An approach to intercalibrate ecological classification tools using fishin transitional water of the North East Atlantic

• Published in: Ecological Indicators
• Main Authors: Lepage, Mario, Harrison, T., Breine, J., Cabral, Henrique, Coates, S., Galvan, C., Garcia, P., Jager, Z., Kelly, F., Mosch, E.C., Pasquaud, Stéphanie, Scholle, J., Uriarte, A., Borja, A.
• Other Authors: Ecosystèmes aquatiques et changements globaux (UR EABX), Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA), MARINE DIVISION DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT LISBURN GBR, Partenaires IRSTEA, Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA), RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR NATURE AND FOREST GROENENDAAL BEL, UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA CENTRO DE OCEANOGRAFIA LISBON PRT, SLR CONSULTING GLASGOW GBR, UNIVERISDAD DE CANTABRIA INSTITUTO DE HIDRAULICA AMBIENTAL SANTANDER ESP, UNIVERSIDADE DE OVIEDO INDUROT MIERES ESP, ZILTWATER ADVIES HOLWIERDE NLD, INLAND FISHERIES IRELAND DUBLIN IRL, LOWER SOXONY STATE OFFICE FOR CONSUMER PROTECTION AND FOOD SAFETY DEPARTMENT OF INLAND FISHERIES HANNOVER DEU, BIOCONSULT BREMEN DEU, AZTI-TECNALIA MARINE RESEARCH DIVISION PASAIA ESP
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: [SDE]Environmental Sciences; North East Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02603419; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.02.055

International audience tA simple procedure to harmonise and intercalibrate eight national methods classifying the ecologicalstatus using fish in transitional waters of the North East Atlantic is described. These methods were initiallyintercalibrated and a new method recently developed was added to this exercise. A common humanpressure index pre-classified the status of each water body in an independent way. Ecological classboundaries values were established according to the level of anthropogenic pressure using regressionanalyses. A simulated dataset was used to assess the level of agreement between the fish classificationmethods. Fleiss’ multi-rater kappa analysis indicated that boundary harmonisation was achieved; allclassifications fell within one class of each other and class agreement between methods exceeded 70%.The use of a pressure index to establish boundary thresholds provides a practical method of defining andharmonizing the quality classes associated with human pressures, as required by the European WaterFramework Directive.