Wadden Sea Monitoring

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Overview WFD Implementation Harald
Marencic Common Wadden Sea Secretariat
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Delimitations
River Basin Districts (Status November 2003)
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Delimitations RBD Wadden Sea
River Basin Districts (RBD) in the Wadden
Sea (coastal and transitional waters, up to 1
sm) (Inland areas and Helgoland not included)
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First Characterization
Report 2005 Identification of water
bodies. First characterization. Preliminary
assessment (likelihood that water bodies will not
reach good status in 2005).
Table 1 Available drafts of the Report 2005
(B-reports)
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Water Body Types

• Criteria
• Salinity
• Exposition

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Heavily Modified Water Bodies (HMWB)
Preliminary Designation

• Criteria
• Hydro-Morphology significantly changed
• Human uses (shipping, harbor, drainage..)

• Transitional waters as HMBW (Ems, Weser, Elbe,
  Eider)
• Coastal Waters as Natural Waters

Discussion in NL Loss of salt marshes due to
embankments Wadden Sea as HMWB ?
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Assessment Ecological Status
Preliminary conclusions Draft Reports 2005 (RBD
Ems, Weser, Elbe, Eider) Wadden Sea will
probably not reach the environmental objectives /
good status by 2015

• Main reasons
• High nutrient inputs
• High concentrations of specific pollutants

• But
• Gaps of information / monitoring data
• Lacking of reference values and quantitative
  criteria

Stade 1997
Schiermonnikoog 2005
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Assessment Ecological Status
WFD Objective Good ecological status by 2015
Good ecological status is a condition in which -
Biological quality elements show only slight
deviation from the type-specific reference
condition - Physico-chemical elements are at
levels capable of supporting the functioning of
the type-specific ecosystem
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Definition of Reference conditions

• A condition in which a water body has suffered
  no, or only very minor anthropogenic impacts to
  its hydromorphology, physico-chemistry, and
  biology,
• Can be in the past or the present,
• Can be derived from observations, historical data
  or modelling, or where necessary expert
  judgement,
• Can be expressed as ranges.

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Reference conditions Work status

• Van der Molen (Ed.) July 2004 References and
  classification tools for transitional and coastal
  waters
• proposal reference values for 42 water types,
• not yet tested,
• living document
• Dick de Jong , 2004. Determination of Reference
  conditions for plants in coastal waters.
• development of potentional GES
• projects on national and EU level
• Others?

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Wadden Sea Plan Targets
Ecological Targets Tidal Area Salt
Marshes Beaches and Dunes Estuaries Offshore
Zone Rural Area Quality of Water, Sediment and
Biota Marine Mammals Birds Landscape and
Cultural History Targets
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Wadden Sea Plan Targets
10 Years Experience
Scientific Credibility
Good No scientific conflicts
Applicability in Policy and Management
Good Structuring of assessment and
monitoring Structuring Policy and
Management Guidance development of
measures Regional specification
Suitability for Communication with Stakeholders
Good Regional and Sectoral Specification
possible General Support
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Water Framework Directive and Wadden Sea
Denmark Ribe, S-Jutl.,, Eider
Guidance from EU Level
CIS Guidance documents (monitoring, reference
condition, typology, classification)
Eutrophication assessment guidance
Schleswig-Holstein Elbe, Eider
Intercalibration process (metrics, class
boundaries)
Differences in interpretation and specification
on RBD level
Hamburg Elbe
Lower Saxony Ems, Weser, Elber
NL Rhine North, Ems
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Water Framework Directive and Wadden Sea
Denmark Ribe, S-Jutl.,, Eider
Guidance from EU Level
CIS Guidance documents (monitoring, reference
values, typology, classification)
Eutrophication assessment guidance
Schleswig-Holstein Elbe, Eider
Intercalibration process (metrics, class
boundaries)
Trilateral Cooperation / TMAP as Platform to
support RBD to find a common Wadden Sea approach.
Hamburg Elbe
Lower Saxony Ems, Weser, Elber
NL Rhine North, Ems
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Wadden Sea Symposium 2005

• 11th International Wadden Sea Symposium
• Esbjerg, 4 8 April 2005
• Organized by National Environmental Research
  Institute (NERI)
• Monitoring and Assessment in the Wadden Sea
  Foundations and Perspectives
• Call for papers / Registration 15 February 2005
• Preliminary Program and Registration Form
• www.waddensea-secretariat.org