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At 726 the number of recorded multicellular non indigenous species (NIS) in the Mediterranean Sea is far higher than in other European Seas. Of these, 614 have established populations in the sea. 384 are considered Erythraean NIS, the balance are mostly ship and culture-introductions. In order to effectively implement EU Regulation on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive NIS and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in the Mediterranean Sea it is crucial that this priority pathway is appropriately managed. Three potential impediments – incomplete and inaccurate data; unknown impacts; policy mismatch – hinder implementation. Current geographical, taxonomical and impact data gaps will be reduced only by instituting harmonized standards and methodologies for monitoring NIS populations in all countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, prioritizing bridgehead sites and dispersal hubs. The option of implementing European environmental policies concerning marine NIS in member states alone may seem expedient, but piecemeal protection is futile. Since only 9 of the 23 states bordering the Mediterranean are EU member states, the crucial element for an effective strategy for slowing the influx of NIS is policy coordination with the Regional Sea Convention (Barcelona Convention) to ensure consistency in legal rules, standards and institutional structures to address all major vectors/pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of the work carried out in the scope of a three years collaborative research project was to develop science-based strategies and a decision support framework for the integrated management of coastal lagoons and their catchments and, in this context, to enhance connectivity between research and policymaking. In this paper our main objective is to share the lessons learned from the innovative methodology used throughout the project. To achieve the proposed objectives, the multidisciplinary scientific knowledge in the project team was combined and integrated with the knowledge and views of local stakeholders of four selected European coastal lagoons, using a three step participatory approach. With this innovative approach, which included the usage of eco-hydrological and water quality-modelling tools, the team developed and analyzed integrated scenarios of possible economic development and environmental impacts in four European lagoons and their catchments. These scenarios were presented and discussed with stakeholders, giving rise to management recommendations for each case study lagoon. Results show that some management options might be transferrable to other European lagoons having similar climatic, geophysical and socio-economic settings. In management terms, the project output provides a set of policy guidelines derived from the different analyses conducted and proposes initiatives concerning management implementation in a local-regional-national-European setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River discharges and loads are essential inputs to coastal seas, and thus for coastal seas modelling, and their properties are the result of all activities and policies carried inland. For these reasons main rivers were object of intense monitoring programs having been generated some important amount of historical data. Due to the decline in the Portuguese hydrometric network and in order to quantify and forecast surface water streamflow and nutrients to coastal areas, the MOHID Land model was applied to the Western Iberia Region with a 2 km horizontal resolution and to the Iberian Peninsula with 10 km horizontal resolution. The domains were populated with land use and soil properties and forced with existing meteorological models. This approach also permits to understand how the flows and loads are generated and to forecast their values which are of utmost importance to perform coastal ocean and estuarine forecasts. The final purpose of the implementation is to obtain fresh water quantity and quality that could be used to support management decisions in the watershed, reservoirs and also to estuaries and coastal areas. A process oriented model as MOHID Land is essential to perform this type of simulations, as the model is independent of the number of river catchments. In this work, the Mohid Land model equations and parameterisations were described and an innovative methodology for watershed modelling is presented and validated for a large international river, the Tagus River, and the largest national river of Portugal, the Mondego River. Precipitation, streamflow and nutrients modelling results for these two rivers were compared with observations near their coastal outlet in order to evaluate the model capacity to represent the main watershed trends. Finally, an annual budget of fresh water and nutrient transported by the main twenty five rivers discharging in the Portuguese coast is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's coastal wetlands have been under considerable stress and have been severely damaged as a result of continuing population growth, large-scale infrastructural developments, extensive land reclamation projects, and the ineffective control of various types of pollution. The restoration of coastal wetlands in China has consequently become urgent. In this study, we analyze the degradation status of coastal wetlands, also review progress made towards their restoration. We further discuss the weaknesses of policy and institutional frameworks in tackling environmental problems in coastal wetlands. These perspectives on comprehensive and integrated policy requirements for wetland restoration, management, and future development will help ensure better management of coastal wetlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytoplankton are crucial to marine ecosystem functioning and are important indicators of environmental change. Phytoplankton data are also essential for informing management and policy, particularly in supporting the new generation of marine legislative drivers, which take a holistic ecosystem approach to management. