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Conservation objectives
for European marine sites
Approach
Natural variation
Advice and discussions with relevant
authorities
In line with the UK common standards for monitoring
designated sites, the UK country agencies will aim to ensure
that conservation objectives are:
specific –
relate to a particular interest feature and define the condition(s)
required to satisfy the conservation objective;
measurable and reportable – enabling monitoring
to be undertaken to determine whether the conservation objectives
are being met and for the purposes of Article 17 of the Habitats
Directive;
realistic – given a reasonable time-frame
and application of resources;
consistent in approach – the structure
of conservation objectives should, as far as is possible, be
the same across all European marine sites, and at sites supporting
the same interest feature, use a consistent approach to the
identification of similar attributes and targets to describe
favourable condition; and
comprehensive – the attributes and targets
should cover the properties of the interest feature necessary
to describe its condition as either favourable or unfavourable.
country agencies and relevant authorities will
need to assess the effectiveness of management measures towards
achievement of the conservation objectives, and to do this,
they will need to be able to make judgements in the future about
how the observed condition compares to the favourable condition
of an interest feature (see above). This is complex because
over time there are natural variations in the size of species
populations and the species composition of habitats.
The scale and extent of natural variation is often
difficult to precisely define favourable condition. In these
cases it will be particularly important to exercise caution
when defining the favourable condition. In these cases it will
be particularly important to exercise caution when defining
the favourable condition and perhaps more importantly when subsequently
comparing the observed condition with the favourable condition.
For some attributes natural variation is cyclic, for others
the trend may be successional, for example the silting up of
inner estuaries. These differences will be reflected in the
different ways that targets are expressed for interest features.
In many cases the favourable condition of an interest
feature will need to refer to the condition of the feature at
the time the site was designated and monitoring undertaken relative
to this status. Over time the understanding of variability should
improve with a view to establishing more precise targets for
all features in European marine sites. Such information will
be produced as a result of surveillance and monitoring and may
be augmented by targeted studies. To this end, the country agencies
will draw on the best available information from all sources,
including local expert knowledge.
The conservation objectives for the interest feature
of each site will include their associated targets (where such
targets have been identified ). Discussions with relevant authorities
and others on the conservation objectives will take place before
finalising the advice in order to draw on the knowledge and
experience of these authorities. For most European marine sites,
a management scheme will be developed in wider consultation
with interested parties, and conservation objectives will be
part of such schemes.
The spatial extent of interest features within
a site, and therefore the related conservation objectives and
targets, may be mapped with reference to known landmarks or
seascape features within the site boundary so that the feature
can be unambiguously located. Within the context of the management
scheme this could be developed into a zoned approach where activities,
interest features and conservation objectives are visually demonstrated
in a clear manner. Such zoning may not be applicable to all
European marine sites.
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