MareFrame, Disseminated During The IRIS-SES Stakeholder Workshop On Joint Monitoring For The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Constanta, 12 January 2014.
On 12 January 2015, NIMRD hosted the first stakeholder workshop within the IRIS-SES Project, concerning the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea. IRIS-SES “Integrated Regional Monitoring Implementation Strategy in the South European Seas” is a European funded project whose main aim is to develop a new concept and decision- making tools for integrated environmental monitoring for the MSFD to support management of human activities and their effects in EU marine waters. Within the framework of the project, and to help meet its goals, stakeholder workshops have been organized in the South European Seas (more info: http://iris-ses.eu/). The first stakeholder workshop for the Black Sea was held on 12 January, being hosted by the National Institute for Marine Research and Development “Grigore Antipa” (Conference Room) Constanta, Romania.
The workshop was attended by the MareFrame EAG member Prof. Dr. Fokion Vosniakos, president of the Balkan Environmental Association (B.EN.A.), and Dr. Evangelos Papathanassiou, coordinator of the FP7 PERSEUS Project During this workshop, a novel decision support method and tool, which will allow decision makers and key actors to understand and justify the main issues and trade-offs involved in MSFD monitoring for Descriptors 5 (Eutrophication) and 8/9 (Contaminants), was implemented for the first time. The tool, dedicatedly developed for IRIS-SES, and called DeCyDe-4-IRIS, will help outline the monitoring situation in specific areas through a self-assessment tool, will identify the gaps and needs in monitoring and possibilities for joint monitoring, thus improving the coordination among neighboring countries, and finally will encourage discussion on possible implementation of abatement measures to improve the good environmental status of a specific region. The meeting was attended by stakeholders from the Black Sea basin, representing the Black Sea Commission, prominent research institutions and universities (INCDM Constanta – Romania, Danube Delta Research Institute – Romania, HCMR Greece, Balkan Environmental Association – B.EN.A., Universities of Bucharest and Constanta), decision-makers (Ministry of Environment and Climate Change – Romania, Water Basin Administrations in Romania and Bulgaria, Environmental Protection Agency – Romania) and economic operators (Harbor Administration – Romania). This was a great opportunity of sharing some of the MareFrame objectives and expected results, whereas the ecosystem approach to fisheries is a major concern for all stakeholders dealing with the marine and coastal environment.
