Table_1_Yes, We Can! Large-Scale Integrative Assessment of European Regional Seas, Using Open Access Databases.xlsx

Substantial progress has been made in assessing marine health in an integrative way. However, managers are still reluctant in undertaking such assessments, because: (i) lack of indicators; (ii) absence of targets; (iii) difficulty of aggregating indicators from different ecosystem components, habitats, and areas; (iv) absence of criteria on the number of indicators to be used; (v) discussion on the use of “one-out, all-out” (OOAO) principle in aggregating; and (vi) lack of traceability when integrating data. Our objective was, using open access databases with indicators across all the European seas with agreed targets, to demonstrate if the Nested Environmental status Assessment Tool (NEAT), can be used at the European scale, serving to managers and policy-makers as a tool to assess the environmental status under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). We have used MSFD Descriptor D3 (commercial fish) from 341 stocks, 119 species and two indicators from each of them (years 2013–2015); D5 (eutrophication) with 90th percentile of Chlorophyll-a (years 2009–2014); and D8 (contaminants), with Anthracene, Fluoranthene, Naphthalene, Cadmium, Nickel, and Lead as indicators (years 2009–2013). We have calculated the environmental status for each European subdivision, subregion, and regional sea, nested at different levels. The analyses include weighting and no-weighting by each assessment area; for ecosystem component (water column, phytoplankton, fish, crustaceans, and molluscs); descriptor (three), and habitat (pelagic, demersal/benthic), with the confidence value of the status. A sensitivity analysis was undertaken to determine a minimum number of indicators to include for a robust assessment. We demonstrated that using NEAT in assessing the status of large marine areas, by aggregating indicators, ecosystem components and descriptors, at different spatial scales, can remove at least four out of the six barriers that managers and policy-makers confront when undertaking such assessments. This can be done by using open-access databases and already established targets. Aggregating indicators of different origin is possible. Around 40 indicators seem to be enough to obtain robust assessments. It is better to integrate the assessment items using an ecosystem-based approach, rather than using the OOAO principle. Using NEAT, this approach supports identifying the problematic environmental issues needing management attention and measures.

在海洋健康状况的综合评估领域，学界已取得显著进展。然而海洋管理者仍不愿开展此类评估，原因如下：(i) 缺乏评估指标；(ii) 未设定统一评估目标；(iii) 难以整合来自不同生态系统组分、生境与区域的指标；(iv) 未明确可用指标数量的判定标准；(v) 关于整合过程中采用“一票否决（one-out, all-out，OOAO）”原则的争议；(vi) 数据整合环节可追溯性缺失。

本研究的目标为：借助覆盖欧洲所有海域且带有公认评估目标的开放获取数据库，验证嵌套式环境状况评估工具（Nested Environmental status Assessment Tool，NEAT）能否在欧洲尺度下应用，为海洋管理者与政策制定者提供符合《海洋战略框架指令（Marine Strategy Framework Directive，MSFD）》要求的环境状况评估工具。本研究采用了MSFD的三类判定描述项（Descriptor）：(1) D3（商业鱼类），涵盖341个鱼类种群、119个物种，每个物种选取2项指标（数据时段为2013–2015年）；(2) D5（富营养化），以叶绿素a的90th百分位数为指标（数据时段为2009–2014年）；(3) D8（污染物），选取蒽、荧蒽、萘、镉、镍、铅作为指标（数据时段为2009–2013年）。

本研究针对不同层级嵌套的欧洲地理分区、次区域与海域分别计算了环境状况。分析过程中，分别针对各评估区域、生态系统组分（水层、浮游植物、鱼类、甲壳类与软体动物）、三类判定描述项以及生境类型（浮游型、底栖/近底型）开展了加权与未加权分析，并同步给出了环境状况的置信度值。本研究还开展了敏感性分析，以确定开展稳健评估所需的最少指标数量。

研究结果表明，通过在不同空间尺度下整合指标、生态系统组分与判定描述项，利用NEAT评估大型海洋区域的环境状况，可解决管理者与政策制定者开展此类评估时面临的六大障碍中的至少四项。借助开放获取数据库与已确立的评估目标即可实现这一点。整合不同来源的指标具备可行性，约40项指标即可满足开展稳健评估的需求。相较于采用OOAO原则，基于生态系统的方法更适用于整合评估条目。通过NEAT工具，该方法可帮助识别亟需管理干预与整治措施的环境问题。