Marine Regions a Starting Point for Dialogue

EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL - ENVIRONMENT Directorate D – Water, Marine Environment and Chemicals Unit D2 – Marine Environment and Water Industries

DIKE 2011/2/6 Marine Strategy Framework Directive

Working Group on Data, Information and Brussels Knowledge Exchange (WG DIKE) 05-06 September 2011

Document: Defining MSFD marine regions, sub-regions and sub-divisions – identification of specific geographic boundaries Document no.: DIKE 2011/2/6 Agenda item: 5 Date prepared: 31/08/2011 Prepared by: EEA Background The purpose of this document is to support the Member States in the discussion on identifying specific geographic boundaries for each of the four marine regions and their associated subregions, as identified in MSFD Article 4.

Marine regions – a starting point for dialogue:

WG DIKE is invited to: 1. Discuss and/or present specific boundaries (and their positions) for marine regions and subregions within their EEZ with the purpose of taking the first step towards delimiting each of the marine regions and subregions.

2. Present any current considerations or efforts on further national or shared subdivisions of the marine regions and subregions.

3. Present any outstanding issues on the delimitation of the extent of the EEZ and discuss potential solutions for addressing such issues in regard to the implementation of the Directive. Defining MSFD marine regions, sub-regions and sub-divisions - identification of specific geographic boundaries

1. Marine regions and subregions of the MSFD

The MSFD Art. 4(1) identifies four marine regions, whilst Art. 4(2) identifies eight associated subregions for the North-east Atlantic and Mediterranean Regions. These marine regions and their subregions have, according to Art. 3(2), been identified by taking into account hydrological, oceanographic and biogeographic features. Member States may also, in order to take into account any specificities of a particular area, implement the Directive by reference to further subdivision of the marine regions and their related subregions.

However, while the Directive pursuant to Art. 3(1) provides a definition of marine waters it do not provide any specific geographic boundaries or coordinates delimiting boundaries between marine regions nor their subregions. It is up to the Member States sharing a marine region or subregion to decide upon the exact boundaries between the marine regions and their subregions as part of their joint, coordinated efforts for achieving Good Environmental Status. Acknowledging Art. 3(2), such boundaries could be placed at localities where major shifts in hydrological, oceanographic and biogeographic features occur (in so far these can be identified). Use of such factors should help support the ecosystem-based approach to management of human activities that is required under Art. 1(3).

While other EU Directives (biogeographic regions), Regional Sea Conventions (e.g. HELCOM and OSPAR regions), international organisations (e.g. ICES ecoregions) and individual Member States operate with various geographical regions for European marine areas these are not, for various historical and/or administrative reasons, directly compatible with each other nor applicable for purposes and requirements under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. For example, the Kattegat area is part of both the Helsinki Convention and the OSPAR Convention areas; however under the MSFD, it is specifically assigned to the Greater North Sea subregion and hence also to the north-east Atlantic Region.

No guidance is provided by the Directive for solving any outstanding issues in regard to the extent of EEZ where such issues exists and leaves it for the Member States themselves to address any outstanding issues.

As a result no complete and readily available spatial information or officially recognised coherent map of European regional seas currently exists, which can be adopted without further dialogue among Member States for implementation of the Directive.

2. Marine regions – a starting point for a dialogue

The following sections present an overview of the areas where boundaries needs to be identified (see draft map in annex I). Member States which EEZ potentially are affected of specific boundaries are shown in brackets (these are suggestions only and all Member States are encouraged to participate in the discussion). Member States who are sharing a marine region or subregion, but which territorial waters/EEZ are either fully enclosed within the marine region or subregion in question or delimited on the seaward side by the EEZ/extended Continental Shelf where claimed are not mentioned. The seaward side of marine waters is defined by Art. 3(1).

Please refer to the map in Annex I for visualising the major European regional seas. The map is only provided as guidance and is not intended to pre-empt the discussions on the exact location of boundaries or EEZs in any way.

