Project Status - Active
Start Year: 2009
End Year: 2013
Funding Body: Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)

Geographic Area: Europe’s Regional Seas
Local Study Area: North East Atlantic

Project Co-Ordinator: Prof. Laurence D. Mee
CMRC Contact: Jeremy Gault

Website: http://www.knowseas.com/

Abstract

Europe’s four regional seas (Baltic, Black, Mediterranean and NE Atlantic) have suffered severe environmental degradation due to human pressure. Existing measures to manage pressures have proven inadequate and the EU Member States have recently responded by adopting a new policy (Maritime Strategy Blue Book) and environmental legislation (Framework Marine Strategy Directive). These instruments rely on the Ecosystem Approach, a management paradigm that encompasses humans and the supporting ecosystem. But the science base for this approach needs strengthening and practical tools must be developed and tested for policy implementation. The overall objective of the project is: a comprehensive scientific knowledge base and practical guidance for the application of the Ecosystem Approach to the sustainable development of Europe’s regional seas. CMRC is actively involved in four work packages of KnowSeas, which are distributed within the four thematic areas of the overall project:

Theme 1 Coordination
Work Package 2 (WP2) – Policy Frame: WP2 provides the conceptual context for KnowSeas with the task of clarifying the conceptual understanding of the Ecosystems Approach. Within this work package CMRC co-ordinated Deliverable 2.2 which was a scoping study of issues, policies and actors in Europes Regional Seas.

Theme 2: Systems Analysis
Work Package 3 (WP3) - Causes and Consequences of Ecosystem Change: WP3 will extend the findings of previous studies on pressures and marine state changes, notably the EC FP6 European Lifestyles & Marine Ecosystems (ELME) project, to characterise their spatial and temporal dimensions, to identify their past, current and likely future trends, and to compare this with a preliminary assessment of Good Environmental Status.

Theme 3: Integration
Work Package 5 (WP5) - Institutional and Social Analysis: WP5 aims to analyse the institutional and social dimensions of Ecosystem-Based Management, especially focusing on the interface of values and decision making.

Theme 4: Case Studies
Work Package 10 (WP10) - North Sea / North East Atlantic EEZs: WP10 includes case studies that study within the UK EEZ the expanding deep-water fisheries and the impact of trawling on cold-water biogenic reefs (e.g. Lophilia pertusa), the North Sea regarding application of the Ecosystem Approach to fisheries, transboundary transfer of nutrients and climate change and in the southern North Sea the Ecosystem Approach to wind farm development.