The Components of this Assessment

The IA 2017 is made up of various units. In addition to this Introduction, the IA 2017 presents new and developing aspects in the areas of Socio-economics of the OSPAR Region and Ecosystem Assessment Outlook. Both components are of increasing relevance, but the methodology remains developmental. However, illustrating the concepts and ideas provides a strong foundation on which to build for the next OSPAR Quality Status Report (QSR).

The global climate has always been in a state of flux. However, human-driven climate change is resulting in increased rates of warming. The rate of these changes will impact on the biology, physics and chemistry of our seas and oceans as presented in the section entitled Climate and Ocean Acidification.

Given that only human activity can actually be managed, of fundamental importance is the presentation of Pressures from Human Activities . This covers the areas of hazardous substances, eutrophication, marine litter, invasive non-indigenous species and impulsive noise. Presented through a series of indicators, these human pressures are described in detail, covering topics such as the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in marine sediments, the quantity of beach litter, and nutrient inputs. A full list is presented in Table 5.

Since the QSR 2010, 18 indicators have been developed to assess the state of biological diversity across the OSPAR Maritime Area (see Table 6). While some of these build on OSPAR’s experience in developing EcoQOs for the North Sea, many have been defined and developed only over the last six years and are being assessed for the first time in the IA 2017.

Assessing biodiversity at the regional scale creates new demands for data and analytical capacity. While existing datasets can be used for some of the indicators, this is not the case for many of them and OSPAR is only just beginning to build up time series of monitoring data. Biological data integrate the cumulative effect of pressures from human activities and the influences of oceanographic and climatic variability and can be inherently more variable than pressure data. While some aspects change rapidly, others change only slowly. Improving confidence in understanding temporal and spatial change may require a higher, and possibly disproportionate, intensity of monitoring.

The level of certainty about a pressure-impacts relationship depends on the intensity of monitoring that is feasible; as such, the level of certainty may range from very high, to a lower level that can be used as a trigger for investigative research. Capacities in interpretation are in development. Some indicators have been developed with the expectation that the information delivered will be enhanced by integrating it with the information used in other indicators, including those developed under other descriptors for GES.

OSPAR has produced, over the years, a series of Thematic Assessments. These continue to be part of OSPAR reporting procedures. Five are summarised in the IA 2017 (Table 7).

There remain gaps in the assessment of pressures and ecosystem components in order to judge whether the objective of clean and healthy seas are achieved or maintained in the OSPAR Maritime Area. Additional indicators (‘candidate indicators’) are under consideration and development in OSPAR with a view to closing gaps for future quality status assessments (Table 8). While further work will need to take account of the latest EU requirements for assessing the status of the marine environment under the MSFD, the work and considerations undertaken by OSPAR to date can inform the further development of assessment tools at EU and regional level in order to meet those requirements in the future.

Presentation of the Indicators

Key to the IA 2017 is making the data available and accessible. As such, the IA 2017 presents all the indicators in two ways:

Brief – this information is clearly presented when the reader first accesses the relevant indicator page and requires the reader to simply scroll through the page. The brief sections incorporate the Key Message, Background, Results, Conclusions, and Knowledge Gaps.

Extended – if the reader is interested in obtaining a more in-depth understanding of the Background to the indicator, or indeed the Results, Conclusions and Knowledge Gaps, then the extended information can be accessed through the bars marked ‘extended’. A description of the assessment method is also presented as an ‘extended’ section.

In addition, references can be accessed using the ‘reference’ bar, and the metadata are also readily accessible.