Annex 1 (continued)
PUTTING THE
ANNUAL MONITORING
COSTS IN
ATTACHMENT 2 INTO
PERSPECTIVE
Estimated baseline costs to meet current legislative
and obligatory commitments (in italic font).
Through the UK Marine Monitoring and Assessment
Strategy (UKMMAS) the costs associated with marine monitoring
in the UK and borne by various Government Departments, Agencies
and the Devolved Administrations have been estimated at around
£37 million per annum.
Estimated cost of new monitoring requirements
likely to be required in the coming years (in bold font).
There are a number of emerging drivers which
require or recommend additional marine monitoring.
National: Firstly, the UK report Charting
Progress on the status of the UK Marine Environment drew attention
to the fact that in general, it was difficult to say definitively
whether the status of UK marine waters were good or not because
many key indicators of status were not being measured, and recommendations
were made to rectify this situation. It is also desirable to harmonise
data collection and storage and make the information easily accessible
to stakeholders and the public.
European and International: The recently
adopted Water Framework Directive and the Draft European Marine
Strategy Directive (EMSD) require monitoring programmes to show
whether UK waters will achieve good environmental status. The
bathing Waters Directive is being revised to include new parameters,
and the OSPAR Convention is developing new indicators to show
whether the seas are achieving good ecological status and are
biodiverse.
New concerns such the effects of climate
change, ocean acidification, noise and mapping the sea bed: The
major impacts of these drivers are poorly understood and require
a mix of physical, chemical and biological monitoring.
Uncertainty in the additional costs for new
marine monitoring.
The UKMMAS Partners have been trying to build
up a picture of the likely costs of the monitoring to meet the
drivers and concerns listed above. However, until a consensus
arises at European level and it becomes clearer exactly what is
considered to be an appropriate suite of indicators to show whether
the seas are achieving good environmental status, the costs will
not be clear. We have therefore given a very conservative estimate
of £23 million per annum assuming that a very comprehensive
suite of monitoring programmes will be required starting in 2007
and the recommendations of Charting Progress are fully
implemented. However, there are already indications from a number
of EC Member States that less ambitious programmes may be needed
to demonstrate good environmental status, and that additional
comprehensive monitoring programmes under the EMSD will not be
required for several years. This could mean that a figure of £10
million per annum might suffice to provide an adequate assessment
of status.
How do the costs of Marine Monitoring compare
with Terrestrial Monitoring?
Current monitoring spend in the terrestrial
environment is >£80 million per annum. The marine environment
is far less understood and is more costly to monitor due to technological
requirements and the need for seagoing vessels.
| 
