Identification and application of quality elements, indicators, and criteria for assessment of impact on habitats in marine Natura 2000 areas.

Autor: Birkeland MJ; DHI A/S, Agern Allé 5, 2970, Hørsholm, Denmark. Electronic address: mbi@dhigroup.com., Petersen JK; DTU Aqua, National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark. Electronic address: jekjp@aqua.dtu.dk., Timmermann K; DTU Aqua, National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark. Electronic address: karti@aqua.dtu.dk., Nielsen P; DTU Aqua, National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark. Electronic address: peniel@aqua.dtu.dk., Hansen IS; DHI A/S, Agern Allé 5, 2970, Hørsholm, Denmark. Electronic address: ish@dhigroup.com., Erichsen AC; DHI A/S, Agern Allé 5, 2970, Hørsholm, Denmark. Electronic address: aer@dhigroup.com.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of environmental management [J Environ Manage] 2024 Oct; Vol. 369, pp. 122247. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Aug 28.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122247
Abstrakt: The EU Habitat Directive adopted in 1992, requires member states of the European Union to protect species and habitats considered to be of 'Community Interest' and listed in annexes to the directive. The appropriate environmental assessment of "plans and projects" is an important part of the conservation process. Despite several amendments and guidelines supporting the implementation of the Habitat Directive, science based operational procedures, indicators, and impact criteria for assessing potential negative impacts on marine Natura 2000 areas are still lacking. The lack of a generic and operational methodology complicates the management of plans and projects with potential impact on marine Natura 2000 areas. In this study, generic methods for the assessment of marine aquaculture in the inner Danish waters in relation to Natura 2000 areas was developed and applied for assessment of nine existing marine fin fish farms, in accordance with the latest methodological guidance on the provisions of Article 6(3) and (4) of the Habitat Directive. The applied methodology is based on high resolution 3D hydrodynamic- and ecosystem modelling (MIKE by DHI), that describes the dynamical physical, chemical, and biogeochemical processes and changes of marine ecosystems in time and space. To our knowledge, this is the first study that formulates operational biological quality elements, key indicators, concrete and generic impact criteria, and assessment procedures for operational assessment across several distinct marine habitat types. The method represents a generic, operational, transparent, and science-based assessment tool, that simplifies management, and is widely applicable for quantification of environmental impacts from various marine activities and eutrophication related pressures across geographical zones and different marine habitat types in marine Natura 2000 areas.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: