A recent assessment
by the European Environment Agency (EEA)
showed that European seas are in a worrying
state. As policy makers meet to discuss
the marine environment that sustains maritime
development, the EEA summarises ten important
facts about the ecosystems beneath the waves.
The messages come from
a recent EEA briefing, which aims to support
the Healthy Oceans, Productive Ecosystems
(HOPE) conference taking place from 3-4
March, 2014.
Coasts are a habitat
for humans: More than two fifths of EU citizens
live in coastal regions, while the catchments
feeding directly into European seas are
home to 660 million people. Maritime activities
employ 5.4 million people and have a gross
added value of € 330-485 billion.
Growing demands on the seas: Tourism and
recreation in coastal areas is predicted
to increase. Similarly, offshore renewable
energy and shipping are both expected to
grow. Young industries such as algae production
and undersea mining may also increase in
coming years. Better information could help
to manage these activities in a sustainable
way.
Species, habitats and
ecosystems already impacted and in poor
health: Overall, less than 20 % of habitats
and ecosystems are reported to be in good
status. Marine species fared even worse
with only 3 % of assessments classified
as favourable and 70 % were unknown.
Large animals disappearing from Europe's
marine regions. For example, in the entrance
to the Baltic, Bluefin tuna disappeared
in the 1960s, while European eel populations
are now around 1-7 % of what they once were.
Overfishing still a
problem. The number of fish stocks being
exploited at sustainable levels has increased
since 2007, particularly in EU Atlantic
and Baltic waters. Nonetheless, 39 % of
the assessed stocks in the North East Atlantic
and 88 % of assessed stocks in the Mediterranean
and Black seas were overfished in 2013.
Eutrophication pressures,
particularly in the Baltic and Black seas.
Nutrient emissions in the Baltic seem to
be decreasing overall, although problems
of eutrophication and related hypoxia have
not declined a corresponding amount due
to internal nutrient cycling within the
sea. In the Black Sea conditions are largely
unknown.
There is an increasing
quantity of litter in the ocean, mostly
made up of plastic waste. This waste sometimes
originates hundreds of kilometres from the
sea. It can harm marine animals, and may
end up in human food. The EEA has created
a new mobile phone app to help monitor this
problem.
Climate change also
harming ecosystems. Over the last quarter
century, sea surface temperature has increased
at approximately 10 times the average rate
since records began in 1870.
Acidification from CO2
changing habitats: pH has reduced from 8.2
to 8.1 over the industrial era, making the
seas 26 % more acidic. For comparison this
is approximately 100 times faster than over
the previous 55 million years.
Yet there are still data gaps: Member State
reporting under the Marine Strategy Framework
Directive is patchy, only covering two thirds
of the EU sea area. There are other gaps
– for example, little is reported on the
status of marine invertebrates, mammals
and reptiles.
