The Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs has published Part Two of its Marine Strategy covering UK Marine Monitoring Programmes.
The document sets out the UK’s marine monitoring programmes to support the targets and indicators set out in the Marine Strategy Part One, fulfilling the requirement in the Marine Strategy Framework Directive to establish and implement coordinated monitoring programmes for the ongoing assessment of the environmental status of the UK’smarine waters.
Alongside Part 2, Defra has also published the outcome of a consultation on the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD): proposals for UK monitoring programmes.
The Marine Strategy Part Two provides summaries of the monitoring programmes used for the 11 descriptors of Good Ecological Status (GES) that will be in place by 2014. More detailed information about the specific monitoring programmes will be submitted to the Commission in October 2014.
The aim of the strategy is to show how the marine programmes will monitor progress against the UK MSFD targets and indicators. The monitoring programmes have been developed with the Devolved Administrations and other Government Departments through the MSFD Steering Group and with scientists in the UK Marine Monitoring and Assessment Strategy (UKMMAS) community. Many of the issues are also common to other Member States sharing the same seas - the UK has worked closely with them to develop common approaches to monitoring wherever possible.
The UK’s marine waters are in the North East Atlantic Ocean marine region, with waters to the west of the UK comprising part of the Celtic Seas subregion, and waters to the east of the UK, including the Channel, forming part of the Greater North Sea subregion.
The UK shares the Celtic Seas subregion with Ireland and France, and the Greater North Sea subregion with France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. All the countries are members of the OSPAR Regional Sea Convention for the North East Atlantic and OSPAR has played the primary role in coordinating the implementation of the Directive in this marine region.
The UK has one marine strategy covering the whole of its marine waters and the UK initial assessment, characteristics of Good Ecological Status and associated targets and indicators set out in the Marine Strategy Part One were developed at this scale, in coordination with other countries in the North East Atlantic Region.
The MSFD requires Member States to put in place the necessary management measures to achieve GES in their marine waters by 2020.
Click here to download the Marine Strategy Part One
Click here to download the Marine Strategy Part Two
Click here to download the Consultation Outcome
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