with regard to public and private interests. The hunt must also have a clear purpose, e.g. to prevent the damage caused by wildlife. In the case of general hunting, the hunting right holder has the opportunity to hunt an unlimited number of animals of the permitted type during the permitted hunting period, however, the hunting must be adapted to the availability of game.
Predator control and license hunting is conducted following a decision by an authority. General hunting seasons are regulated in the Hunting Ordinance. The Hunting Ordinance also contains provisions that certain species may be hunted on the hunters own initiative to prevent the damage caused by wildlife.
Historically, intensive hunting has been a contributing factor to some species being endangered, but today hunting is regulated so that it does not cause a negative impact on the viability of stocks. Hunting, however, is one of several human activities that must be monitored in order to be able to follow the development of different populations of birds and seals. |
In the regular sampling carried out on board commercial fishing vessels in accordance with EU data collection regulations ((EU) 2017/1004, (EU) 2016/1251), as well as the regulation on the conservation of fishery resources and the protection of marine ecosystems (EU ) 2019/1241, information regarding by-catch is obtained. All fish species, commercial shellfish, mammals and birds are noted. Sampling takes place mainly on vessels fishing with various bottom trawls.
Data collection carried out according to the EU data collection regulations is coordinated internationally between Member States in regional data collection coordination groups. Sweden participates in two such groups RCG Baltic and RCG North Sea and Eastern Arctic (to which the Skagerrak and Kattegat belong). Furthermore, a lot of international coordination and development work is done within ICES´s various expert groups (for by-catches mainly WGBYC). Sweden participates actively in these groups.
Pilot studies were carried out in 2017-2019 with the aim of conducting by-catch sampling in 2020 in fisheries that use passive gear (nets and hooks).
The purpose is to increase knowledge about by-catches in these fisheries, to test whether it is possible to estimate by-catches by having observers on board fishing boats, and if this is an effective method.
Sampling of nets in the Sound and in the Kattegat will be included in the regular sampling from 2020. However, no ongoing monitoring of passive gear is currently planned in the Baltic Proper as previous pilots observed fewer by-catches there. So based on risk, monitoring in the Sound and Kattegatt are therefore prioritized. The Skagerrak could possibly be added after the pilot study there is completed in 2021.
The pilot studies have shown that it also works to monitor the fish with passive gear with the help of observers (the challenge is that the vessels are small). However, the question remains whether this is the most effective way of estimating the total amount of by-catches in the fisheries. The problem is that observers can only cover a small part of the total fishing effort and that by-catches of many species (such as harbour porpoises and various birds) are relatively uncommon. This means that there will be few observations and thus uncertainty in the estimates of the total amount of by-catches. In 2020, therefore, a new pilot project was initiated where surveillance with the help of cameras is tested and compared with surveillance with the help |
Seabirds are an important part of the marine ecosystem, as most species are high up in the food chain. The monitoring of breeding and wintering birds along the coast and in the offshore areas aims to follow the population development over time, which can be affected by changing conditions in the food web but also by the direct impact that arises from a number of different human activities. The status of seabirds therefore gives a general indication of the state of the ecosystem and corresponds to the cumulative impact of different pressures.
Breeding and wintering birds are nationally monitored annually along the Swedish coast. Standardized inventories of wintering birds along the coast of Sweden have been ongoing annually since 1967 and are coordinated internationally within the International Waterbird Census. Breeding birds have been monitored on a large scale since 2010. At the local level, monitoring of breeding coastal birds is also carried out in a number of coastal counties, where several of the programmes are linked to the national programme.
With an approximate six-year interval, inventories of wintering seabird species in the offshore areas are carried out, in order to supplement the annual inventories. These inventories are coordinated internationally and were first carried out in 1992-93. In 2020, inventories will be carried out in the offshore sea areas within the HELCOM and OSPAR regions in order to improve knowledge of the species that live there, especially hareld (Clangula hyemalis). The inventories are coordinated with other countries around the Baltic Sea and the North Sea through the working group JWGbird.
