Interim report of the HELCOM CORESET project

6
descriptions of the indicators. The fi nal objective is to use these descriptions as background material for
the fi nal core indicator reports that will be placed on the HELCOM website. This report should be seen as a
milestone report that presents interim products of the HELCOM CORESET project and provides a more or
less broad framework for the core indicators. In some cases essential details of indicator methods or indicator
computations are still lacking.
All core indicators were selected on the basis of the HELCOM common principles for core indicators and
targets (endorsed by HELCOM HOD 35/2011), the EC decision document 477/2010/EU 6 and additional
selection criteria that were defi ned prior to the process. The main criteria were that the core indicators
must be Baltic-wide (including coastal and transitional waters), include a target showing good environmental
status, be scientifi cally sound, refl ect or directly measure an anthropogenic pressure, measure a key
component of the ecosystem (biodiversity) or a substance with high PBT properties and worrying levels or
trends in the sea (hazardous substances). All the selection criteria are given in the Part A of the report. The
development of the indicators is still on-going and their classifi cation into core and candidate indicators is
still provisional.
The report is structured so that the proposed core indicators for biodiversity are presented in Chapter 2,
Chapter 3 provides the proposed core indicators for hazardous substances, Chapter 4 introduces candidate
indicators suggested for further development during the project, and in Chapter 5 supplementary indicators
identifi ed as supportive indicators for environmental assessments are described. The biodiversity core
indicators are, fi rstly, summarized in a cover page and then more detailed background documentation is
presented, giving scientifi c support for the selection as well as functionality and GES boundary of the core
indicator. The core indicators for hazardous substances and their effects have a documentation presenting
the selection criteria for each of the indicators and the proposed GES boundary. The documentations also
include information of the monitoring and analyses of the indicators.
HELCOM CORESET was not able to fi nalize the validation of all the proposed indicators that had been
identifi ed as potentially important for the assessment of the environmental status of the Baltic Sea by the
autumn 2011. These indicators were hence labelled as candidate indicators. Some of the candidate indicators
lack GES boundaries, some have methodological challenges and others need compilation of data
and further testing. The CORESET expert groups stated that it is important to continue developing them
towards operational core indicators.
The report also presents some supplementary indicators for environmental assessments. These are quantitative
indicators, which did not fulfi l the criteria of core indicators, but are a rich source of supporting
information. Some of them measure fl uctuations caused by climatic variability. Others can have a linkage to
anthropogenic pressures, but they cannot be used as core indicators because they are either not applicable
to the entire Baltic Sea or they do not have measurable thresholds required for core indicators. As the
HELCOM CORESET project did not focus on developing supplementary indicators, only a few of them have
been included in this report.
6 Commission decision of 1 September 2010 on criteria and methodological standards on good environmental status of marine waters (2010/477/EU). OJ L
232/14, 2.9.2010.