OSPAR MSFD & Noise meetings in Copenhagen this week

30 September 2015

Executive Secretary Darius Campbell and deputies Jo Foden and John Mouat are all in Copenhagen this week.

Darius and Jo are attending OSPAR's Intersessional Correspondence Group on the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The MSFD requires Member States sharing a marine region or sub-region to cooperate to ensure that the Directive’s objectives are achieved and to coordinate their actions on each step of the marine strategies using the mechanisms and structures of OSPAR.This week's meeting will see OSPAR take a significant step in describing how our Contracting Parties are demonstrating regional coordination of their marine protection measures for the EU’s MSFD with the finalisation of the ‘Joint Documentation for Coordination of Measures for MSFD’. The Joint Documentation will support the EU Member States; capture coherence and coordination already in place, and inform the OSPAR Measures and Action Programme (an over-arching organisational tool on measures and actions).

John meanwhile is at the OSPAR ICG-Noise meeting to discuss the development of ambient and impulsive noise monitoring. The meeting is being held jointly with HELCOM and the EU technical group on underwater noise to ensure coordination between developments in different regional seas. The main topics for discussion are the development of ambient noise monitoring programmes for the OSPAR subregions, the development of an OSPAR Impulsive Register and the assessment of the common indicator on Impulsive Noise for the OSPAR Intermediate Assessment 2017.