Identification of Belgian maritime zones affected by Eutrophication (IZEUT)

• Main Authors: Rousseau, Véronique, Breton, Elsa, De Wachter, B., Beji, A., Deconinck, Marc Melchior, Huijgh, J., Bolsens, T., Leroy, D., Jans, S., Lancelot, Christiane
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: 2003
• Subjects: Océanographie biologique; Environnement et pollution; Modèles mathématiques d'aide à la décision; eutrophication; belgian; maritime; zones; identification; OSPAR; classification; nutrients; phytoplankton; blooms; North East Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/57872

As Contracting Parties of the OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, Belgian authorities adopted the Common Strategy to combat eutrophication in the OSPAR maritime area. The long-term objective for 2010 is to achieve and maintain a healthy marine environment where eutrophication does not occur. In this scope Belgian authorities agreed to classify their maritime areas as ‘problem’ areas, ‘potential problem’ areas and ‘non-problem’ areas with respect to eutrophication using as a tool the Common Procedure for the identification of the eutrophication status of the maritime area edited by OSPAR (OSPAR 97/15/1-annex 24). The development of appropriate assessment criteria is fundamental in the Common Procedure as these will be used for identification of the current eutrophication status of marine coastal water but also for assessment of the effectiveness of measures implemented for nutrient reduction. The global objective of IZEUT is to provide to Belgian authorities a scientific support to implement the OSPAR Common Procedure to combat eutrophication in BCZ. With this aim, the sensitivity of BCZ to cultural eutrophication is assessed based on the quantitative and qualitative inventory of anthropogenic emissions and loads of nutrients to BCZ. The impact of nutrient loads on the global enrichment and coastal phytoplankton blooms is analysed using the current knowledge on eutrophication mechanism. In addition, the adverse effects of eutrophication in BCZ are assessed based on the qualitative perception of the eutrophication phenomenon and socioeconomic assessment of related damages amongst potentially affected sectors. SP1349 info:eu-repo/semantics/published