Somateria mollissima (Anas molissima) is also monitored, but was not in the element list |
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Monitoring purpose |
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Other policies and conventions |
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Regional cooperation - coordinating body |
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Regional cooperation - countries involved |
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Regional cooperation - implementation level |
Coordinated data collection |
Coordinated data collection |
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Monitoring details |
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Features |
Hunting and collecting for other purposes
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Extraction of, or mortality/injury to, wild species (by commercial and recreational fishing and other activities)
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Fish and shellfish harvesting (professional, recreational)
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Species affected by incidental by-catch
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Benthic-feeding birds
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Grazing birds
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Pelagic-feeding birds
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Surface-feeding birds
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Wading birds
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Benthic-feeding birds
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Grazing birds
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Pelagic-feeding birds
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Surface-feeding birds
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Wading birds
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Benthic-feeding birds
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Grazing birds
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Pelagic-feeding birds
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Surface-feeding birds
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Wading birds
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Coastal ecosystems
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Shelf ecosystems
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Coastal ecosystems
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Shelf ecosystems
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Coastal ecosystems
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Shelf ecosystems
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Elements |
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GES criteria |
NotRelevan |
D1C1 |
D1C2 |
D1C2 |
D1C2 |
D1C2 |
D1C2 |
D1C3 |
D1C3 |
D1C3 |
D1C3 |
D1C3 |
D1C4 |
D1C4 |
D1C4 |
D1C4 |
D1C4 |
D4C1 |
D4C1 |
D4C2 |
D4C2 |
D4C3 |
D4C3 |
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Parameters |
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Parameter Other |
Species composition |
Species composition |
Species composition |
Species composition |
Abundance (number of individuals) Species composit |
Abundance (number of individuals) Species composit |
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Spatial scope |
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Marine reporting units |
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Temporal scope (start date - end date) |
1939-9999 |
1996-9999 |
1967-9999 |
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Monitoring frequency |
Yearly |
3-monthly |
Yearly |
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Monitoring type |
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Monitoring method |
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Monitoring method other |
The collection of huntingstatistics is largely based on feedback from the hunters themselves. For example, decisions on predator control and license hunting often require reporting to the decision-making authority as soon as possible after animals have been shot in connection with the hunt. The compilation of statistics in the database ”Viltdata” is largely based on the hunters voluntarily reporting killed animals to the database. |
Catches and by-catches are monitored with the help of observers who accompany the fishing vessels during commercial fishing. The regular sampling is divided into area, fisheries and quarters. This means that observations are made every quarter from different types of bottom trawls (shrimp trawl, crayfish trawl with grate, trawl without grate). Usually, in the order of 0.5-2% (different for different types of fisheries) of commercial fishing trips are observed. The fishing trips observed are selected at random. Observations of by-catch within the framework of the pilot studies are carried out in the same manner. The observers examine the entire process during which the fishing gear is hauled so that also by-catches that do not follow on board but fall out of the nets can be registered. Furthermore, the observers examine the entire sorting of the catch. The observers then measure and weigh the catch and take samples for biological analysis. Remote surveillance using cameras onboard is being tested during 2020, and may supplement the monitoring in the future. |
"Wintering birds: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1172153/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Breeding birds: https://www.fageltaxering.lu.se/inventera/metoder/kustfagelrutorna/metodik-kustfagelrutor" |
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Quality control |
In order to assess the reliability of the hunting statistics, the responsible authority can check that the statistics do not deviate in any improbable way. Furthermore, the various reporting requirements and the design of the decisions constitute a quality assurance in itself. |
Sampling takes place through a random selection of ships/voyages. The observers bring with them a manual for determining the species of birds and also photograph captured birds as much as possible. Data is registered in the national database Fiskdata2 according to the updated manual. Data is examined and checked in several respects. Quality assurance includes control reading routines of entered data against protocols, automatic quality control of data within the database and manual quality control of data (identification of outliers). |
The inventories of wintering and breeding seabirds follow a simple and well-documented methodology. Reporting is done via digital protocols that are sent to the Swedish Bird Taxation, which is the project manager for both inventories. Received protocols are checked before they are entered into the database. In case of doubt, they contact the rapporter. Furthermore, entered data is validated through a number of control questions. |
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Data management |
Statistics on killed animals in predator control and license hunting are available from the respective responsible authority and can be made available on request. Statistics on license and general hunting can be found in the Swedish Hunters' Association's database ”Viltdata”. |
A data hosting agreement with Lund University has been developed and work begun in 2019 to make large parts of the data publicly available and downloadable. Data from the winter counts are also available from the international coordinator of seabird inventories - Wetlands International. Data are fully available and can be obtained via contact with Swedish bird taxation via fageltaxering@biol.lu.se. |
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Data access |
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Related indicator/name |
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Contact |
miljoovervakning@havochvatten.se |
miljoovervakning@havochvatten.se |
miljoovervakning@havochvatten.se |
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References |