Working Group on Integrated Assessments of the North Sea (WGINOSE)

The objective of this study was to conduct an impact risk assessment of Greater North Sea Ecore-gion activities and pressures. Specifically, to conduct a revision of the EO wire-diagram of the Greater North Sea based upon ICES published guidelines for the conduct of EOs ICES Technical Guidelines (2021) and to identify the top-ranked sectors and pressures contributing the most to the overall impact risk in the North Sea. A group of 21 experts familiar with different elements of the North Sea assessed the links between a total of 16 sectors, 8 pressures and 6 ecological characteristics in line with the ICES published technical guidance. A total of 309 separate sec-tor/pressure/ecological characteristics combinations were evaluated to determine their impact risk (e.g. as determined by the product of the spatial overlap, frequency of exposure and degree of impact). An analysis of the relative contribution of the sector and pressures scores to the over-all impact risk revealed the largest contribution to the overall impact risk was from fishing (60%), followed by shipping (16%), whereas species extraction, marine litter and contaminants are con-sidered to be the primary pressures impacting the North Sea ecosystem.