Saving the Black Sea Issue 8, June 2005 Credits && Acknowledgements Select your language: EN BG GE RO RU TR UA Official Publication of the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution and the GEF Ecosystems Recovery Project

Cooperation between Black Sea and Baltic Sea Experts

In pursuing the rehabilitation and protection of the Black Sea ecosystem the cooperation of the Black Sea costal states may greatly benefit from experience of other conventions and agreements that dealing with similar issues or covering the Black Sea as geographical area. The cooperation among the European Marine Conventions actively evolves in course of development of the European Marine Strategy. Jointly organized workshops between experts of marine conventions are a good practice for sharing experience and knowledge.

One of such workshop organized jointly by European Joint Research Centre, Black Sea Commission, and Helsinki Commission in April 2004 in Istanbul, Turkey proved to be very successful.

The Workshop on Marine Assessment and Monitoring with Emphasis on Eutrophication addressed eutrophication as the common problem in the Baltic and the Black Seas. The impacts of eutrophication on marine ecosystem is manifold including e.g. algae blooms, oxygen depletion in marine water, low transparency and production of algae toxins, etc. that disturb the ecosystem and threaten marine life and human health. These main impacts, delivering the basis for any “state of marine environment”–assessment on eutrophication, are for instance described in the OSPAR Common Procedure. A joint JEC/ Baltic /Black Sea Workshop proposed amendments to this conceptual model so as to enable the use for these two sea areas. Further development toward a conceptual model for a pan-European assessment of eutrophication took place in the context of the Eutrophication Activity organized by the European Commission.

1. The main causes and influences are the same for all European seas:

- Excessive inputs of nutrients from land and air in differing degrees mainly from: Agriculture, municipal and industrial wastewater, transport including shipping, energy production and consumption as well as aquaculture.

2. In the Mediterranean Sea more specific causes are to be seen as focused on:

- Untreated waste discharges

- Increased human activities along the coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea.

3. In the Black Sea area the main influences are a mixture from high agricultural inputs and wastewaters from different sources.

The conceptual model of a pan-European assessment on eutrophication, which was agreed on between Baltic and the Black Sea experts on the basis of the common OSPAR procedure on eutrophication could be used as a starting point for a common approach to eutrophication assessment. The methodology of the conceptual model of a pan-European assessment on eutrophication with respect to quality criteria and the set of monitoring parameters is in line with the WFD.

In view of developing European Marine Strategy and continuing the collaboration and cooperation between the European Commission and between the Regional Marine Conventions, the European Joint Research Centre will organize the second joint Workshop together with the Black Sea Commission and the Helsinki Commission. The aim of the Workshop will be further streamlining eutrophication assessment to be in line with the developing European Marine Strategy as well as with the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD).

The Second Joint JEC/ BSC/ HELCOM Workshop on Streamlining the Process of Producing Regional Assessments on Eutrophication for pan-European Purpose is scheduled for October 26-28, 2005 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Oksana Tarasova

Pollution Monitoring and Assessment Officer, Permanent Secretariat, Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution

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