Towards a marine strategy for the deep Mediterranean Sea: Analysis of current ecological status
Type | Article | ||||||||||||||||
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Date | 2020-02 | ||||||||||||||||
Language | English | ||||||||||||||||
Author(s) | Danovaro R.1, 2, Fanelli E.1, Canals M.3, Ciuffardi T.4, Fabri Marie-Claire![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Affiliation(s) | 1 : Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, 60131, Ancona, Italy 2 : Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn Naples, 80122, Naples, Italy 3 : CRG Marine Geosciences, Department of Earth and Ocean Dynamics, Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Barcelona, 08028, Barcelona, Spain 4 : Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Department for Sustainability, S. Teresa Marine Environment Research Centre, 19100, La Spezia, Italy 5 : Institut Français de Recherche pour l'exploitation de la Mer (Ifremer), Département Océanographie et Dynamique des Ecosystèmes, 83500, La Seyne sur Mer, France 6 : Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR), CNR, 40129, Bologna, Italy 7 : Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MA, 02543, USA 8 : Department of Fisheries and Marine Research (DFMR), 1416, Nicosia, Cyprus 9 : Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) STS Livorno, 57122, Italy 10 : Department of Biology, University of Malta, Msida, MSD2080, Malta 11 : Department of Sciences and Engineering of the Materials, Environment and Urban Planning, Polytechnic University of Marche, Italy 12 : The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel 13 : Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, Postbus, 59681, Amsterdam, Netherlands 14 : Department of Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (CSIC), 08034, Barcelona, Spain 15 : UMR Marbec, Ifremer, IRD, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, 34203, Sète Cedex, France 16 : Departments of Ocean Sciences and Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1C 5S7 ,Canada 17 : Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR), CNR, 40129, Bologna, Italy 18 : Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Department for Sustainability, S. Teresa Marine Environment Research Centre, 19100, La Spezia, Italy 19 : Department of Biology, University of Malta, Msida, MSD2080, Malta 20 : Institut Français de Recherche pour l'exploitation de la Mer (Ifremer), Département Océanographie et Dynamique des Ecosystèmes, 83500, La Seyne sur Mer, France 21 : CRG Marine Geosciences, Department of Earth and Ocean Dynamics, Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Barcelona, 08028, Barcelona, Spain |
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Source | Marine Policy (0308-597X) (Elsevier BV), 2020-02 , Vol. 112 , P. 103781 (18p.) | ||||||||||||||||
DOI | 10.1016/j.marpol.2019.103781 | ||||||||||||||||
WOS© Times Cited | 30 | ||||||||||||||||
Keyword(s) | Marine strategy framework directive, Deep-sea ecosystems, Mediterranean basin | ||||||||||||||||
Abstract | The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), introduced in June 2008, was adopted to achieve a Good Environmental Status (GES) in the EU's marine waters and to protect resources of socio-economic interest. The MSFD exerts to the marine area over which a Member State exercises jurisdictional rights in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), including the deep-sea waters, seafloor and sub-seafloor of the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). However, currently the MSFD focuses on coastal habitats and the shallow-water seafloor to the detriment of the deeper habitats. Despite the huge dimension of the deep sea (below 200 m of depth) covering more than 65% of the Earth's surface and including >95% of the global biosphere, the relevance of the dark portion of the seas and oceans is still almost completely neglected. Given the important bi-directional links between shallow and deep ecosystems, there is a clear need for extending the implementation of the MSFD into the deep sea, to define a sound ecosystem-based approach for the management and protection of deep-sea ecosystems and attain GES. We assembled data on drivers, anthropogenic pressures and impacts concerning the MSFD descriptors pertaining to the Mediterranean deep sea. We list deep-sea monitoring activities and the main sources providing benchmark conditions, and discuss knowledge and geographic coverage gaps. MSFD descriptors apply to the deep sea as to coastal waters, and ought to be monitored contemporaneously. We provide recommendations for guidelines for future deep-sea monitoring in the Mediterranean Sea. |
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