What is currently included in the targeted monitoring is the ten-legged crustacean Nephrops norvegicus. The species is nocturnal and lives on and buried in solid clay bottoms. Along the coast of Sweden, the species occur in the Kattegat and Skagerrak. Nephrops norvegicus is an important commercial species that is fished through bottom trawling. In addition to Nephrops norvegicus, other species that live in the same habitat, such as sea pens and other coral animals, can be injured or die as a result of trawling. The purpose of monitoring Nephrops norvegicus is to map the abundance of the species in areas that are fished. This is done in a UWTV survey (Under Water TV), ie by filming the seabed with an underwater camera and counting the number of inhabited holes per unit area. During the monitoring, the effects of trawling can also be assessed. The geographical coverage of the monitoring is based on the main catchment areas and is thus expected to cover the species main distribution areas. Data collection (in accordance with EU legislation (EU) 2017/1004, (EU) 2019/909 and (EU) 2019/910) through UWTV is coordinated by ICES's working group WGNEPS between several countries in the North Sea area.

The purpose of monitoring macrophytes on hard- and sedimentbottom communities are to follow longterm changes in the marine environment due to changes in water transparency, nutrient enrichment and physical disturbance, and indirect effects due to changes in foodwebs. During 2016-2019 the monitoring programme was revised. New methods for monitoring of hardbottom vegetation has started and additional areas and stations has been added the national programme. New methods for monitoring of sediment communities with vegetation/eelgrass has started and additional areas and stations has been added the national programme. Sweden is also developing integrated methods for monitoring shallow habitats using satellites or drones to supplement the current in situ monitoring. Sampling primarily every year, every other year or every third year

Mapping and monitoring of benthic habitats is of crucial importance for all environmental management at sea, from a functioning ecosystem-based marine environment management to meeting the various requirements of environmental legislation. The need for continuous and comprehensive monitoring covering the biological components of the MSFD, the Habitats Directive and the WFD has been clarified in recent reporting cycles. Corresponding needs also exist within the national environmental goals, from the Convention on Biological Diversity and the current challenges of tackling climate change. The new objectives of the EU Biodiversity Strategy (2021-2030) require functioning monitoring systems that provide comprehensive information for protection, assessment of permits, action planning and evaluation (of protection, permit modification and implemented measures). Monitoring is needed for sustainable fisheries regulation and coastal planning linked to exploitation, as well as for the management of transport routes and energy production, and last but not least to ensure a functioning network of protected areas and a functioning beach protection. The monitoring of benthic habitats is largely dependent on technical solutions. Methods for monitoring are under development and will, together with monitoring of pressures (see program Physical disturbance and loss), provide a basis for assessing the condition of the benthic habitats and how they are affected by various human activities. The Habitats Directive's assessment in 2019 shows that physical impact on conservation status in the form of construction, ports, dredging and bottom trawling predominates in the North Sea, while water quality, hazardous substances and nutrient load instead have a greater derogatory impact on habitats in the Baltic Sea. In order to be able to respond to the requirements in an integrated manner, a development of coordinated methods is underway that can deliver the necessary data on benthic habitats. The pilot phase of a survey and monitoring of shallow marine areas using satellite, aerial and drone images and biological sampling will be completed in 2020 and the established monitoring method will be tested and fine-tuned in 2021. The studies include testing of methods from satellite to biological sampling both in the Baltic Sea and on the West Coast. The overall monitoring of shallow benthic environments strives to be able to annually measure shallow marine areas completely (all of Sweden) w

Oxygen supply in the water mass is a prerequisite for most marine organisms and a lack of oxygen can thus have major effects on marine habitats and biodiversity. Changed oxygen concentration can be an effect of eutrophication as an increased amount of nutrients leads to increased production of biomass which when it is decomposed consumes oxygen. Changes in oxygen concentrations may also be due to hydrographic or climate-related conditions. The ocean is acidified as an effect of carbon dioxide emissions that have led to increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. When carbon dioxide is dissolved in seawater, carbonic acid is formed, which leads to falling pH and the oceans becoming more acidic. Sea acidification can also be caused by exhaust fumes, from for example ships and industry, containing sulfur- and nitric oxid. In the air these oxids are converted into sulfuric acid and nitric acid, which reacts with water droplets that acidify the seawater. Sea acidification can have far-reaching consequences for organisms and ecosystems. Among other things by affecting the species that have shells or skeletons of lime. Climate change and ocean acidification are expected to together lead to changes in the distribution of species and food webs. Oxygen measurements from the Baltic Sea are available from the 1890s, but the measurements are sparse and have low reliability due to unreliable measurement technology. Since 1902, the oxygen measurements have been performed using basically the same method, so-called Winkler titration. In the North Sea, oxygen began to be measured in 1970. pH monitoring started in 1993. Monitoring frequency varies between 2-weekly to monthly. Work is underway to develop new methods for monitoring using automated sampling and measurements, for example from ferry box systems or bottom- or buoy-mounted measurement systems. Methods are already in place and routines are being developed for automated measurements of oxygen by the use of probes on ships, buoys and measuring systems, or on moving gliders.

Sediment-living macrofauna have a size that is captured on a 1 mm sieve and include many different animal groups e.g. polychaetes, molluscs, echinoderms and crustaceans. The aim is to follow long-term trends in the marine environment as a result of organic loading and oxygen deficiency by documenting changes in the structure of the sediment-living macrofauna communities. Sampling primarily every year or every other year Monitoring in the Baltic Sea started 1971, and 1972 in the North Sea.

This programme include monitoring of physical disturbance or loss of the sea's bottom and coastal environment through human activities such as bottom trawling, dredging, dumping, land claim, constructions and other activities that cause physical change of the bottom (water depth, sediment distribution and habitat loss) and possible the sediment dynamic conditions and hydrographic conditions (eg currents and water exchange). Physical impact can be identified based on registered information about where and when different activities are carried out. Such information is found, for example, in permits and exemptions or notifications made in accordance with the Environmental Code and can also be produced through, for example, analysis of aerial photographs, VMS and logbooks for fishing activities as well as hydroacoustic measurements with, for example, multibeam sonar. After coordinating geographical and temporal information about human impact with information about ecosystem components in an area, the impact can be assessed. To estimate the physical impact on benthic habitats, the plan is to use data on human activities and their pressures, together with data from e.g. the programmes Benthic habitats and Macrozoobenthos - on the seafloor. The latter also includes documenting traces of trawling when monitoring the seabed. Different types of data are thus collected that could be used to estimate physical impact. However, methods for monitoring and assessment are still under development. Benthic trawling began to be monitored in 1998. Dumping activities began to be reported to the Regional Sea Conventions in 1996. Since 2011, dredging activity linked to dumping has also been reported. Data on other activities have been collected from permits prior to certain reports, but ongoing collection is not yet in place. Regarding sand gravel and rock extraction, there are data on the volume of extraction in m3 per licensed area and year in Sweden from 1967. In 2018, historical and new aerial images of Sweden's coastal areas were analyzed to identify physical disturbance within the project ”Physical impact in Swedish coastal waters - mapping, assessment and guidelines”. The results apply to the 1960s, and the present (2016). In order to get an idea of the rate of change, interpretations of five major sub-areas have been made for the years 1994 and 2008. The analyzes have been made through interpretations of orthophotos and are planned to be followed up once or twice during