One of the objectives of PERSEUS is to identify, develop and promote tools and methods to assess environmental status across the Mediterranean and the Black Sea basins with emphasis on non- EU countries, in accordance with the principles and objectives of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), 2008/56/EC.

PERSEUS has studied the experience of EU countries in the framework of the MSFD Initial Assessment and GES definition, with a view to sharing this knowledge with non-EU countries.

As first step in this direction, PERSEUS carried out a review and analysis of the approaches used for MSFD environmental status assessments in EU case study areas. The results of this work highlight the following findings:

• Available information from Initial Assessment draft documents is heterogeneous, complex and incomplete
• Depending on the descriptor considered, methodological approaches can range from relevant International and EU frameworks down to national sources
• Countries are using combinations of different methodologies on each descriptor,and so, harmonisation of efforts will be necessary
• There is a frequent lack of data and knowledge that affect most of the descriptors, indicating that further development is needed, including further criteria/indicators development and reference/threshold levels establishment
• Enhanced interaction and coordination is needed between countries and the Regional Sea Conventions in both the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea regions
• Some inputs to the MSFD implementation strategy are: descriptors further development, review of indicators and establishment of appropriate monitoring programs.