The western boundary for the Baltic Sea (Denmark, Germany and Sweden, see below). The boundaries for the subregions of the North-east Atlantic Ocean:

a. The Greater North Sea including Kattegat and the English Channel:

i. The eastern boundary of the Greater North Sea delimiting Kattegat (Denmark, Germany and Sweden). This will provide the western boundary of the Baltic Sea.

ii. The northern and western boundary of the Greater North Sea (Denmark, Sweden and UK). In this case the boundary would be between Norway and the UK. This provides the north- eastern boundary of the Celtic Seas (UK).

iii. The southern boundary of the Greater North Sea delimiting the English Channel (France and UK). This will potentially influence the boundary of either the Celtic Seas subregion or the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian Coast subregion.

b. The Celtic Seas:

i. The southern boundary of the Celtic Seas (UK, France and Ireland). This provides the northern boundary of the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian Coast.

ii. The north-eastern boundary is defined as the Greater North Sea north-western boundary (UK).

c. The Bay of Biscay and the Iberian Coast:

i. The northern boundary is defined as the Celtic Seas southern boundary (UK, France and Ireland).

ii. The south-eastern boundary (Spain). This provides the boundary between the North-east Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

d. The Atlantic Ocean, the Macronesian biogeographic region, being the waters surrounding the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands (Spain and Portugal).

The boundaries for the subregions within the Mediterranean Sea:

a. The Western Mediterranean Sea:

i. The western boundary is defined as the south-eastern boundary of the North-east Atlantic Ocean (Spain).

ii. The eastern boundary (Italy and Malta).

b. The Adriatic Sea:

i. The southern boundary (Italy).

c. The Ionian Sea and the Central Mediterranean Sea:

i. The western boundary is defined as the eastern boundary of the Western Mediterranean Sea (Italy and Malta)

ii. The northern boundary is defined as the southern boundary of the Adriatic Sea (Italy).

iii. The eastern boundary (Greece). d. The Aegean-Levantine Sea

i. The eastern boundary (Greece).

The Black Sea (Romania and Bulgaria).

The boundaries follow the boundaries as defined by the Black Sea Convention and for MSFD purposes includes the EEZ of Romania and Bulgaria. The boundary for MSFD purposes could be extended as to include Sea of Marmara. The Sea of Marmara is included under neither the Barcelona nor Black Sea Conventions.

3. Reporting of marine regions, subregions and subdivisions and their boundaries

For Member State reporting on Articles 8, 9 and 10, which is due by October 2012, it will be necessary to also state the area of MS waters which is being addressed for each aspect of these reports. This can be expected to relate to the following:

a. The total extent (area) of the 'marine waters' within each Member State (i.e. according to the definition in Art. 3(1) and including EEZs and extended Continental Shelf areas, where claimed);

b. Any MSFD region or sub-region boundaries that fall within the MS marine waters (linking to corresponding boundaries in a neighbouring MS if appropriate);

c. Any sub-division boundaries within a region or sub-region that the Member State has defined for implementation purposes (there is not a requirement to use sub-divisions; and indeed Member States may prefer a more informal use of areas within a region/subregion).

d. The reporting formats for these 'areas' (i.e. GIS polygon files) will need to be defined (in a reporting sheet) once the overall requirement for reporting on these areas is established.

Once the individual boundaries have been agreed and reported as part of the 2012 reporting process, the European Environment Agency (EEA) will collate and prepare a draft map of the MSFD marine regions and subregions for Europe. The map will be presented to a future meeting of WG DIKE for final approval. Once agreed upon the marine regions and subregions will be made available through the EEA web site as shape files.

In order to help facilitate the coordination between Member States and the overall reporting of relevant spatial information, EEA can provide a grid of 1, 5, 10 and 20 km covering each of the marine regions and subregions. The grids are compliant with the land-based grids prepared for Directive 2007/2/EC (INSPIRE Directive), which are already available at the EEA web-site. It is based upon the same guidance as established for Directive 2000/60/EC (the Water Framework Directive). The grids provide a coherent and seamless approach across the land-sea interface and within and between marine regions and subregions of Europe.

Should a different grid be necessary, the EEA can provide the technical guidance for developing such grids through its web-site (www.eea.europa.eu). The grids overlap with neighbouring marine regions and subregions to a degree so that they do not influence or pre-empt the discussions on the exact boundaries between the regions and subregions. Annex I: A draft map of the regional and subregional seas of Europe, according to those specified in the MSFD with additional seas for Norwegian (http://dnweb12.dirnat.no/wmsdn/marint.asp), Icelandic waters and the Sea of Marmara. For the Atlantic region, outer boundaries follow the EEZs (can be expanded to include extended Continental Shelf areas where relevant); all boundaries shown are indicative only and acting as a starting point/visualisation for a dialogue (source for EEZ: http://www.vliz.be/vmdcdata/marbound/download.php).