Mapping habitats on the OSPAR List of threatened and/or declining species and habitats : Data submitted in 2020 and 2022 to OSPAR by The Netherlands

Abstract

In 2008 OSPAR published a list of endangered and / or declining species and habitats in the northeastern part of the Atlantic (OSPAR 2008). The distribution of the habitats is mapped in the EMODNet Seabed Habitat map viewer (https://www.emodnet-seabedhabitats.eu/access-data/launch-mapviewer/?zoom=3&center=-39.477,61.172&layerIds=800,801&baseLayerId=-3&activeFilters).OSPAR Contracting Parties are asked regularly to submit national data on these OSPAR Threatened and/or Declining habitats (TD habitats) to update the EMODNet Seabed Habitat map viewer. This work is coordinated by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC).OSPAR TD habitats present in the Netherlands are (1) intertidal mudflats, (2) intertidal Mytilus edulis beds, (3) Ostrea edulis beds, (4) Sabellaria spinulosa reefs, (5) Sea pen and burrowing megafauna, and (6) Zostera beds, seagrass beds. For the Netherlands data on these habitats data were collected by Wageningen Marine Research, as commissioned by of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV). This report describes the data submitted in 2020 and 2022 to OSPAR/JNCC and provides background information on how they were compiled and collected.

Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs)

“…The NovasArc project uses the FAO de inition and criteria to identify VMEs, where "VMEs constitute areas that may be vulnerable to impacts from ishing activities" ( ). For selecting the relevant vulnerable marine ecosystems in the Arctic and sub-Arctic areas for this project, previous VME classi ications for the North Atlantic were considered (OSPAR 2008, ICES 2016. As a result, eleven different types (Figure 2) were de ined and selected.…”

Micro- and nanoplastics effects in a multiple stressed marine environment

“…Even though research on MNPs is evolving rapidly, only now are the first microplastic surveying activities being included in monitoring programmes, at a European Union level e.g. Marine Strategy Framework Directive ( European Commission, 2021 ), or at regional seas level, e.g., OSPAR Commission ( OSPAR, 2022 ). There are currently no official environmental targets or assessment criteria for MNPs in the marine environment ( OSPAR Commission, 2020 ), but once in place these will greatly contribute to the knowledge gaps on MNPs fate and distribution in the marine environment, key for improved exposure effects and risk assessments.…”

Understanding the Impacts of Blue Economy Growth on Deep-Sea Ecosystem Services

“…Not all bottom areas are open for fishing, especially in areas known as vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs). For example, around the Altair and Antialtair seamounts, which are listed as threatened habitat by the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Northeast Atlantic [131], bottom-trawling is forbidden. In the Mediterranean Sea (North Africa and Europe) bottom-trawling was banned by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean in approximately 630,000 square miles of deep-sea waters.…”