Core indicator Trends in arrival of new non-indigenous species - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Core indicator ‘Trends in arrival of new non-indigenous species’

– progress report

HELCOM/OSPAR TG Ballast

Brussels, Belgium, November 29-30, 2016

Maiju Lehtiniemi, Finland & Sergej Olenin, Lithuania

Progress towards indicator updating

• The next assessment period for the indicator will be 2011-

2015 to feed information to HOLAS II

• The data needs of the indicator can be fulfilled by using

AquaNIS database.

• At present country wise information is already available
• Georeferenced data is needed to report on sub-basin scale
• This work is under way.

Environmental target:

No new introductions of NIS per assessment unit through human activities during the assessment period

The indicator:

The number of new NIS in an assessment unit (recorded and compared with the initial or periodic assessment)

The technical precondition

for the NIS indicator is the availability of verified and continuously updated source of data on NIS introduction events, e.g. a central NIS database The system was created as the

• utcome of the EU funded project
• VECTORS. AquaNIS inherited multiple

NIS data collections from earlier projects and initiatives, including the Baltic Sea Alien Species Database, earlier supported by HELCOM. AquaNIS is a reporting platform for non-indigenous species in the ICES area since 2015 (ICES WGITMO annual report, 2014).

The Baltic Sea data in AquaNIS was recently updated by the representatives to ICES WGITMO (scientists from all Baltic Sea countries).

AquaNIS: geographical coverage

(free access data)

Large Marine Ecosystems for which data is available in AquaNIS

Data is arranged using the Large Marine Ecosystems (LME) concept. E.g.: LME 23. Baltic Sea

Data stored in AquaNIS

• Taxonomy

(based on World Register of Marine Species)

• Native origin
• Biological traits

(life form, sociability, characteristic feeding method and mobility, reproductive frequency, reproductive type and developmental traits)

• Salinity tolerance range
• Molecular information

(whether molecular markers are available for a species - provides tools to identify NIS, their origin and history of introduction, their detection and monitoring).

• Association with vessel vectors

(verified records of a species transfer by ballast water, biofouling, tank sediments, etc. from any world region)

• Recipient region

(country coast)

• Year of the introduction
• Species status

(non-indigenous or cryptogenic)

• Population status
• Pathway of introduction

(e.g. ‘Vessels’)

• Vector of introduction

(e.g. ‘Ballast water’)

• Salinity range

(in the recipient region)

• Temperature range
• Habitat characteristics

nNIS indicator

Number of new NIS found in the Baltic Sea states during the 2010 –2016 period, i.e. since the initial assessment for MSFD.

(Note: two regions of Russian Federation) 2 1 7 2 3 1 6 1 12 2

• Species new for a particular

country = nNIS L1.

• Some of these species were

recorded earlier in other Baltic Sea countries and have spread further since 2010.

• Distinguish between the

Primary introduction and the Secondary spread.

nNIS indicator: the Baltic Sea scale

Number of NIS, which are new at the scale of the entire Baltic Sea (recorded since 2010)

1 2 1 1 7 1

• Hot spots (“windows of

introduction”) for the Baltic Sea

• (nNIS L2) – primary

introductions at the scale of the entire Baltic Sea

How nNIS indicator is related to the environmental target?

L2

12 NIS new at the scale of the Baltic Sea

(one NIS shared between PL and GER)

Pathways of NIS introduction Level of certainty for the pathway “Vessels” Take away note: nNIS, as such, has little information value without further breakdown to pathways and vectors involved in transmission

• f new species, therefore an environmental target should be related to

a particular pathway/vector (e.g. ‘No new introductions by ballast water’).