European and Regional Indicators

The marine environment assessments are typically informed by indicators which draw from monitoring data in a structured manner for each assessment topic. The indicators can cover all aspects of the DPSIR framework, but are generally more focused on pressures, state and impacts. The indicator assessments provide detailed information including the matrices, metrics and methods used, as well as the results. In the present section, a list of indicators is provided either used in the context of the Regional Sea Conventions work, or published by the European Environment Agency with a pan-European coverage.

Source	Name of indicator	Type	Theme	Sub-theme
OSPAR	Grey Seal Pup Production	State	Species	Mammals
OSPAR	Marine Bird Breeding Success or Failure	State	Species	Birds
OSPAR	Harbour Porpoise Bycatch	Impact	Extraction of species	Incidental by-catch
OSPAR	Trends in New Records of Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) Introduced by Human Activities	Pressure	Non-indigenous species	Input of non-indigenous species
OSPAR	Size Composition in Fish Communities	State	Species	Fish
OSPAR	Recovery in the Population Abundance of Sensitive Fish Species	State	Species	Fish
OSPAR	Winter Nutrient Concentrations in the Greater North Sea, Kattegat and Skagerrak	Pressure	Eutrophication	Nutrient concentrations
OSPAR	Concentrations of Chlorophyll-a in the Greater North Sea and Celtic Seas	Impact	Eutrophication	Chlorophyll-a concentration
OSPAR	Trends in Blooms of the Nuisance Phytoplankton Species Phaeocystis in Belgian, Dutch and German Waters	Impact	Eutrophication	Phytoplankton blooms
OSPAR	Concentrations of Dissolved Oxygen Near the Seafloor	Impact	Eutrophication	Oxygen
OSPAR	Extent of Physical Damage to Predominant and Special Habitats	Impact	Physical damage	Extent of physical Damage
OSPAR	Status and Trend for Heavy Metals (Mercury, Cadmium, and Lead) in Fish and Shellfish	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
OSPAR	Status and Trend for Heavy Metals (Cadmium, Mercury and Lead) in Sediment	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
OSPAR	Trends of Organotin in Sediments in the Southern North Sea	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
OSPAR	Status and Trends in the Concentrations of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Sediment	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
OSPAR	Status and Trends in the Concentrations of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Shellfish	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
OSPAR	Trends in Concentrations of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) in Sediments	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
OSPAR	Trends in Concentrations of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) in Fish and Shellfish	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
OSPAR	Status and Trends of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) in Fish and Shellfish	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
OSPAR	Status and Trends of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) in Sediment	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
OSPAR	Status and Trends in the Levels of Imposex in Marine Gastropods (TBT in Shellfish)	Impact	Contaminants	Effects in organisms
OSPAR	Beach Litter - Abundance, Composition and Trends	Pressure	Marine litter	Beach litter
OSPAR	Composition and Spatial Distribution of Litter on the Seafloor	Pressure	Marine litter	Litter on the seafloor
OSPAR	Distribution of Reported Impulsive Sounds	Pressure	Underwater noise	Impulsive noise
OSPAR	Nutrient Inputs to the Greater North Sea and the Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast	Pressure	Eutrophication	Input of nutrients
OSPAR	Seal Abundance and Distribution	State	Species	Mammals
OSPAR	Abundance and Distribution of Coastal Bottlenose Dolphins	State	Species	Mammals
OSPAR	Abundance and Distribution of Cetaceans	State	Species	Mammals
OSPAR	Marine Bird Abundance	State	Species	Birds
OSPAR	Size Composition in Fish Communities	State	Ecosystem	Fish
