The European Marine Strategy: Contribution and challenges from a Portuguese perspective

The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) is considered to be the environmental pillar of the EU Integrated Maritime Policy, establishing a framework within which member states must take the necessary measures to achieve, or maintain, good environmental status in their marine waters. This study presents Portugal's contributions to the Directive development, describes the Portuguese institutional framework within the MSFD and, finally, highlights the opportunities and threats to the success of the MSFD implementation in Portugal. The latter entails an analysis of the Directive's long term adequacy in its link to (1) marine spatial planning, (2) climate change and (3) the economic/financial crisis. With one of Europe's largest exclusive economic zones. Portugal's interest in the MSFD is paramount. Efforts towards the approval of the final document were assured during the Portuguese presidency of the European Council of Ministers, in 2007, while chairing a thorough discussion between the Council and the European Parliament. In the Portuguese context, the Directive implementation will rely on the Water Institute as the authoritative entity, which will be responsible for coordinating all necessary efforts at the national level. The success of such process depends on a close cooperation among the institutions involved as well as on how approved measures account for long term issues. In addition, the MSFD implementation must be built on lessons learned within the Water Framework Directive, in order to be successful. Although it poses a methodological challenge to Portugal, the MSFD implementation is expected to contribute significantly to the improvement of coastal/marine conservation and management at the national level.     

Seep mounds on the Southern Vøring Plateau (offshore Norway)

Multidisciplinary study of seep-related structures on Southern Vøring Plateau has been performed during several UNESCO/IOC TTR cruises on R/V Professor Logachev. High-resolution sidescan sonar and subbottom profiler data suggest that most of the studied fluid discharge structures have a positive relief at their central part surrounded by depression. Our data shows that the present day fluid activity is concentrated on the top of these “seep mounds”. Number of high hydrocarbon (HC) gas saturated sediment cores and 5 cores with gas hydrate presence have been recovered from these structures. δ¹³C of methane (between −68 and −94.6‰ VPDB) and dry composition of the gas points to its biogenic origin. The sulfate depletion generally occurs within the upper 30–200 cm bsf and usually coincides with an increase of methane concentration. Pore water δ¹⁸O ranges from 0.29 to 1.14‰ showing an overall gradual increase from bottom water values (δ¹⁸O ∼ 0.35‰). Although no obvious evidence of fluid seepage was observed during the TV surveys, coring data revealed a broad distribution of living Pogonophora and bacterial colonies on sea bottom inside seep structures. These evidences point to ongoing fluid activity (continuous seepage of methane) through these structures. From other side, considerable number and variety of chemosynthetic macro fauna with complete absence of living species suggest that present day level of fluid activity is significantly lower than it was in past. Dead and subfossil fauna recovered from various seep sites consist of solemyid (Acharax sp.), thyasirid and vesicomyid (cf. Calyptogena sp.) bivalves belonging to chemosymbiotic families. Significant variations in δ¹³C (−31.6‰ to −59.2‰) and δ¹⁸O (0.42‰ and 6.4‰) of methane-derived carbonates collected from these structures most probably related to changes in gas composition and bottom water temperature between periods of their precipitation. This led us to ideas that: (1) seep activity on the Southern Vøring Plateau was started with large input of the deep thermogenic gas and gradually decries in time with increasing of biogenic constituent; (2) authigenic carbonate precipitation started at the near normal deep sea environments with bottom water temperature around +5 °C and continues with gradual cooling up to negative temperatures recording at present time.     

Guiding ecological principles for marine spatial planning

The declining health of marine ecosystems around the world is evidence that current piecemeal governance is inadequate to successfully support healthy coastal and ocean ecosystems and sustain human uses of the ocean. One proposed solution to this problem is ecosystem-based marine spatial planning (MSP), which is a process that informs the spatial distribution of activities in the ocean so that existing and emerging uses can be maintained, use conflicts reduced, and ecosystem health and services protected and sustained for future generations. Because a key goal of ecosystem-based MSP is to maintain the delivery of ecosystem services that humans want and need, it must be based on ecological principles that articulate the scientifically recognized attributes of healthy, functioning ecosystems. These principles should be incorporated into a decision-making framework with clearly defined targets for these ecological attributes. This paper identifies ecological principles for MSP based on a synthesis of previously suggested and/or operationalized principles, along with recommendations generated by a group of twenty ecologists and marine scientists with diverse backgrounds and perspectives on MSP. The proposed four main ecological principles to guide MSP—maintaining or restoring: native species diversity, habitat diversity and heterogeneity, key species, and connectivity—and two additional guidelines, the need to account for context and uncertainty, must be explicitly taken into account in the planning process. When applied in concert with social, economic, and governance principles, these ecological principles can inform the designation and siting of ocean uses and the management of activities in the ocean to maintain or restore healthy ecosystems, allow delivery of marine ecosystem services, and ensure sustainable economic and social benefits.     

Cross-basin differences in particulate organic carbon export and flux attenuation in the subtropical North Atlantic gyre

We compared in-situ and satellite-derived measures of the biological carbon pump efficiency at the two seemingly similar subtropical North Atlantic gyre time series sites, the Bermuda time series (BATS, Bermuda Atlantic time-series study and OFP, ocean flux program) in the western gyre and the ESTOC time series (European station for time-series in the ocean, Canary Islands) in the eastern gyre. Satellite-derived surface chlorophyll a was slightly lower at Bermuda compared to ESTOC (annual average of 0.10±0.04 vs. 0.14±0.05-mg-m^?3), as was satellite-derived primary production (annual average of 380±77 vs. 440±80-mg C-m^?2 d^?1). However, export production normalized to primary production (export ratio) was higher at Bermuda by a factor of 2–3 when estimated using mesopelagic traps moored at 500-m depth and by a factor of 3–4 when estimated using surface-tethered drifting traps. When averaged seasonally, flux at BATS was highest in spring (March, April, May) at all depths followed by summer (June, July, August) and decreasing towards fall, but this seasonality was less visible at ESTOC. Seasonal comparison showed the fastest flux attenuation at Bermuda in winter and spring, coinciding with the highest POC flux. POC/PIC ratios derived from the moored traps were significantly higher at BATS than at ESTOC in fall and winter, but this difference was not significant in spring (p>0.05). This study shows that while the western and eastern Atlantic subtropical gyres have similar rates of primary production, the biological carbon pump differs between the two provinces. Higher new nutrient input observed at Bermuda compared to ESTOC might explain part of the difference in export ratio but alone is insufficient. Greater winter mixed-layer depths and higher mesoscale eddy activity at Bermuda resulting in pulsed production events of labile organic matter might explain both the higher export flux and export ratios found at Bermuda.