Non-indigenous species refined national baseline inventories: A synthesis in the context of the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive

Konstantinos Tsiamis,Gilberto P Carreira,Luca Castriota,Joana Micael,Maiju Lehtiniemi,Ante Žuljević,Henn Ojaveer,Julian Evans,Marilena Aplikioti,Živana Ničević Gladan,Natalia Bojanić,Kremena Stefanova,Angela G Bartolo,Cristina Mazziotti,Manuela I Parente,Argyro Zenetos,Paula Chainho,Vera Lopes,Ana C Costa,Olja Vidjak,Saa Henry Kabuta,Silvia Livi,Patrick J Schembri,Carmen Barberá,Cátia Bartilotti,Miriam Tuaty-Guerra,Nikolas Michailidis,Sander Smolders,Marios Josephides,Arjan Gittenberger,Sanda Skejić,Ivan Cvitković,Andrea Z Botelho,Piotr Gruszka,Wojciech Kraśniewski,Ana Cristina Cardoso,Andreas Palialexis,Peter Barry,Marina Argyrou,Jakov Dulčić,Edo Knegtering,Branko Dragičević,Rahmat Naddafi,Joana V Miodonski,Marija Despalatović,Paul Stebbing ,Cécile Masse ,Ann Britt Florin ,Peter A Stæhr ,João Canning‐Clode ,Hans Henrik Jakobsen

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.06.012

Abstract

Refined baseline inventories of non-indigenous species (NIS) are set per European Union Member State (MS), in the context of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The inventories are based on the initial assessment of the MSFD (2012) and the updated data of the European Alien Species Information Network, in collaboration with NIS experts appointed by the MSs. The analysis revealed that a large number of NIS was not reported from the initial assessments. Moreover, several NIS initially listed are currently considered as native in Europe or were proven to be historical misreportings. The refined baseline inventories constitute a milestone for the MSFD Descriptor 2 implementation, providing an improved basis for reporting new NIS introductions, facilitating the MSFD D2 assessment. In addition, the inventories can help MSs in the establishment of monitoring systems of targeted NIS, and foster cooperation on monitoring of NIS across or within shared marine subregions.

Highlights

There are currently over 800 established non-indigenous species (NIS) in the European seas (Tsiamis et al, 2018), several of which exhibit invasive behavior and have a high impact on marine ecosystem services and biodiversity, causing adverse effects on environmental quality (Wallentinus and Nyberg, 2007; Katsanevakis et al, 2014; Ojaveer et al, 2015; Stæhr et al, 2016)
The analysis revealed that a large number of NIS was not reported from the initial assessments
The current paper aims towards the fulfillment of the above target and provides the starting point information, facilitating discussions at national, regional and inter-regional levels, which could help in developing recommendations and best practices for common agreed methodological standards and rules for setting reference values for the number of new NIS introductions in the context of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), and of D2C1

Summary

Introduction

There are currently over 800 established non-indigenous species (NIS) in the European seas (Tsiamis et al, 2018), several of which exhibit invasive behavior and have a high impact on marine ecosystem services and biodiversity, causing adverse effects on environmental quality (Wallentinus and Nyberg, 2007; Katsanevakis et al, 2014; Ojaveer et al, 2015; Stæhr et al, 2016). The MSFD requires EU Member States (MSs) to consider NIS when developing their marine management strategies, which aim to reach Good Environmental Status (GES) in European Seas. NIS are treated as a distinct Descriptor (D2) of GES in the context of the MSFD (EU, 2017): “Non-indigenous species introduced by human activities are at levels that do not adversely alter the ecosystem”. There are two secondary criteria of D2, dealing with the abundance and spatial distribution of NIS, of the invasive ones, and their effects to indigenous species groups and broad habitat types (EU, 2017)

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