The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) is calling on the European Union to change its Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) to consider how humans impact ecosystem functioning.
This comes from the ICES’ review of three Good Environmental Status (GES) of the MSFD, as per the European Commission’s request. ICES reviewed the descriptors of commercial fish and shellfish, foodwebs and seafloor integrity.
ICES’s review process was iterative and engaged with participants from all over Europe through workshops, consultants and peer review.
For commercial fish and shellfish, the Council recommends combining considerations about the impacts of fishing mortality on biomass of stocks and the size of individual fish. It also highlights that the selectivity of the fisheries needs to be considered within the MSFD, and proposes ways for this to be built into the regulation.
By their nature, foodwebs are complex and variable, so, ICES recommends the MSFD emphasise two important properties of foodwebs – their structure and function. The Council says by considering these properties, the short and long-term health of foodwebs can be ensured. It also proposes methods for assessing foodwebs, and recommends regional approaches to monitoring the structure and function of selected trophic guilds.
With regards to seafloor integrity, ICES recommends that more emphasis is placed on the services provided by and the functioning of the seafloor. It also highlights that the MSFD should consider all damage to the seafloor, not just “physical damage” as is now stated in the regulation. ICES says it’s likely that existing national monitoring programmes can be adapted to assess these properties, and suggests ways to work with its partner organisations, aiming at cross-regional comparability.
A further discussion will be had at a Council Working Group meeting next month.
