Project: Ecosystem models as support to eutrophication management in the North Atlantic Ocean
A major challenge in EU marine governance is to reach the “good environmental status” (GES) in the North-East Atlantic (NEA). There is a link between ecological nuisances at sea and anthropogenic nutrient inputs. The land-ocean continuum hosts a complex succession of processes. Nutrient inputs in river watersheds result in problematic nutrient enrichment in specific marine areas. It is necessary to trace back the sources of marine nutrients up to the watersheds in order to control the human-driven eutrophication. Which scenarios of inland nutrient reduction will allow to reach the GES at sea? To develop and combine the state-of-the-art modelling tools describing the river-ocean continuum in the NEA continental seas, in order to link the eutrophication nuisances in specific marine regions to anthropogenic inputs, and trace back their sources up to the watersheds. Validated river-ocean models will be used for: - testing nutrient reduction options at the level of the NEA watersheds; - producing sea-targeted recommendations for nutrient management on watersheds. The EMoSEM outcome will be transferred to Member States responsible of the WFD and MSFD in their national domain and to the OSPAR commission. Concretely the objectives are: - Suggest innovative ecological indicators to account for HABs in the GES definition. - Estimate the needs to reach GES in all marine areas (distance-to-target requirement, DTTR). - Identify “realistic” scenarios of nutrient reduction in the river watersheds of NEA. - Assess the impact of the “realistic” scenarios in the sea, and compare to DTTR.
| Acronym | EMoSEM |
| Duration | 01/01/2013 - 31/12/2014 |
| Website | visit project website |
| Network | SEAS ERA |
| Call | SEAS-ERA Joint Call in the Atlantic and Mediterranean regions – 2012 |
Project partner
| Number | Name | Role | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free University of Brussels | Belgium | ||
| French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea | France | ||
| Institute for Plant Molecular and Cell Biology | Portugal | ||
| Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences | Coordinator | Belgium | |
| University Pierre et Marie Curie | France |