EU Directive on Marine

(19) This Directive should contribute to the fulfilment of the obligations and important commitments of the Community and the Member States under several relevant international agreements relating to the protection of the marine environment from pollution: the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, approved by Council Decision 94/157/EC (2), the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the NorthEast Atlantic, approved by Council Decision 98/249/EC (3), including its new Annex V on the Protection and Conservation of the Ecosystems and Biological Diversity of the Maritime Area and the corresponding Appendix 3, approved by Council Decision 2000/340/EC (4), the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the (23) Since programmes of measures executed under marine strategies will be effective only if they are devised on the basis of a sound knowledge of the state of the marine environment in a particular area and are tailored as closely as possible to the needs of the waters concerned in the case of each Member State and from the general perspective of the marine region or subregion concerned, provision should be made for the preparation at national level of an appropriate framework, including marine research and monitoring operations, for informed policymaking. This would include information on the phytoplankton and zooplankton communities, including the species and seasonal and geographical variability, — information on angiosperms, macro-algae and invertebrate bottom fauna, including species composition, biomass and annual/seasonal variability, — information on the structure of fish populations, including the abundance, distribution and age/size structure of the populations, — a description of the population dynamics, natural and actual range and status of species of marine mammals and reptiles occurring in the marine region or subregion, — a description of the population dynamics, natural and actual range and status of species of seabirds occurring in the marine region or subregion, — a description of the population dynamics, natural and actual range and status of other species occurring in the marine region or subregion which are the subject of Community legislation or international agreements, — an inventory of the temporal occurrence, abundance and spatial distribution of nonindigenous, exotic species or, where relevant, genetically distinct forms of native species, which are present in the marine region or subregion.