Biodiversity common indicators
The common indicators agreed by OSPAR for assessing the status of biodiversity in the North-East Atlantic cover marine mammals, seabirds, fish communities, seafloor habitats, pelagic habitats, non-indigenous species and food webs.
The biodiversity common indicators contributed assessments of the status biodiversity in the North-East Atlantic to the OSPAR Intermediate Assessment 2017. The assessments are published in the OSPAR Assessment Portal.
The indicators are based on information from monitoring programmes described in the Coordinated Environment Monitoring Programme (CEMP). The programmes are described in the Appendices to the CEMP Agreement. Detailed descriptions, including method descriptions for the indicator calculations, are included in the CEMP Guideline Agreements.
Code | Common indicator name | Common in OSPAR Region |
M3 | Seal Abundance and Distribution | I, II, III |
M4 | Abundance and Distribution of marine mammals | II, III, IV |
M5 | Grey seal pup production | I, II, III |
M6 | Marine mammal bycatch | II, III, IV |
B1 | Marine bird abundance | II, III, IV |
B3 | Marine Bird Breeding Success / Failure | II, III, IV |
FC1 | Recovery in the population abundance of sensitive fish species | II, III |
FC2 | Proportion of large fish (Large Fish Index) | II, III |
| BH1 | Typical species composition | IV |
BH2 | Condition of Benthic Habitat Communities | II, III, IV |
BH3 | Extent of Physical Damage to Predominant and Special Habitats | II, III, IV |
PH1/FW5 | Changes in plankton functional types (life form) index Ratio | II, III, IV |
PH2 | Plankton biomass and/or abundance | II, III, IV |
PH3 | Changes in biodiversity index(s) | III |
NIS | Trends in New Records of Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) Introduced by Human Activities | II, III, IV |
FW3 | Size composition in fish communities | II, III, IV |
FW4 | Change in average trophic level of marine predators in the Bay of Biscay | IV |
