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Environmental information systems
Non-indigenous species (NIS) are those species introduced outside their natural past or present range which might survive and reproduce. Some of the NIS can be harmless, with negligible impacts on native species. Other NIS can be invasive with potential to change native community composition and cause local population extinction with long lasting impacts which threaten biodiversity and ecosystem services. Those are addressed by the EU Regulation 1143/2014 on Invasive Alien Species which starts to include some marine species.
Which are the related MSFD Descriptors?
Non-indigenous species introduced by human activities are at levels that do not adversely alter the ecosystems
The MSFD requires to identify the newly-introduced NIS in the EU Member States waters, as well as to assess the abundance and spatial distribution of established NIS, as well as the adverse effects produced by them.
Outcomes from the MSFD assessments
In 2018, Member States had to update the Good Environmental Status (GES) assessments performed under Marine Strategy Framework Directive Article 8. The present dashboard displays the overall status reported by countries for the features, where the results show which is the percentage of assessments where GES has been achieved, not achieved or is unknown or not assessed.
References
- ↵EC, 2008. Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 establishing a framework for community action in the field of marine environmental policy (Marine Strategy Framework Directive) (Text with EEA relevance), Directive - 2008/56 - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu)
- ↵EC, 2017. Commission Directive (EU) 2017/845 of 17 May 2017 amending Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the indicative lists of elements to be taken into account for the preparation of marine strategies (Text with EEA relevance), https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2017/845/oj
- a bEEA, 2023, Indicator: Marine non-indigenous species in Europe’s seas, https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/indicators/marine-non-indigenous-species-in