Member State report / Art9 / 2012 / D7 / Mediterranean

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 D7 Hydrographical changes
Region/subregion Mediterranean
Reported by Member state
Member state
UK (https://water.europa.eu/marine/assessment-module/national-descriptors-assessments/uk/mwe/d7/art9/@@view-report-data-2012)
ES (https://water.europa.eu/marine/assessment-module/national-descriptors-assessments/es/mwe/d7/art9/@@view-report-data-2012)
FR (https://water.europa.eu/marine/assessment-module/national-descriptors-assessments/fr/mwe/d7/art9/@@view-report-data-2012)
IT (https://water.europa.eu/marine/assessment-module/national-descriptors-assessments/it/mwe/d7/art9/@@view-report-data-2012, https://water.europa.eu/marine/assessment-module/national-descriptors-assessments/it/mad/d7/art9/@@view-report-data-2012, https://water.europa.eu/marine/assessment-module/national-descriptors-assessments/it/mic/d7/art9/@@view-report-data-2012)
MT (https://water.europa.eu/marine/assessment-module/national-descriptors-assessments/mt/mic/d7/art9/@@view-report-data-2012)
SI (https://water.europa.eu/marine/assessment-module/national-descriptors-assessments/si/mad/d7/art9/@@view-report-data-2012)
HR (https://water.europa.eu/marine/assessment-module/national-descriptors-assessments/hr/mad/d7/art9/@@view-report-data-2012)
EL (https://water.europa.eu/marine/assessment-module/national-descriptors-assessments/el/mad/d7/art9/@@view-report-data-2012, https://water.europa.eu/marine/assessment-module/national-descriptors-assessments/el/mic/d7/art9/@@view-report-data-2012, https://water.europa.eu/marine/assessment-module/national-descriptors-assessments/el/mal/d7/art9/@@view-report-data-2012)
CY (https://water.europa.eu/marine/assessment-module/national-descriptors-assessments/cy/mal/d7/art9/@@view-report-data-2012)
Marine reporting units Number used
0
25
1
168
0
5
7
8
1
Features Functional group
AllFunctional (4)
AllFunctional (15)
GES description D7 Hydrographical changes
Las condiciones hidrográficas e hidrodinámicas en la demarcación son naturales excepto localmente, en determinadas zonas afectadas por infraestructuras, siendo la extensión de éstas reducida en comparación con las zonas naturales y no causando daños irreversibles en hábitats bioénicos y hábitats protegidos. Los hábitats marinos evolucionan en consonancia con las condiciones climáticas reinantes.
Good environmental status is achieved when the nature and extent of permanent changes in hydrographic conditions (which include, inter alia, turbidity, sediments, currents, waves, bathymetry, salinity, temperature) resulting from anthropogenic activities (individually and cumulatively), apart from long-term climatic and cyclical changes in the marine environment, do not have significant long-term impacts on the biological components considered by descriptors 1 (biodiversity), 4 (food webs) and 6 (bottom integrity).
Spremembe hidrografskih pogojev ne spreminjajo ekoloških razmer (upad biotske raznovrstnosti, degradacija habitatov, škodljiva cvetenja alg in pomanjkanje kisika v pridnenem sloju) ali so spremembe minimalne.
Human activity causes the Mediterranean Sea to exhibit long-term increasing trends in temperature and salinity, although the shorter, decadal scale variability may temporarily alter the rising trends. The above trends have the following two consequences, which can potentially alter the good environmental status of the region.
The first process is the progressive warming of the surface and near-bed layers. The warming trends are depended on the estimation period and are often hidden behind large multiannual variability. The impact of this warming is the Mediterranean tropicalization, providing suitable environment for the propagation of Lessepsian species entering through the Suez canal. A Good Environmental Status descriptor for this process is the mean summer, winter or annual water temperatures within the euphotic zone. A preliminary data analysis has shown that the current sea-surface temperature fields in the Aegean are comparable to the 1970s temperatures in the southeast Levantine Sea. Such analyses could be used to assess the degree of deviation from a more ‘pristine’ period, and thus the succeptibility of the physical system to the introduction of warm-living species. Salinity measurements should be complementing the temperature ones.
The second significant process is the vertical stratification, a Good Environmental Status descriptor regarding the ability of the water column to mix and ventilate. Current future projections predict –with little confidence- a deceleration of the overturning in the Mediterranean, thus a lower ventilation rate.
The marine environment of Cyprus is considered to be in good environmental status by the year 2020 if large-scale infrastructure projects are undertaken at such a scale so that the permanent alteration of hydrographical conditions does not adversely affect marine ecosystems. Quantitatively, this descriptor cannot be calculated based on a formula at present, and is assigned the value given to criterion 7.1 (at present, 1.0).
GES description D7C1 Permanent alteration of hydrographical conditions (7.1, 7.1.1)
No more than 5% of the extension of coastal marine water bodies as defined in the WFD presents impacts
(Article 5 WFD) with type due to change in the thermal regime and salinity regime.
GES description D7C2 Adverse effects from permanent alteration of hydrographical conditions (7.2, 7.2.1, 7.2.2)
Threshold values % of criteria with values (no. of criteria)
0.0% (0)
0.0% (2)
0.0% (1)
100.0% (3)
0.0% (0)
100.0% (1)
0.0% (0)
0.0% (3)
0.0% (1)
Proportion of area to achieve threshold values % of criteria with values (range of values reported)
0.0% (0 - 0)
0.0% (0 - 0)
0.0% (0 - 0)
0.0% (0 - 0)
0.0% (0 - 0)
100.0% (-8888 - -8888)
0.0% (0 - 0)
0.0% (0 - 0)
0.0% (0 - 0)