Providing research and scientific support to the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive
The Marine Directors of the European Union and all EU Member States have jointly developed a Common Implementation Strategy for supporting the implementation of the MSFD, 2008/56/EC, amended by Commission Directive (EU) 2017/845 of 17 May 2017.
The Joint Research Centre provides support to the MSFD processes and activities to improve the implementation of the Directive, including the development of thematic technical reports, such as guidance documents, technical background reports and analyses related to EU Member States reporting.
The MSFD requires that Good Environmental Status (GES) should be achieved in EU marine waters as described by eleven environmental Descriptors, each of them assessed by several GES Criteria. At the core of the GES assessment lies the need for threshold values (TVs) which enable a quantitative assessment of environmental status for the indicators and elements used for each GES Criterion. In this JRC report, we review the availability of agreed threshold-setting approaches/methods and TVs for all Criteria of the eleven MSFD Descriptors. We showcase the progress made with regards to the establishment of thresholds, discuss the relevant ongoing developments, and highlight the remaining gaps in both threshold-setting methods and TVs. We also suggest ways forward to improve the availability of thresholds for the MSFD Criteria.
Thresholds for MSFD Criteria: state of play and next steps
Following the initial assessments, performed in 2012, EU Member States have reported from 2018-2020 under Article 17 of the MSFD for updating Articles 8 (Assessment), 9 (Good Environmental Status) and 10 (Targets) of the Directive, for the last 6-year reporting cycle (2012-2018). The JRC has reviewed, from a technical, scientific perspective, the EU MS reports in order to evaluate the consistency and comparability among MS and marine regions, highlight gaps and limitations in current assessments, identify items that need further work and provide recommendations for improvement in the next MSFD reporting cycle.
11 reports summarise the outcome from that review process:
MSFD Art.8, 9 and 10 MS report reviews
The scientific and technical review of the Commission Decision 2010/477/EU and MSFD Annex III, launched by the Commission and Member States in 2014 following a mandate of the MSFD Committee, aimed at improving MSFD implementation and achieving greater consistency and coherence in determining and assessing GES. The discussions to support the review process were captured in descriptor-specific 'review manuals' published by JRC and ICES in 2015, which also identified a number of technical issues that required further work.
The review process resulted in a revised GES Decision (EU 2017/848) and MSFD Annex III, which makes provision for specific threshold values and methodological standards to be agreed at Union level, whilst others are to be developed through regional or subregional cooperation.
Review of the Commission Decision 2010/477/EU
