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Report on Harmonisation of freshwater biological methods

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group should update its primary findings <strong>on</strong> an annual basis. The outcome wouldinform ECOSTAT, the Commissi<strong>on</strong> and other partners as to the state-<strong>of</strong>-the-art, aswell as dem<strong>on</strong>strating progress and identifying gaps that need to be filled by targetedresearch at a European level. (RECOMMENDATION 1)117. This review clearly dem<strong>on</strong>strates that at present, lakes and rivers <strong>biological</strong>m<strong>on</strong>itoring systems in Europe differ widely in terms <strong>of</strong> the <strong>biological</strong> elementssampled, sampling <strong>methods</strong>, metrics and classificati<strong>on</strong> schemes adopted. Thesedifferences probably reflect varying m<strong>on</strong>itoring objectives, the pressures impacting <strong>on</strong>the water bodies and technical, ec<strong>on</strong>omic and cultural features <strong>of</strong> each country. Theyare not <strong>on</strong>ly obvious at the nati<strong>on</strong>al level, but also within some countries.118. It is, however, possible to find European wide a comm<strong>on</strong> pattern. For mostlakes, quality assessment includes chlorophyll a and phytoplankt<strong>on</strong> m<strong>on</strong>itoring andfor most rivers, quality assessment includes benthic invertebrates m<strong>on</strong>itoring. This isnot to say that the <strong>methods</strong> are identical, as in many instances this is clearly not thecase, and direct comparis<strong>on</strong>s <strong>of</strong> data using differing sampling and analytical regimesmay be problematical. The work within the GIGs will inform this process119. It is also clear from this review <strong>of</strong> harm<strong>on</strong>izati<strong>on</strong> that many countries have yetto develop m<strong>on</strong>itoring and classificati<strong>on</strong> programmes that are WFD compliant,although it is clear that progress c<strong>on</strong>tinues to be made through nati<strong>on</strong>al and Europeanresearch and development programmes. In order to manage the implementati<strong>on</strong>process it is essential to collate this informati<strong>on</strong> and make it widely available. TheHarm<strong>on</strong>isati<strong>on</strong> Group could be central to this process (RECOMMENDATION 2)120. The report show that the development many <strong>methods</strong> are still need or areunderway at the moment. For this reas<strong>on</strong> it is too early to demand the standardizati<strong>on</strong><strong>of</strong> special metrics. In this respect ECOSTAT should liaise closely with the work <strong>of</strong>CEN, with the Harm<strong>on</strong>isati<strong>on</strong> Group representing the obvious focal point(RECOMMENDATION 3).121. The previous recommendati<strong>on</strong> should be facilitated through a workshopinvolving the CEN task group c<strong>on</strong>venors, the Harm<strong>on</strong>isati<strong>on</strong> Group and otheridentified ECOSTAT members. This could be facilitated by JRC.29

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