HELCOM HOLAS II & Assessing fish as part of the Baltic Sea - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

HELCOM HOLAS II & Assessing fish as part of the Baltic Sea ecosystem

Lena Bergström, Project Coordinator of HOLAS II

What are the aims of the HOLAS II project? What will be assessed? Where does fish come into the assessment?

Primary aims of the second HELCOM holistic assessment of ecosystem health of the Baltic Sea

• Follow up on the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP)
• Serve as a base for the 2018 reporting of the MSFD

Lena Bergström, HOLAS II Photo: Ulf Bergström

Also: Support the further development

• f a Baltic regional indicator-based assessment system

Contributions from other projects, and from expert groups:

• Better and more reliable indicators
• Improved data flow
• Increasingly automated and transparent assessment

methods

Lena Bergström, HOLAS II

Timeline

2015 2016 2017 2018 Develop tools and concepts, data flows, core indicators Assess- ment and writing Updates, finalize report Consul- tation

Project from December 2014 to June 2018.

Develop and test methods Data!

RELEASE OF FIRST RESULTS UPDATED RESULTS

Overview of HOLAS II outputs at different level of detail

Results by species groups, descriptors, integrated assessments

Results by indicator ”Chapters in the report”

What will be assessed? Where does fish come into the assessment?

These slides reflect planned work! Many aspects are to be dicussed and agreed on further

Drivers Pressures Status of the ecosystem Impacts (ecosystem services) Responses To be developed further by HOLAS II together with the TAPAS project

HOLAS II in relation to the DPSIR framework

Economic and social analyses (ESA):

how to link the natural science-based assessment to analyses of benefits and consequences for human well-being

• Use of marine waters

– Linked to assessment of human activities and pressures

• Cost of degradation

– Benefits forgone if GES is not reached

• Ecosystem services?

To be considered further (Workshops for method development will be held 10-11 May, Helsinki and 8-9 September, Tallinn)

BIRDS FISH MAM- MALS BENTIC PELA- GIC

D7 D9 D10 D11 D2 D6 D3

EUTRO D5 HAZ D8 BIODIV D1,D4,D6

Environmental status (GES)

Results for groups of biodiversity elements

Thematic outputs

Assessment of Good Environmental Status

Some pressure based desriptors may not be relevant to show in maps

D1= Biodiversity D2= Non-indigenous species D3 = Commercial fish D4 = Food webs D5 = Eutrophication D6 = Seafloor integrity D7 = Hydrographical alterations D8= Contaminant concentrations D9 = Contaminants in food D10 = Marine litter D11 = Noise and energy

GES is assessed based on Core indicators

• Biological elements: mammals, birds, fish, pelagic and benthic

habitats

• Pressure based indicators: Non-indigenous species,

Commercial fishing, Eutrophication, Contaminants, Marine litter, Energy and noise

Indicators potentially available for HOLAS II

C-GES=Core indicator with GES definition, C=Core indicator still lacking GES definition, PC=Pre-Core

Integrated assessment of biodiversity

Integration steps

Other options to be evaluated for the integrated assessment of biodiversity

Criteria-approach Species approach To be compared with the currently planned “species group” –

• compartments. Need to explore relationship between available indicators

and criteria proposed in the draft new commission decision on GES criteria, to explore where gaps appear and how it affects the overall assessment.

Ways to present the results

Name Surname 5/10/2016 15

Aggregated results based on averaging or one-out-all-out Shades of red in this example show distance to the boundary

Indicator Assessment units

1) Level 1: Entire Baltic Sea 2) Level 2: 17 units

Assessment units (cont.)

3) Level 3 17 units with coastal areas separated 4) Level 4: WFD Water bodies

Cumulative effect assessment

Pressure data layer x Impact score x Ecosystem component data layer

Impact scores rate the sensitivity of the ecosystem component to the concerned pressure, eg from 1-3.

