Linking opportunities to the Water Framework Directive and Natura 2000 Research into the developments that can serve the goals of the Water Framework Directive and Natura 2000 at the Eastern Scheldt and Lake Grevelingen. Final thesis Tess van der Hulle 6-6-2019 Linking opportunities to the Water Framework Directive and Natura 2000 Author: Tess van der Hulle 71647 Bachelor Delta Management HZ University of Applied Sciences In-company mentor: Thijs Poortvliet Rijkswaterstaat Zee & Delta First examiner: Pierre Bleuzé HZ University of Applied Sciences Second examiner: Jasper van den Heuvel HZ University of Applied Sciences Place: Middelburg, The Netherlands Date: 6-6-2019 I Summary Rijkswaterstaat has an effort-obligation and result-obligation to take measures to achieve the goals of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) at the Eastern Scheldt and Lake Grevelingen. The WFD aims to achieve and protect a sufficient ecological and chemical status of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and ground water. Preparations have started to take measures for the third cycle (2022-2027). Furthermore, Rijkswaterstaat is responsible for the conservation of the favourable status of the Natura 2000 (N2000) areas Eastern Scheldt and Lake Grevelingen. N2000 is a network of nature areas of European importance, aiming to safeguard Europe’s biodiversity by implementing the goals of Bird Directive and Habitats Directive. Water defences have affected the water quality of water bodies negatively. Furthermore, habitats of plants and animals have been modified or lost. Yet, the ecological goals of the WFD and N2000 must be met. Stakeholders and managers of the Eastern Scheldt’s and Lake Grevelingen’s ecological values are taking measures to improve the areas’ ecology. However, initiatives are not always linked to the WFD and N2000, while these measures could serve the goals, which lead to the following research question: Which opportunities can serve the goals of the Water Framework Directive and Natura 2000 in the Eastern Scheldt and Lake Grevelingen while not deteriorating water safety? For the collection of data, the methods of desk research and consultation are used. An initiative is considered an opportunistic measure if the initiative contribute to the favourable status of the WFD and N2000 goals and does not deteriorate water safety. According to the WFD goals, the Eastern Scheldt’s ecology requires improvement on the quality element of ‘other aquatic flora’. Lake Grevelingen’s ecology requires improvement on the quality elements of ‘other aquatic flora’, ‘macrofauna’ and ‘fish fauna’. According to the N2000 goals, the Eastern Scheldt’s goals for habitat types and species, coastal breeding birds and ducks, geese and swans are not realized. Stilts might nog be realized in the future. Lake Grevelingen’s goals for habitat species, coastal breeding birds, marsh breeding birds, fish-eating birds and ducks, geese and swans are not met. Habitat types might not be realized in the future. The opportunities-map on the next page provides an overview of ambitions and initiatives of stakeholders at the Eastern Scheldt and Lake Grevelingen that have been assessed as an opportunistic measure for the implementation of the WFD and/or N2000. In addition, opportunistic location for the implementation of new measures are provided. By including the initiatives in the WFD River Basin Management Plan Scheldt and N2000 Management Plan, the initiatives can become official WFD and N2000 measures. II III Table of content 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Problem statement ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.3 Research objective ........................................................................................................................ 2 1.4 Research question ......................................................................................................................... 3 1.5 Readers guide ................................................................................................................................ 3 2. Theoretical framework ........................................................................................................................ 4 2.1 Research areas............................................................................................................................... 4 2.1.1 Eastern Scheldt ....................................................................................................................... 4 2.1.2 Lake Grevelingen .................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Water Framework Directive .......................................................................................................... 5 2.2.1 Management .......................................................................................................................... 5 2.2.2 Categorization of water bodies .............................................................................................. 5 2.2.3 Goals ....................................................................................................................................... 6 2.2.4 References and scales Eastern Scheldt and Lake Grevelingen ............................................... 6 2.3 Natura 2000 ................................................................................................................................... 7 2.3.1 Management .......................................................................................................................... 7 2.3.2 Goals ....................................................................................................................................... 8 2.3.3 Conservation goals for Eastern Scheldt and Lake Grevelingen .............................................. 8 2.4 Conceptual framework .................................................................................................................. 9 3. Method .............................................................................................................................................. 10 3.1 Research design ........................................................................................................................... 10 3.2 Data collection ............................................................................................................................. 10 3.2.1 Desk research ....................................................................................................................... 10 3.2.2 Consultation ......................................................................................................................... 11 3.3 Analysis of results ........................................................................................................................ 11 4. Results ............................................................................................................................................... 12 4.1 Status WFD .................................................................................................................................. 12 4.1.1 Eastern Scheldt ..................................................................................................................... 12 4.1.2 Lake Grevelingen .................................................................................................................. 13 4.2 Status N2000 ............................................................................................................................... 13 4.2.1 Eastern Scheldt ..................................................................................................................... 14 4.2.2 Lake Grevelingen .................................................................................................................. 14 4.3 Criteria for assigning measures ................................................................................................... 15 4.3.1 WFD ...................................................................................................................................... 15 IV 4.3.2 N2000 ................................................................................................................................... 16 4.4 Assessment of initiatives ............................................................................................................. 16 4.4.1 Sand supplementation (Eastern Scheldt) ............................................................................. 17 4.4.2 Hard salt marsh defences (Eastern Scheldt)......................................................................... 18 4.4.3 Shellfish reefs (Eastern Scheldt) ........................................................................................... 19 4.4.4 Seven-island plan (Eastern Scheldt) ..................................................................................... 21 4.4.5 Nature compensation (Eastern Scheldt) .............................................................................. 23 4.4.6 Aquatic nature reserve (Eastern Scheldt)............................................................................