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Theme: Mapping Habitats and determining ecological statusBenthic habitat targets for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive: is theresuch thing as sustainable loss and can it be measured?Frost, M. 1 , Sanderson, W. 2 and Herbon, C. 31Marine Biological Association, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL12PB, UK.2Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh Campus, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH14 4AS3Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Monkstone House, Peterborough, PE11JY, UK.Email: matfr@mba.ac.ukThe central concept of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) isthat of achieving ‘Good Environmental Status (GES)’, with a core part of theGES definition being the ‘use of the marine environment is at a level that issustainable, thus safeguarding the potential for uses and activities by currentand future generations’1. The sustainable use of benthic habitats for the UKwill be determined by the targets set for habitat extent and condition. A keyelement for target setting will be identifying how much of a habitat can belost or damaged before GES is compromised. There are already indicationsthat certain habitats are being lost at a rate which may be unsustainable.However, there is currently little scientific evidence underpinning quantitativethresholds for loss or damage and some reviews have suggested thatquantitative thresholds cannot be supported at all. The current scientificrationale for quantitative thresholds in the marine environment is discussed;the underlying challenges (e.g. mapping at appropriate resolution to identifyanthropogenically driven change against a background of natural variationsand changes due to improved modelling and data) are addressed andrecommendations are made for marine benthic habitats in relation to GESand current scientific knowledge.- 44 -