During 19-20 June 2019, the ”Workshop on tools and indicators for integrated assessment of Black Sea environmental status” was organized in the frame of the ANEMONE Project (”Assessing the vulnerability of the Black Sea marine ecosystem to human pressures”).

The ANEMONE Project aims to deliver, through collaborative efforts among partners, a common strategy related to the Joint Monitoring of the Black Sea, using the most adequate and agreed assessment criteria and indicators, in order to assess the status of the Black Sea, as a basis for management actions. The project identifies needs within the marine sector and tries to find solution to advance the knowledge of environmental specialists.

During the workshop, specific tools and indicators for the integrated assessment of the Black Sea environmental status were discussed and tested, namely NEAT and CHASE.

What is NEAT?

NEAT is a new software, created to assess the environmental status of European seas in an integrative way. NEAT is designed to support environmental institutions of European Union member States, but also by the Regional Seas Conventions and for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. NEAT itself, as an assessment method, is not restricted to the MSFD but can be used for various other assessment needs. 

Moreover, due to its versatility it could also be used by firms and consultancies to carry out all types of environmental assessment NEAT and its manual are already freely available from the DEVOTES website.

What is CHASE?

CHASE is a multi-metric indicator-based tool for classification and assessment of ‘chemical status’ and can be used for identification of “problem areas” and “on-problem areas” with respect to hazardous substances and contamination of marine ecosystems.

The ANEMONE project is coordinated by the National Institute for Marine Research and Development “Grigore Antipa” (NIMRD) (Romania), with partners from Romania (Mare Nostrum Non-Governmental Organization), Bulgaria (Institute of Oceanology – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences  – IO-BAS), Turkey (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey – Marmara Research Center – TUBITAK-MAM – and Turkish Marine Research Foundation – TUDAV) and Ukraine  (Ukrainian Scientific Center of Ecology of Sea – UkrSCES).