Timelines, expected outcomes and

management procedures of the

Marine Strategy Framework Directive.
A discussion of spatial and temporal scales in the
management and adaptation to changing climate.

Tim O’Higgins (SAMS) & Eva Roth (SDU)

 Overall objective

A comprehensive
scientific knowledge base
and practical guidance for
the application of the
Ecosystem Approach to
the sustainable
development of Europe’s
regional seas.

Image from: www.gstaadlife.com/

What is the Ecosystem Approach?
• “a resource planning and management approach
that integrates the connections between land, air
and water and all living things, including people,
their activities and institutions.”
-Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources

• Quantify Goods and Services to make explicit

the tradeoffs in management decisions
 In this talk
• Obligations under the Marine Strategy
Framework Directive (MSFD)
• Can the MSFD deliver an ecosystem
approach wrt cod fishery in the Baltic?
• Examine spatial and governance
considerations using Decision Space
Analysis
BALTIC SEA ENVIRONMENTAL
ISSUES

• Fishing: Baltic Cod Stocks (CFP)

• Eutrophication (CAP)- Largest

anthropogenic hypoxic area in
the world (spawning volume)

• Climate change- warming,

freshening

HELCOM, 2007 Climate Change in the Baltic Sea Area – HELCOM Thematic Assessment in 2007
COD AND EUTROPHICATION IN THE BALTIC

Intermediate Final Services Benefits

Services
Primary production 4,5 Fish production3 Active use:
Commercial harvesting of
Nursery and breeding 5 Maintenance of beneficial species and their
Habitat provision species4,1 consumption3
Commercial growout of fish
Predator-prey Maintenance of and crustaceans
relationships4 Biodiversity1 (mariculture)
Recreational fishery
Sea water quality8,9 Resistance and resilience1 Non-consumptive use (e.g.
visual benefits/cetacean
Nutrient cycling 5,6 and seal tourism activities)
Passive use
Climate stability Existence value of species1
Option value1
Bequest value1
Decision Space Analysis
Space Scales
DPSWR- approach

Quantitative Mapping

using ArcGIS

Based on Integrated

Assessment Network

Symbology

GIS Seas tool- for

display in Google
 CONCLUSIONS
• MSFD has the scope to address Cod in the Baltic

• Trade-offs between food security and environmental quality- legacy

• Adaptive Management in the face of uncertainty, this can be

complicated by unwieldy governance structures.