Estratégias Marinhas para as Águas Marinhas Portuguesas. Monitoring and Measures Programmes of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (DQEM).

Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June, or the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (DQEM), transposed into National Law by Decree-Law No. 108/2010 of 13 October, as amended, establishes a framework for community action within which Member States must take necessary measures to achieve or maintain a good environmental status in the marine environment until 2020. DQEM aims to protect, preserve and enhance the marine environment, preventing its deterioration and ensuring, whenever possible, its restoration, as well as the prevention and progressive reduction of marine pollution, in order to ensure that there are no significant risks marine biodiversity, marine ecosystems, human health and legitimate uses of the sea. These objectives must be achieved through the application of marine strategies based on an ecosystem approach, aiming to achieve a sustainable balance between the pressure 32 exerted by human activities and the conservation of marine ecosystems. Within the scope of this directive, the strategies to be developed are fundamental for obtaining and maintaining good environmental status and for guaranteeing the sustainable use of marine goods and services, thus safeguarding the potential for uses and activities of current and future generations. Accordingly, the Directive provides that each Member State establishes and implements a strategy to be applied to marine waters under its sovereignty or jurisdiction. The elaboration of this strategy must take into account the marine regions or sub-regions.
DQEM states that, in order to guide progress towards achieving good environmental status in the marine environment, Member States should establish a set of environmental targets and associated indicators for their marine waters, taking into account indicative lists of pressures and impacts and characteristics. The directive also establishes that, when defining these environmental targets and associated indicators, compatibility with existing relevant environmental targets that continue to apply should be taken into account. In the Initial Report of each subdivision, the DQEM Environmental Goals were defined, which resulted directly from the assessment of the environmental status of marine waters.
The initial assessment, definition of good environmental status and establishment of environmental goals constitute the first part of the preparation phase for marine strategies, and are materialized in the following documents: Marine strategy for the subdivision of the continent. Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Ministry of Agriculture, Sea, Environment and Spatial Planning; October 2012 (MAMAOT, 2012a); Marine strategy for the subdivision of the extended continental shelf. Directive122 Marine Strategy Framework. Ministry of Agriculture, Sea, Environment and Spatial Planning; October 2012 (MAMAOT, 2012b); Marine strategy for the subdivision of Madeira. Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Natural Resources; June 2014 (SRA, 2014); Marine strategy for the Azores subdivision. Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Regional Secretariat for Natural Resources; June 2014 (SRRN, 2014).