D2.2 - Report on spatial distributions and temporal dynamics of EBSA metrics

Spatially explicit, quantitative measures of three out of the the seven EBSA criteria (biological productivity; biological diversity; and naturalness) have been established, the necessary data collected for the planning sites and mapped over space and where available also over time.

Naturalness was adressed by collecting data on usage, e.g. shipping traffic or fisheries operations. Since naturalness as such is not measurable, we monitored usage and consider naturaless the reciprocal of this parameter. We did not address the issue of how to combine several pressures on naturalness. However, the choice of pressures should not be the consequence of data availability and how the scientists involved interpreted information in relation to the EBSA criteria. Future work on naturalness should be performed in the context of a cumulative pressures and impact assessments.