Achievements since Charting Progress

With this report, we have made a broader, more integrated assessment than was possible in Charting Progress. We have also provided a more robust baseline against which we can measure future progress towards the vision of clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas. The interdisciplinary approach has proved very fruitful as have the stronger relationships that we have fostered between researchers and policy makers. We have also made significant progress in the methodologies for assessing the state of the UK seas.

Lessons learned

We now have a greater understanding of the obstacles that are preventing us from reaching our vision for the UK seas. However, we need better criteria, better baselines and better targets for assessing our progress. As well as improved tools, greater coverage and new data to fill key gaps in knowledge.

Next steps

The UK Marine Monitoring and Assessment Strategy community will work under the Marine Science Coordination Committee to help realise its recently published 15-year UK Marine Science Strategy. We will also advise on the characteristics needed to display ‘Good Environmental Status’ under the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, as well as playing a key role in monitoring and assessing changes in the quality status of the UK seas in the future. The evidence compiled for this report will provide the bulk of the initial assessment of the state of the UK seas that is one of the early requirements of the Directive.