European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet)
Use Cases
Submit your Use Case
To understand the full benefits of EMODnet, users are kindly asked to describe how EMODnet supports them in their daily work and activities.
If you have developed an application using EMODnet products that you would like to share with us or if you use EMODnet data for other purposes, submit your use case by contacting helpdesk@emodnet.ec.europa.eu.
Outcomes: Authors present a framework to assess the impacts of mobile fishing gear on the seabed and benthic ecosystems, the principles of which are applicable to all benthic habitats and trawl fisheries, and can be used across a wide range of spatial scales.
How EMODnet Seabed Habitats helped the user:EMODnet provided EUNIS Level 3 habitat maps across European waters.
Outcomes: Authors present a framework to assess the impacts of mobile fishing gear on the seabed and benthic ecosystems, the principles of which are applicable to all benthic habitats and trawl fisheries, and can be used across a wide range of spatial scales.
How EMODnet Seabed Habitats helped the user:EMODnet provided EUNIS Level 3 habitat maps across European waters.
Outcomes: Authors were able to predictively model the extent of protected Annex I features within Scottish Marine Protected Areas, Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protected Areas, where survey data did not exist.
How EMODnet Seabed Habitats helped the user:Data on physical variables were freely available for the areas of interest.
Outcomes: Researchers were able to produce GIS maps showing the spatial overlap between high discard rate areas and seabed habitats in case study areas of the Mediterranean. This fed into a wider project, with the overall goal of eliminating discards in European marine fisheries.
How EMODnet Seabed Habitats helped the user:Data on seabed habitats were available in all study areas of the project.
Authors were able to quantify indicators of ecosystem damage from disturbance of the seabed, highlighting areas with the longest estimated ecological recovery time.
Authors identified that boundaries of successful no-take MPAs may still be zones of high stress for habitat forming species such as maerl. Additionally, authors suggested that MPA designations should re-consider boundaries in areas with low-resilience, key-forming habitat species.
Outcomes: Successfully quantifying the overall condition of European seas, authors were able to conceptualise indicator-based spatial tools to apply ecosystem-based approaches to human activities and provide practical solutions to marine governance. The report is considered a contribution to the MSFD Article 20.3 reporting and provides material which can be used to the 8th Environment Action Plan.
How EMODnet Seabed Habitats helped the user: Contained habitat data at the resolution and coverage required.
Users identified the main areas where disturbance from bottom-contact fishing was predicted to cause the most significant impact to benthic marine habitats. This work fed directly into the OSPAR Intermediate Assessment (2017) with future implications towards the Marine Strategy Framework Directive assessments.
AQUIND Interconnector is a new subsea and underground High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) electric power transmission link between the South Coast of England and Normandy in France. EMODnet Seabed Habitat’s broad-scale predictive habitat map for Europe, enabled AQUIND to conduct their Environmental Impact Assemssment scoping report in order to identify the main habitat types reported in the region that intersects the proposed cable route.
The Institut de Ciènces del Maris (ICM) used EMODnet Seabed Habitats classified substrate types described in the broad-scale predictive habitat map for Europe (EUSeaMap 2019) to model spatial patterns of abundance, biomass and biodiversity of demersal communities of the North-West Mediterranean Sea.