Web questionaire in planning

• A questionnaire will collect expert opinions to

support setting the impact scores

• The questionnaire will relate circa 19

pressures to their effects on ecosystem components

• Time plan: June

Name Surname 5/10/2016 19

Ongoing collation of spatial datasets

HUMAN ACTIVITIES 43 datasets aimed for PRESSURES 44 datasets aimed for

The spatial datasets will be merged into thematic layers for the assessment – circa 20 layers representing pressures

Ongoing collation of spatial datasets

ECOSYSTEM COMPONENTS

• Pelagic habitats (2)
• Broad-scale seabed habitats (6)
• Habitat-forming species (5)
• Natura 2000 habitats (8)
• Fish species (7)
• Important bird areas (3)
• Marine mammals (3)

Value in brackets give indicative number of layers considered in each group)

Ecosystem component layers for fish

• Cod
• Sprat
• Herring
• Perch
• Pikeperch
• Flounder
• Roach

These will be included in the assessment provided that spatial datasets of adequate quality can be

• btained

Also maps over spawning areas where possible and relevant

Windfarms

• Status
• Capacity (MW)
• N of turbines
• Construction year

Pipelines

• Status

Example data sets on human activities

Surface abrasion

Data for 2009-2013

Example data sets on pressures

Fish related human activities in the spatial assessment

Activity Example subactivity

Fish and shellfish harvesting (professional, recreational) Potting/ creeling (FPO, FIX) Netting (GNS) Demersal long lining (LLS) Pelagic long lining (LLD) Benthic trawling (OTB, OTT, PTB) Pelagic trawling (OTM, PTM) Demersal seining (SDN, SSC) Purse seining (PS) Benthic dredging (HMD) Leisure fishing (RG, [GN, LX]) Aquaculture - marine Finfish mariculture Shellfish mariculture

Assessment: What pressures do these activities cause on the environment? What are the benefits of these activities on human well-being?

Assessed pressures (prel.)

Assessment: Which of these pressures affect fish and to what extent?

Pressure Subpressure Substances, litter and energy Input of nutrients From atmospheric deposition, diffuse and point sources Input of organic matter From diffuse sources Input of hazardous substances From acute events, atmospheric deposition, diffuse sources, point sources Input of litter Solid waste and micro-sized litter Input of sound Continuous sound Impulsive sound Input of other forms of energy Seismic waves Change in water temperature Biological Input or spread of non-indigenous species Input or spread of non-indigenous species Disturbance of species due to human presence (layered combined from human activities) Extraction of, or mortality/injury to, species Target and non-targeted catches in commercial and recreational fishing Physical Disturbance or damage to seabed Disturbance or damage to seabed Extraction of seabed substrate Extraction of seabed substrate Change of seabed substrate or morphology Change of seabed substrate or morphology (physical loss) Changes to hydrological conditions Changes to hydrological conditions

Good environmental status

is assessed using fish based and fish-related indicators Division in relation to the MSFD:

• Descriptor 1, 4 (Biodiversity): HELCOM core indicators
• Descriptor 3 (Commercially exploited fish and shellfish): ICES

Back to the fish indicators:

How to include the indicators?

• State based: All D1, D4, (D6) indicators, as well as D3

indicators under criteria D3.2 and D3.3.

• Pressure based: D3 indicators criterion D3.1
• All state-based indicators are proposed to be

included in the Biodiversity assessment of HOLAS II.

Name Surname 5/10/2016 28

BIRDS FISH MAM- MALS PELA- GIC

D7 D9 D10 D11 D2 D6 D3

HAZ D8

Assessment of ecosystem health

State based descriptors Pressure based descriptors

BENTIC

Biodiversity elements

EUTRO D5

Human activities and pressure acting on the marine environment BSPII output Trends in key pressures Core pressure indicators Socioeconomic importance Ecosystem services to be developed further Measures to be developed further

BIODIV D1,D4,D6

Introduction Overview Characteristics

• f the Baltic

Sea

BIRDS FISH MAM- MALS PELA- GIC

D3

Assessment of ecosystem health

State based descriptors Pressure based descriptors

BENTIC

BIODIVERSITY

ICES indicators CORE indicators