Final Report Summary - ECOMON (The current state of the Russian Marine Ecosystem Monitoring for the White Sea and its relevance to the EU Directive on Water Policy and UN Agenda 21)
The White Sea ecosystems were monitored and researched for several years by the USSR, the Russian Federation and European countries and abundant information was collected. However, the obtained data varied enormously in terms of the applied collection methodologies, their presentation, time resolution and accuracy. These variations became apparent mainly after the disintegration of USSR; thus no reliable conclusions on the current state of the White Sea ecosystem could be derived.
The ECOMON project aimed to establish a database for the past and current knowledge, including recent findings of international cooperative research projects, so as to create an integral portrait of the White Sea ecosystem state and dynamics. Thus, the Russian marine environment monitoring system was assessed and the goals to be pursued in order to fully accommodate European research standards, aims and result formats were explicitly defined.
Firstly, an extensive examination of the existing principles, directives and practices was undertaken. The applied Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) system provided a guideline for monitoring principles and practices and elaborating necessary comparisons. Moreover, the broad international regulatory framework for the marine environment was evaluated and taken into account. Several seminars and workshops were organised within Russia in order to meet the specified targets, along with experts' training and international meetings with European partners. ECOMON also resulted in the publication of a monograph on the White Sea ecosystem status, monitoring and projected changes, while the knowledge dissemination was further facilitated by the project website construction and the production of a distributable, electronic version of the existing databases.
Monitoring programs on the White Sea were primarily organised and implemented by the northern administration of the Hydrometservice. Collected data included hydro-meteorological, water temperature and salinity monitoring, chemical pollutants observations, hydro-biological information and data on fisheries. Furthermore, scarce observations on birds and mammals were elaborated in the past; however, the collected data could not be classified as monitoring elements.
The archived data were stored following a unique scientific and methodological basis, in accordance with relevant instructions, and were available through the internet to end users. The databases included raw data and various value-added data resulting from processing and generalisation of raw series. Each data bank was target specific and supported by relevant administration bodies.
In addition, ECOMON provided suggestions towards the organisation and functionality of an updated marine monitoring system, capable to respond to current research and operational needs. The fields which were examined included guidelines for monitoring oil pollution and harmful algal blooms with relation to marine environment, as well as support of applicable policy tools definition and implementation.
A series of practices and regulatory documents were also analysed and their contents were projected in the White Sea case, namely:
1. the Norwegian practice on monitoring and managing coastal waters.
2. the European strategy on marine ecosystems monitoring and protection of marine environment with special emphasis on the Baltic Sea.
3. the Helsinki convention.
4. the HELCOM monitoring and assessment of the Baltic Sea.
Based on the above material, an analytic comparison of the basic principles and logistic schemes of the marine monitoring systems was elaborated, significant issues arose and recommendations to overcome them were formulated.
Overall, the task of integration of the Russian marine monitoring system appeared feasible. All its components were available and manageably transferable into the relevant European system. However, considerable effort was required in order to harmonise the concepts, methodological aspects and logistic schemes. ECOMON could serve as an informational document for the relevant authorities so as to develop and further implement contemporary marine monitoring practices.
The ECOMON project aimed to establish a database for the past and current knowledge, including recent findings of international cooperative research projects, so as to create an integral portrait of the White Sea ecosystem state and dynamics. Thus, the Russian marine environment monitoring system was assessed and the goals to be pursued in order to fully accommodate European research standards, aims and result formats were explicitly defined.
Firstly, an extensive examination of the existing principles, directives and practices was undertaken. The applied Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) system provided a guideline for monitoring principles and practices and elaborating necessary comparisons. Moreover, the broad international regulatory framework for the marine environment was evaluated and taken into account. Several seminars and workshops were organised within Russia in order to meet the specified targets, along with experts' training and international meetings with European partners. ECOMON also resulted in the publication of a monograph on the White Sea ecosystem status, monitoring and projected changes, while the knowledge dissemination was further facilitated by the project website construction and the production of a distributable, electronic version of the existing databases.
Monitoring programs on the White Sea were primarily organised and implemented by the northern administration of the Hydrometservice. Collected data included hydro-meteorological, water temperature and salinity monitoring, chemical pollutants observations, hydro-biological information and data on fisheries. Furthermore, scarce observations on birds and mammals were elaborated in the past; however, the collected data could not be classified as monitoring elements.
The archived data were stored following a unique scientific and methodological basis, in accordance with relevant instructions, and were available through the internet to end users. The databases included raw data and various value-added data resulting from processing and generalisation of raw series. Each data bank was target specific and supported by relevant administration bodies.
In addition, ECOMON provided suggestions towards the organisation and functionality of an updated marine monitoring system, capable to respond to current research and operational needs. The fields which were examined included guidelines for monitoring oil pollution and harmful algal blooms with relation to marine environment, as well as support of applicable policy tools definition and implementation.
A series of practices and regulatory documents were also analysed and their contents were projected in the White Sea case, namely:
1. the Norwegian practice on monitoring and managing coastal waters.
2. the European strategy on marine ecosystems monitoring and protection of marine environment with special emphasis on the Baltic Sea.
3. the Helsinki convention.
4. the HELCOM monitoring and assessment of the Baltic Sea.
Based on the above material, an analytic comparison of the basic principles and logistic schemes of the marine monitoring systems was elaborated, significant issues arose and recommendations to overcome them were formulated.
Overall, the task of integration of the Russian marine monitoring system appeared feasible. All its components were available and manageably transferable into the relevant European system. However, considerable effort was required in order to harmonise the concepts, methodological aspects and logistic schemes. ECOMON could serve as an informational document for the relevant authorities so as to develop and further implement contemporary marine monitoring practices.