A proposal for a long-term baseline phytobenthos monitoring programme for the Finnish Baltic coastal waters: monitoring submerged rocky shore vegetation.

Several local surveys on the submerged vegetation have been conducted in past decades along the Finnish Baltic coastal areas. Surveys have been carried out by using various methods, which make the temporal comparisons of the results difficult. The need of a joint programme for coastal phytobenthic monitoring is emphasised by the Nordic Council of Ministers and HELCOM. The Finnish coastal phytobenthic monitoring programme complements the Baltic HELCOM monitoring programme (COMBINE). It is primarily designed to reveal the effects of eutrophication. The programme includes general principles for selection of monitoring areas as well as a proposal for monitored habitats, communities and species. The need of evaluated and tested field methods, data collecting, interpretation and data storage are addressed in the Quality Assurance part. The cost-efficiency is secured by integrating the phytobenthos programme with the coastal water monitoring for obtaining the supporting data such like salinity, temperature and nutrients. In the design of the monitoring programme a special interest is paid on areas with high protection values such as Natura 2000 or HELCOM's BSPA (Baltic Sea Protected Areas) or on aspects that would support the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive.