Implementation of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive: A methodological approach for the assessment of environmental status, from the Basque Country (Bay of Biscay)

► An approach for assessing the environmental status is presented. ► This is the first complete assessment of the status within a part of an ecoregion. ► The assessment of 11 descriptors and an integrative assessment is shown. ► This approach can be used as guidelines in other European ecoregions. The implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) is directing European marine research towards the coordinated and integrated assessment of sea environmental status, following the ecosystem-based approach. The MSFD uses a set of 11 descriptors which, together, summarise the way in which the whole system functions. As such, the European Commission has proposed an extensive set of indicators, to assess environmental status. Hence, taking account of the large amount of data available for the Basque coast (southern Bay of Biscay), together with a recent proposal for assessment within the MSFD, an integrated environmental status assessment approach is developed (for the first time) in this contribution. The strengths and weaknesses of the method, combined with proposals from the MSFD, are discussed.