PROSPETTIVE E CRITICITÀ SUL RUOLO DEL BENTHOS MEDITERRANEO NELLA DIRETTIVA SULLA MARINE STRATEGY

In Europe, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and the Water Framework Directive (WFD) are the main regulations for the protection of water bodies. The translation of their principles into valid and practical approaches is the main challenge for the scientific community. An additional and even more severe problem is related to the MSFD application in the Mediterranean area. The aim of the present contribution is to picture the present situation in Italy, as far as the benthic communities in the MSFD are concerned, pinpoint some conceptual and practical critical points, and possibly suggest some new tools useful for the definition of Good Ecological Status (GES).