Overview and assessment of the current state of Marine Biodiversity Monitoring in the European Union and adjacent marine waters (RTD/2021/MV/11)

This study reviews the status of Marine Biodiversity Monitoring in the European Union (EU) and its adjacent waters building on work by EuropaBON, EuroSea and other projects. The study established definitions of the approaches used in the EU for marine biodiversity monitoring and identified 220 stakeholders, representing 22 EU countries. Subsequently, 647 distinct biodiversity monitoring programmes that undertook consistent sampling in EU marine waters were identified, and the employed and/or emerging methodologies used were summarized. A total of 41 data collection frameworks and portals were identified and categorized, 14 of which cover Europe. Research projects were also contemplated and following a review of approximately 600 research projects, 95 were found to be relevant and further analyzed. Overall, we identified significant marine biodiversity monitoring efforts across the EU but also mismatched in the spatial/taxonomic distribution and scale of effort. These gaps need to be addressed to achieve a comprehensive EU-wide marine biodiversity monitoring system, which outputs should follow the FAIR principles. We recommend drawing on the results of this study to establish a more coordinated effort of marine biodiversity monitoring in Europe, in collaboration with ongoing efforts by EuropaBON, MBON, GOOS and the European initiative for Ocean Observation.