for agenda and presentations see here

Combined Session with WG-DIKE

The first day of the MODEG meeting was held together with delegates to the Working Group for Data, Information and Knowledge Exchange for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

The following member of MODEG were present: Jean-Marie Beckers, Frédérique Blanc, Antonio Bode, Jean-François Bourillet, Simon Claus, Franciscus Colijn, Hans Dahlin, Nic Flemming, Julius Gajewski, Robert Gatliff, Lars Hansen, Neil Holdsworth, , Dick Schaap, Angela Schäfer, Stefania Sparnocchia, Henry Vallius, Christopher Zimmermann. Lodwijk Abspoel, Antoine Mangin and Willem Stolte were present as ad-hoc experts.

Green Paper Marine Knowledge

The Commission presented the ongoing public consultation on marine knowledge. They stressed that it does not only cover EMODnet; rather it aims to look at options for the future direction of all EU initiatives concerning marine data and knowledge – including GMES and the Data Collection Framework for Fisheries. The consultation is open till 15 December.

The analysis of the replies will not simply be a counting of yeses and nos. Individual opinions and suggestions are of course useful but due weight will be given to those that reflect the considered opinion of a significant stakeholders – industry associations, national governments etc. Some of these have gone to considerable trouble to gather these opinions.

Study for Impact Assessment

COWI presented preliminary results of their study to determine the data-related costs to Member States in implementing the marine Strategy Framework Directive. 12 countries have provided replies although not all were able to quantify the overall effort. The study also provides a ranking of the costs associated with reporting each parameter.

Access and standards for data from Marine Strategy Framework Directive reporting

Whilst it was agreed that EMODnet could be useful for reporting under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, there was some concern that those institutes not involved in the thematic assembly groups might be excluded. The Commission said that the contracts included an obligation to incorporate and disseminate data from data owners who do not have the capacity to set up access to their catalogues themselves.

MODEG Meeting

Marine Spatial Planning

Lodewijk Abspoel showed the challenges of developing a marine spatial plan for the Netherlands. Whilst good data is important, planning also requires estimates of demand for sea-space in the future. Decisions made now can have an unforeseen impact in twenty or thirty years. In order to help stakeholders think through the consequences of different planning choices, the Netherlands isdeveloping a game. A software tool will use rule-of-thumb approximations to determine how well the plan performs.

Ocean Strategic Services beyond 2015

Antoine Magnin is part of an EU-funded consortium that is providing tools that build on satellite and in-situ data to provide estimates of biogeochemical products. MODEG emphasised the importance of providing error bars when providing data that is to be used in environmental assessments.

Assessment Frameworks beyond 2012

Monika Peterlin gave a fascinating presentation of progress in assessing the status of Slovenia's marine environment. Whilst, Slovenia's waters are relatively small compared to other coastal states, deriving aggregate indicators represented a significant challenge. Nevertheless, she was able to ascertain trends in environmental pressures.

Next meeting

The next meeting of MODEG is 7 March 2013