Pressures in protected areas under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive

The objective of this study is to provide an inventory of human activities and related pressures and influenced descriptors for Good Environmental Status in four areas on the Dutch North Sea protected under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD): Frisian Front, Central Oyster Grounds, Borkum Reef Grounds and Southern Dogger Bank. This study is meant to contribute to the elaboration of the agreements in the North Sea Agreement and for the implementation of the North Sea Program 2022-2027. These areas are also part of Article 11 “procedure of the common fisheries policy” to take measures to reduce the impact of fisheries. The inventory and analysis have been carried out with a Spatially explicit Cumulative Impact Assessment method (SCAIRM) (Piet et al., 2023) based on a comprehensive linkage framework for the North Sea comprising over 40.000 impact chains that cover 37 sectors, 28 pressures and 5 ecosystem components. All elements included in SCAIRM are in line with the MSFD. For each MSFD area the ecosystem components were identified at the most basic level, i.e. habitats and associated communities (pelagic habitat, sublittoral sediment, circalittoral rock and other hard substrata) and species groups (birds, mammals, fish & cephalopods). The SCAIRM elements are related to the eleven MSFD Descriptors. The pressures have one or more direct or indirect links with the MSFD Descriptors. An overview of human activities taking place in the MSFD areas was compiled with detailed descriptions and preferably quantitative data for the present situation and the future use developments. Publications about future developments and human use in the Dutch part of the North Sea (NCP) are scarce and mainly concern the NCP as a whole instead of protected areas such as MSFD areas. Therefore, the compilation of future scenarios for application in a CIA for these MSFD areas is not yet feasible. Results of the calculations of Impact Risk on ecosystem components caused by the activities and their pressures in each of the four MSFD areas are presented by means of heat maps and bar plots. This provided insight into the activities and the pressures contributing most to the Impact Risk, as well as the main pressures for each activity and the main activities for each pressure involved in the cumulative Impact Risk. In addition, the GES Descriptors affected by the main pressures have been indicated. The analysis included fishing with bottom contacting gear because recently this activity took place in all four considered MSFD areas, although in two of these areas: Frisian Front and Central Oyster Grounds, fishing with bottom contacting gear is no longer allowed from 8 March 2023. For practical reasons marine biodiversity is represented as species groups and habitats such that these are aligned to the MSFD descriptors D1, D4. A higher impact risk implies an increased likelihood that achievement of MSFD objectives is compromised. In order to advance toward achievement of the MSFD D1, D4 (but also D3 or D6) objectives it is recommended to mitigate the activities and pressures with management according to the given prioritisation. The number of human activities currently taking place within one of more of the four MSFD areas is rather confined as compared to the 32 human activities that can be found in the NCP. The number of human activities as well as the concomitant cumulative impact risk varies among the four MSFD areas and generally decreases with the distance to the coast and therefore in the order Borkum Reef Grounds, Frisian Front, Central Oyster Grounds, Southern Dogger Bank. Relative areas are large for fisheries and mining but are probably an overestimation due to the allocation method of how fisheries are registered and reported and mining/extraction is licensed. In general, the main activities as based on their contribution to impact risk are in descending order: Fishing with static gear, Fishing by benthic trawling, Fishing by pelagic trawling, Mining (extraction of materials: sand/gravel), Oil and Gas activity. Within the four MSFD areas many pressures occur, however the level of impact risk reveals that only a part of these pressures may be important for management and mitigation measures. The most contributing pressures are in descending order Extraction of flora and/or fauna, Selective Extraction of non-living resources (sand, gravel), Microplastics and other litter that may be ingested, Impulsive noise, Abrasion/Damage. A number of considerations and recommendations is given in order to extend and refine the assessment of pressures and their impacts.