EASIN - European Alien Species Information Network

Recommendations for setting threshold values for non-indigenous species pressure on European seas

NIS are treated as a distinct Descriptor (D2) of Good Environmental Status (GES) of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD): "Non-indigenous species introduced by human activities are at levels that do not adversely alter the ecosystem". The MSFD Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) Working Group on GES has the mandate to develop common approaches for assessing the environmental status of marine waters and setting of environmental targets, in order to ensure coherence and consistency of GES across all marine regions/ subregions. The work relevant to D2 is carried by national appointed experts under the coordination of JRC, with the collaboration of the Regional Sea Conventions. The current report provides practical recommendations aiming at a smoother and more efficient implementation of D2 and its criteria at EU level. They constitute a solid operational output which can result in D2 assessments with more comparable data among MSs and MSFD regions/subregions.
Tsiamis K, Palialexis A, Connor D, Antoniadis S, Bartilotti C, Bartolo G.A, Berggreen UC, Boschetti S, Buschbaum C, Canning-Clode J, Carbonell A, Castriota L, Corbeau C, Costa A, Cvitković I, Despalatović M, Dragičević B, Dulčić J, Fortič A, Francé J, Gittenberger A, Gizzi F, Gollasch S, Gruszka P, Hegarty M, Hema T, Jensen K, Josephides M, Kabuta S, Kerckhof F, Kovtun-Kante A, Krakau M, Kraśniewski W, Lackschewitz D, Lehtiniemi M, Lieberum C, Linnamägi M, Lipej L, Livi S, Lundgreen K, Magliozzi C, Massé C, Mavrič B, Michailidis N, Moncheva S, Mozetič P, Naddafi R, Ninčević Gladan Z, Ojaveer H, Olenin S, Orlando-Bonaca M, Ouerghi A, Parente M, Pavlova P, Peterlin M, Pitacco V, Png-Gonzalez L, Rousou M, Sala-Pérez M, Serrano A, Skorupski J, Smolders S, Srebaliene G, Stæhr PA, Stefanova K, Strake S, Tabarcea C, Todorova V, Trkov D, Tuaty-Guerra M, Vidjak O, Zenetos A, Žuljević A, Cardoso AC.

Marine Strategy Framework Directive- Descriptor 2, Non-Indigenous Species, Delivering solid recommendations for setting threshold values for non-indigenous species pressure on European seas.

Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg; 2021, EUR 30640 EN, doi:10.2760/035071
- Information on refined baselines of non-indigenous (NIS), cryptogenic and questionable species (found up to 2011) per each Member State and national part of the MSFD subregion; and NIS with dates of first record and associated pathways given per each Member State and national part of the MSFD subregion (also for NIS found up to 31/12/2017; cryptogenic and questionable species excluded) (Annex 2, .xlsx)
- NIS with dates of first record and associated pathways given at MSFD subregional level, for NIS found up to 31/12/2017 (Annex 3, .xlsx). Cryptogenic and questionable species are excluded.
- The results of the Workshop's Questionnaire which includes the feedback of 21 Member States, 2 Regional Sea Conventions and one additional stakeholder (Coalition Clean Baltic). The results are given per each Question (one question per each excel sheet). (Annex 5, .xlsx).
Please note that the data of this report and future updates are available at JRC Data Catalogue.

Review and analysis of EU Member States’ 2018 reports
The current report analyses the information reported by the EU Member States on the Descriptor 2 (D2), non-indigenous species (NIS), of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) for Articles 8, 9 and 10, for the last 6-year MSFD reporting cycle, and provides recommendations for the application of D2 criteria, GES determination and targets.

Tsiamis K, Boschetti S, Palialexis A, Somma F, Cardoso AC.

Marine Strategy Framework Directive - Review and analysis of EU Member States’ 2018 reports - Descriptor 2: Non-indigenous species; Assessment (Art. 8), Good Environmental Status (Art. 9)and Targets (Art. 10).

Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg; 2021, EUR 30520 EN, doi:10.2760/7897

Workshop: establishing thresholds on the MSFD Newly Introduced NIS (D2C1)
The Workshop on ‘Establishing thresholds: workshop on the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Newly Introduced Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) (D2C1)’ took place online on the 24th November 2022, aiming at discussing and making progress towards establishing threshold values for the criterion D2C1.The workshop identified four main areas for improvements: i) establishment of acknowledged baselines for NIS introductions, ii) make further progress in monitoring and analysis methods, iii) agree on thresholds for new NIS introductions and, iv) ensure coherence and consistency between national and regional reports.

Magliozzi C, Bartilotti C, Botelho A, Bugeja M, Canning- Clode J, Carbonell A, Carvalho Magalhaes M, Carvalho N, Castriota L, Comas Gonzàles R, Desplatovic B, Dragičević B, Ferreira N, Fortič A, Galanidi M, Gervasini E, Gittenberger A, Gizzi F, Gruszka P, Guerin L, Jensen F, Kolind R, Krasniewski W, Lehtiniemi M, Livi S, Van Houten N. M, Masse C, Ojaveer H, Olenin S, Orlando-Bonaca M, Ouerghi A, Pantea E, Patania A, Patterson K, Png-Gonzalez L, Ramzi Sghaier Y, Ruiz M, Skorupski J, Smolders S, Srebaliene G, Staehr P, Strake S, Tuaty-Guerra M, Vasiliades L, Vidjak O, Yahyaoui A, Živana Ninčević G, Žuljević A, Cardoso A.C.

Establishing thresholds: Workshop on the MSFD Newly Introduced NIS (D2C1).

Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg; 2023, KJ-03-23-086-EN-N, doi:10.2760/631257