Common Implementation Strategy for the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) : on biota monitoring (the implementation of EQSbiota) under the Water Framework Directive

Existing EU-wide guidance effectively addresses the derivation of EQSbiota (EC 2011), but not how to implement the standards. CIS Guidance 25 (EC 2010) addresses some of the questions but does not cover how the results derived from such monitoring programmes are used to assess compliance with the EQSbiota. Without additional guidance, different approaches are likely to be adopted by different MS, and the resulting data will lack consistency, prevent EU-wide assessment of compliance with the biota standards and result in a fragmented and unreliable view with respect to the actual pressures posed by bioaccumulative substances. This document aims to promote consistency in the implementation of biota standards by providing supplementary guidance on the design and implementation of biota monitoring programmes. It covers the design of biota monitoring programmes, collection of samples, processing and expression of data, and explains how such data are then used to undertake compliance assessments. The use of biota trend monitoring data for EQS compliance assessment is briefly addressed, but the guidance does not go into trend monitoring per se. The main objective of the supplementary guidance is therefore to provide practical guidance, specifically recommendations for the implementation of biota-related WFD requirements in the MS. Although the guidance does not, by definition, have to be followed,the recommendations are intended to help ensure consistency and comparability between MS when assessing compliance against EQSbiota. The supplementary guidance has been developed also with the aim of facilitating the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), and should therefore be applied as far as possible and relevant in that context. Some issues specific to monitoring under the MSFD, such as spatial aspects of sampling in the marine environment, may need to be elaborated elsewhere.