OSPAR	Pilot Assessment of Mean Maximum Length of Fish	State	Species	Fish
OSPAR	Pilot assessment of Changes in Plankton Diversity	State	Ecosystem	Plankton diversity
OSPAR	Condition of Benthic Habitat Communities: the Common Conceptual Approach	State	Habitats	Benthic habitats
OSPAR	Proportion of Large Fish (Large Fish Index)	State	Ecosystem	Fish
OSPAR	Plastic Particles in Fulmar Stomachs in the North Sea)	Pressure	Marine litter	Litter ingested
OSPAR	Change in Average Trophic Level of Marine Predators in the Bay of Biscay	State	Ecosystem	Predators
OSPAR	Pilot Assessment of Production of Phytoplankton	State	Ecosystem	Phytoplankton production
OSPAR	Inputs of Mercury, Cadmium and Lead via Water and Air to the Greater North Sea	Pressure	Contaminants	Input of contaminants
HELCOM	Distribution of Baltic seals	State	Species	Mammals
HELCOM	Number of Drowned Mammals and Waterbirds in Fishing Gear	Impact	Extraction of species	By-catch
HELCOM	Commercial Fishing	Impact	Extraction of species	Commercially exploited fish
HELCOM	Trends in arrival of New Non-Indigenous Species	Pressure	Non-indigenous species	Input of non-indigenous species
HELCOM	Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen (DIN)	Pressure	Eutrophication	Nutrient concentrations
HELCOM	Dissolved inorganic phosphorous (DIP)	Pressure	Eutrophication	Nutrient concentrations
HELCOM	Chlorophyll-a	Impact	Eutrophication	Chlorophyll-a concentration
HELCOM	Water Clarity	Impact	Eutrophication	Transparency
HELCOM	Oxygen Debt	Impact	Eutrophication	Oxygen
HELCOM	State of the Soft-Bottom Macrofauna Community	State	Habitats	Macrofauna communities
HELCOM	Tributyltin (TBT) and Imposex	Impact	Contaminants	Effects in organisms
HELCOM	Abundance of Waterbirds in the Breeding Season	State	Species	Birds
HELCOM	Abundance of Waterbirds in the Wintering Season	State	Species	Birds
HELCOM	Abundance of Salmon Spawners and Smolt	State	Species	Fish
HELCOM	Abundance of Sea Trout Spawners and Parr	State	Species	Fish
HELCOM	Abundance of Key Coastal Fish Species	State	Species	Fish
HELCOM	Population trends and abundance of seals	State	Species	Mammals
HELCOM	Nutritional status of seals	State	Species	Mammals
HELCOM	Reproductive status of seals	State	Species	Mammals
HELCOM	Proportion of Large Fish in the Community	State	Ecosystem	Fish
HELCOM	Abundance of Coastal Fish Key Functional Groups	State	Ecosystem	Fish
HELCOM	Zooplankton mean size and total stock (MSTS)	State	Ecosystem	Zooplankton
HELCOM	Metals (lead, cadmium and mercury)	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
HELCOM	Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) and Their Metabolites	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
HELCOM	PCB, Dioxin and Furan	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
HELCOM	Hexabromocyclodocecane (HBCDD)	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
HELCOM	Perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS)	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
HELCOM	Polybrominated diphenyl Ethers (PBDE)	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
HELCOM	Radioactive substances: Cesium-137 in fish and surface seawater	Pressure	Contaminants	Radionucleids
HELCOM	Cyanobacteria bloom index (CyaBI)	Impact	Eutrophication	Phytoplankton blooms
HELCOM	Input of Nitrogen and Phosphorus to the Baltic Sea (2012-2014)	Pressure	Eutrophication	Input of nutrients
HELCOM	Operational Oil Spills from Ships	Pressure	Contaminants	Input of contaminants
HELCOM	Total nitrogen (TN)	Pressure	Eutrophication	Nutrient concentrations
HELCOM	Total phosphorus (TP)	Pressure	Eutrophication	Nutrient concentrations
HELCOM	Reproductive Disorders: Malformed Embryos of Amphipods	Impact	Contaminants	Effects in organisms
HELCOM	White tailed eagle productivity	Impact	Contaminants	Effects in organisms
UNEP/MAP	Concentration of key nutrients in water column	Pressure	Eutrophication	Nutrient concentrations
UNEP/MAP	Chlorophyll-a concentration in water column	Pressure	Eutrophication	Chlorophyll-a concentration
UNEP/MAP	Concentration of key harmful contaminants measured in the relevant matrix	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
