OSPAR request to support the development of common and candidate OSPAR biodiversity indicators for benthic habitats: existing monitoring programmes

ICES  advises that  there  are  a  number  of  data  catalogues  containing metadata  information  of existing  (and  historical)  monitoring  programmes  of  benthic  habitats  (e.g.  JMP  and  DEVOTES).  ICES  notes,  however,  that these  catalogues  have  not  been fully quality assured. ICES also notes that none of these catalogues is complete, several are complimentary, and there are also overlaps. The majority of the information contained within these catalogues is  based on monitoring data provided by the  partners that  developed  the  catalogues and a  selection  of  Contracting  Parties,  and generally  misses  data  from  industry  sources, such as that deriving from environmental impact assessments (EIAs).
ICES  advises  that  OSPAR  should  commission  a specific  data  project,  building  on existing metadata  catalogues,   in  order  to complete  an  inventory  of  benthic  monitoring  programmes  within  the  OSPAR  maritime  area.  The  project  should  consider  ways to ensure that the inventory is kept up to date. Completion of this project would enable OSPAR Contracting Parties to gather  the  information  required to  design  the  monitoring necessary  to  support  the  multimetric  (BH2)  and typical  species  (BH1) indicator requirements. ICES then would be able to evaluate on-going monitoring and be able to advise on gaps.