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) seeks to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) of European seas through the implementation of such a management approach. This is a regional scale directive which recognises the importance of plankton communities in marine ecosystems; plankton data at the appropriate spatial, temporal and taxonomic scales are therefore required for implementation. The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey is a multidecadal, North Atlantic–basin scale programme which routinely records approximately 300 phytoplankton taxa. Because of these attributes, the survey plays a key role in the implementation of the MSFD and the assessment of GES in the Northeast Atlantic region. This paper addresses the role of the CPR's phytoplankton time-series in delivering GES through the development and informing of MSFD indicators, the setting of targets against a background of climate change and the provision of supporting information used to interpret change in non-plankton indicators. We also discuss CPR data in the context of other phytoplankton data types that may contribute to GES, as well as explore future possibilities for the use of new and innovative applications of CPR phytoplankton datasets in delivering GES. Efforts must be made to preserve long-term time series, such as the CPR, which supply vital ecological information used to informed evidence-based environmental policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Spatial gradients in biomass and community composition have important consequences for ecosystem structure and function. In this study, small-scale inshore–offshore (1–10 km) and vertical (1–50 m) patterns of microphytoplankton biomass and community composition are described, and the environmental controls of microphytoplankton biomass are evaluated in a coastal ecosystem of the Southern California Bight (SCB). During a two-year period, persistent inshore–offshore gradients in phytoplankton biomass and occasional inshore–offshore gradients in community composition, coincident with regional precipitation, were found, although the strength of the gradients varied between sampling periods. The chlorophyll a maximum was generally present between 15 and 45 m, the cell abundance maximum occurred in surface waters, and there was little evidence of vertical gradients in community composition. Variability in chlorophyll a concentrations was linked to variability in environmental parameters only after some rain and upwelling events. This study demonstrates that inshore–offshore patterns in phytoplankton biomass previously documented at large spatial scales (100–700 km) in the SCB can also persist at smaller scales (1–10 km), although the mechanisms for the gradients are likely to be different at the different spatial scales. The results provide a baseline data set that can be used to focus monitoring and management efforts in the SCB. In particular, this work shows that a limited number of sampling stations are sufficient for phytoplankton monitoring in Santa Monica Bay. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Major accidental oil spills still affect sensitive marine areas and shorelines around the world, constituting a challenge for operational as well as strategic contingency management. As a rationale basis for addressing both issues we here propose a Decision Support System (DSS) consisting of a combination of modelling and evaluation methods which in particular assesses various impacts on habitats and local economies. By integrating the state-of-the-art oil spill contingency simulation system OSCAR with wind and current forecasts, environmental GIS data and multi-criteria analysis techniques, the DSS is able to rank different response actions to a chemical or oil spill. In this study, the usefulness of the approach is tested by hindcasting the Prestige accident off the coast of Spain in 2002. In particular, the short- to mid-term economic and ecological consequences of different mitigation measures are estimated. We identified clearly one worst option matching the actual decision taken by the responsible parties and one or two almost equally well performing routes. Two procedures of including uncertainty at various stages of the DSS are tested. The first method averages ensembles of outcomes between each modelling/evaluation stage, while the second one preserves the entire degree of freedom till the final ranking procedure. Results in the Prestige case turned out to be rather insensitive against both ways to account for uncertainties. The robustness as well as clarity of the DSS has the potential to enhance the efficiency of decision making even in politically sensitive situations. Limitations as well as ongoing improvements of the system are highlighted, in particular emphasizing linkages to environmental economics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a qualitative analysis of a series of in-depth interviews with governmental and non-governmental institutions (NGOs). Within the EUROCAT[1] EUROpean CATchments, Project N° EVK1-CT-2000-00044 (http://www.iia-cnr.unical.it/EUROCAT/project.htm).1 project this methodology of participatory approach, aiming to scope the present perceptions about environmental issues and possible strategies for environmental improvement, is applied to the study of the Elbe catchment for the first time. In this frame, an Advisory Board (AB) was created, with the aim of giving insights into conflicting interests in the river catchment and guidelines for river basin management. Focus of the Elbe case study is the issue of nutrient enrichment (from the catchment) and the induced eutrophication of the coastal waters (the German Bight). Specifically, regarding this topic, the possible reduction of eutrophication in the German Bight by a (policy driven) decrease in nutrient inputs from the catchment area is analysed. Different measures for reducing the input of nutrients from the catchment, and ultimately preventing eutrophication of the coastal waters are considered. In this context, the members of the AB were asked about the efficiency and feasibility of different measures and the criteria for choosing ‘better’ management solutions among the possible ones. Although there is a general agreement about the necessity of reducing nutrient emissions, some members of the AB perceive other environmental issues (e.g. altered morphodynamics) as more relevant than nutrient enrichment. Voluntary cooperation, eco-efficiency and ‘trans-sectoral’ communication are the key concepts mentioned as being indispensable for integrated management. The (public) acceptance of measures for nutrient reduction have to find its way through compromises and social equity, allowing for win–win solutions among different groups of interests and balanced spatial division of costs and benefits. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]