PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) establishes the overarching framework for protecting Europe’s marine environment and achieving Good Environmental Status in marine waters. Greece plays a critical role in its implementation, due to its extensive coastline, large number of islands, and high ecological diversity, but also due to the intensity and spatial overlap of human activities in its seas. These characteristics amplify pressures on marine ecosystems and increase the complexity of effective monitoring, assessment and management at national and regional level.
Despite significant progress in recent MSFD cycles, the achievement and maintenance of Good Environmental Status in Greek marine waters remain uneven across the Directive’s 11 descriptors. Persistent pressures include biodiversity degradation, impacts on benthic habitats, the spread of non-indigenous species, overexploitation of biological resources, eutrophication hotspots, contamination of marine food webs, marine litter accumulation and increasing underwater noise. These pressures are further exacerbated by climate change, cumulative impacts, and the high seasonal variability of maritime activities. At the same time, existing monitoring systems are fragmented across institutions, descriptors and regions, limiting comparability, data integration and timely policy responses.
The environmental challenge the Greek marine environment is facing is therefore not only ecological, but also structural and governance-related. The effective implementation of the MSFD in Greece requires stronger coordination across competent authorities, improved integration of scientific knowledge into decision-making, and enhanced technical capacity to apply ecosystem-based approaches at scale. This need has become more pressing in light of the evolving EU policy framework, including the Nature Restoration Law and regional obligations under the Barcelona Convention, which require greater coherence between marine protection, biodiversity restoration and sectoral policies.
Previous efforts and projects have generated valuable data, methodologies and pilot experiences, but these remain partially embedded in permanent governance and monitoring structures. As a result, Greece faces the challenge of moving from fragmented compliance towards a more integrated, resilient and policy-relevant marine management system capable of supporting long-term environmental objectives at EU and regional level.
OBJECTIVES
Main objective
The main objective of the project is to support the effective and coherent implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive in Greece by strengthening governance, monitoring, and knowledge integration mechanisms necessary to achieve and maintain Good Environmental Status across all Greek marine waters.
Specific objectives
- To establish a fully integrated national framework for MSFD implementation that improves coordination among competent authorities, scientific bodies and other key stakeholders across all 11 descriptors.
- The implementation of the MSFD will be supported, among others, through contamination control and aquaculture health, habitat restoration practices for seagrass beds and macroalgal forests, innovative cultivation practices for eutrophication reduction, minimisation of contaminants in edible fish and prevention of fish diseases in aquaculture.
- To enhance the quality, consistency and policy relevance of marine monitoring and assessment by addressing data gaps, improving comparability across regions and descriptors, and supporting ecosystem-based management approaches.
- To strengthen biodiversity protection and ecosystem resilience in Greek marine waters, with particular focus on marine biodiversity, food webs and seafloor integrity, addressing pressures affecting habitats and species of high ecological importance.
- To improve the management of key anthropogenic pressures, including non-indigenous species, fisheries exploitation, eutrophication, contamination, marine litter, hydrographic alterations and underwater noise, through more robust assessment and decision-support frameworks.
- To reinforce national capacity for adaptive marine governance by embedding scientific knowledge, innovative monitoring tools and harmonised methodologies into permanent administrative and policy processes.
- To enhance policy coherence between the MSFD and related EU and regional frameworks, notably the Nature Restoration Law and obligations under the Barcelona Convention, supporting integrated marine and biodiversity policy implementation.
- To mobilise and empower stakeholders, including regional authorities, local communities, NGOs and relevant economic sectors, through structured capacity-building and information actions that support long-term compliance and environmental stewardship.
Indirect expected benefits
The project is expected to indirectly contribute to improved conditions for marine-dependent economic activities, increased awareness of marine environmental pressures, and the wider uptake of innovative marine protection technologies, without these being primary objectives.
RESULTS
The project is expected to deliver tangible and measurable improvements in the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in Greece, generating impacts at national and regional level.
By project completion, a fully operational, integrated MSFD implementation framework will be in place, covering all 11 MSFD descriptors across Greek marine waters. Monitoring, assessment and reporting processes will be harmonised and applied consistently at national scale (20 Pilot sites in the 3 participating regions), involving all competent authorities and relevant scientific institutions. This will result in full descriptor coverage in national MSFD assessments, addressing previously identified gaps in biodiversity, food webs, seafloor integrity, marine litter and underwater noise.
The project will enable coordinated national monitoring across multiple marine sub-regions in the Aegean Sea and 142 Natura 2000 sites integrating data from existing and newly enhanced monitoring stations, surveys and observation programmes. All MSFD descriptors will be supported by updated assessment methodologies and interoperable data flows, contributing directly to national MSFD reporting cycles and the revision of Programmes of Measures. Environmental KPIs defined in the Grant Agreement indicate a significant increase in the completeness, frequency and quality of monitoring for biodiversity-related descriptors, contaminants, eutrophication and marine litter, including a decrease of the environmental burden from eutrophication generated by aquaculture facilities and a reduction of the volume of non-treated wastewater discharged into the environment.
The project will also deliver measurable management-related outcomes. These include improved assessment and response capacity for non-indigenous species at national level, strengthened ecosystem-based fisheries management inputs, systematic monitoring of marine litter sources and pathways, and the first coordinated national-scale assessment framework for underwater noise pressures. Pilot applications will provide quantified baseline data and thresholds to support future mitigation measures.
In addition, the project will produce quantifiable capacity-building results, including structured training and knowledge-transfer activities reaching national and regional authorities, research bodies and stakeholders across Greece. The adoption of common tools, methodologies and governance procedures will ensure that project results are embedded in permanent administrative processes.
Finally, one of the core project results of potentially high added value for the Greek marine environment is the development of a national-wide communication and education campaign regarding non-indigenous marine species.