UNEP/MAP	Level of pollution effects of key contaminants where a cause and effect relationship has been established	Impact	Contaminants	Effects in organisms
UNEP/MAP	Occurrence, origin (where possible), extent of acute pollution events, and their impact on biota affected by this pollution	Impact	Contaminants	Input of contaminants
UNEP/MAP	Actual levels of contaminants that have been detected and number of contaminants which have exceeded maximum regulatory levels in commonly consumed seafood	Impact	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
UNEP/MAP	Percentage of intestinal enterococci concentration measurements within established standards	Pressure	Contaminants	Microbial pathogens
UNEP/MAP	Trends in the amount of litter washed ashore and/or deposited on coastlines (including analysis of its composition, spatial distribution and, where possible, source)	Pressure	Marine litter	Beach litter
UNEP/MAP	Trends in the amount of litter in the water column including microplastics and on the seafloor	Pressure	Marine litter	Litter in the water column
UNEP/MAP	Habitat distributional range & Condition of the habitat’s typical species and communities	State	Habitats	Benthic habitats
UNEP/MAP	Species distributional range - Marine Mammals	State	Species	Mammals
UNEP/MAP	Species distributional range - Seabirds	State	Species	Seabirds
UNEP/MAP	Species distributional range - Marine Turtles	State	Species	Reptiles
UNEP/MAP	Population abundance of selected species - Seabirds	State	Species	Seabirds
UNEP/MAP	Population abundance of selected species - Marine Mammals	State	Species	Mammals
UNEP/MAP	Population abundance of selected species - Marine Reptiles	State	Species	Reptiles
UNEP/MAP	Population demographic characteristics - Seabirds	State	Species	Seabirds
UNEP/MAP	Population demographic characteristics - Marine Mammals	State	Species	Mammals
UNEP/MAP	Population demographic characteristics - Marine Reptiles	State	Species	Reptiles
UNEP/MAP	Trends in abundance, temporal occurrence, and spatial distribution of non-indigenous species, particularly invasive, non-indigenous species,notably in risk areas,in relation to the main vectors and pathways of spreading of such species	Impact	Non-indigenous species	Established NIS
UNEP/MAP	Spawning stock Biomass	Impact	Extraction of species	Commercially exploited fish
UNEP/MAP	Total landings	Impact	Extraction of species	Commercially exploited fish
UNEP/MAP	Fishing Mortality	Impact	Extraction of species	Commercially exploited fish
UNEP/MAP	Location and extent of the habitats impacted directly by hydrographic alterations	Impact	Hydrographical conditions	Permanent alterations
UNEP/MAP	Length of coastline subject to physical disturbance due to the influence of manmade structures	Impact	Physical disturbance	Coastline
EEA	Marine protected areas in Europe's seas	Response	Marine Protected Areas	Coverage
EEA	Pathways of introduction of marine non-indigenous species	Pressure	Non-indigenous species	Input of non-indigenous species
EEA	Trends in marine non-indigenous species	Pressure	Non-indigenous species	Input of non-indigenous species
EEA	Aquaculture production	Activity	Cultivation of species	Aquaculture
EEA	Fishing fleet pressure	Pressure	Extraction of species	Commercially exploited fish
EEA	Status of marine fish stocks	State	Extraction of species	Commercially exploited fish
EEA	Chlorophyll in transitional, coastal and marine waters	State	Eutrophication	Chlorophyll-a concentration
EEA	Nutrients in transitional, coastal and marine waters	State	Eutrophication	Nutrient concentrations
EEA	Hazardous substances in marine organisms	Pressure	Contaminants	Contaminants concentration
EEA	Global and European sea level	State	Climate change	Sea level
EEA	Sea surface temperature	State	Climate change	Sea temperature
EEA	Ocean oxygen content	State	Climate change	Oxygen content
EEA	Changes in fish distribution in European seas	State	Climate change	Species distribution
EEA	Ocean acidification	State	Climate change	Acidification
EEA	Ocean heat content	State	Climate change	Heat content
EEA	Arctic and Baltic sea ice	State	Climate change	Sea ice