Workshop sobre presiones e impactos en ecosistemas marinos

Major MSFD Workshop on Research Needs with regard to Pressures and Impacts on Marine Ecosystems

The STAGES (Science and Technology Advancing Governance on Good Environmental Status) project will host its second workshop, Research needs with regard to the pressures and their impacts on marine ecosystems, from 4-5 September 2013 in Rome, Italy.

STAGES is an EC FP7-funded project that is directly responding to a request from DG Environment to put a support action in place to facilitate the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Under the MSFD, EU Member States are expected to assess the overall status of their respective marine environments and to put in place the necessary measures to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) by 2020.

The workshop is organised by the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) in collaboration with the Joint Research Centre (JRC), L’Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer (IFREMER), and el Centro Tecnológico del Mar – Fundación CETMAR; all of which are partners in the STAGES project.

The workshop report will form the basis of the STAGES science-policy report on needs for further research for the implementation of the MSFD. This report will be used to inform future research, as well as programme managers and decision makers.

The format of the Pressures and Impacts workshop will mirror that of the first STAGES workshop, The Identification of Research Needs with Regard to the Implementation of Monitoring Programmes (held in Brussels, Belgium, in May 2013), in that a consultation process is underway prior to the workshop that will help to develop an understanding of the main knowledge gaps and identify the research needs with regards to the current pressures and their impacts on marine ecosystems under the MSFD. The compilation of information has been organised on the basis of the 11 descriptors of GES.

This consultation will inform the focus of the workshop discussions of the five Thematic Groups: the Biodiversity Group; the Contaminants & Nutrients Group; the Disturbances Group; the Commercially Exploited Fish Group; and the Hydrographical Conditions Group. Results from the workshop will be presented thematically as general considerations highlighting where specific knowledge gaps occur and providing short-term, medium-term and long-term recommendations for further research per theme.

The final STAGES workshop, The Identification of Research Needs with Regard to Socio-Economic Analysis, will be held later this year (October 2013).

For more information about STAGES and The research needs with regard to the pressures and their impacts on marine ecosystems, please visit www.stagesproject.eu