Good Environmental Status is a qualitative description of the state of the seas that the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

Marine Strategy Framework Directive The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD; full title: ''Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 establishing a framework for community action in the field of marine environmental policy'') is a Europea ...

requires its

Member State A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization or of a federation or confederation. Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign states ...

s to achieve or maintain by the year 2020. Achieve Good Environmental Status
/ref> Good Environmental Status is described by 11 Descriptors: *Descriptor 1.

Biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

is maintained *Descriptor 2. Non-indigenous species do not adversely alter the ecosystem *Descriptor 3. The population of commercial fish species is healthy *Descriptor 4. Elements of

food web A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Another name for food web is consumer-resource system. Ecologists can broadly lump all life forms into one ...

s ensure long-term abundance and reproduction *Descriptor 5.

Eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

is minimised *Descriptor 6. The sea floor integrity ensures functioning of the ecosystem *Descriptor 7. Permanent alteration of hydrographical conditions does not adversely affect the ecosystem *Descriptor 8. Concentrations of contaminants give no effects *Descriptor 9. Contaminants in seafood are below safe levels *Descriptor 10. Marine litter does not cause harm *Descriptor 11. Introduction of energy (including underwater noise) does not adversely affect the ecosystem

References

European Union directives Marine conservation Environmental law in the European Union {{environment-stub