Work due 01 Jan 2099

SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT Showing European time trends in pollutant load presenting mean concentration from the year 1995 will be considered. It will be necessary to get access to more data, in terms of better spatial coverage and longer time series, in order to improve the assessment. Methods for comparing data from the same region over different years should be developed to improve the assessment, and techniques for visualising the differences in nutrient levels over the entire region should be investigated. Indicators could make use of salinity data at stations as a co‑variate in order to compensate for inter-annual variations in salinity. It might also be necessary that data are accompanied by information on methodology and estimated uncertainty. In relation to the Water Framework Directive, work is ongoing defining good ecological quality for all coastal waters. Monitoring will provide more coastal nutrient data, and locally defined targets and thresholds will improve this indicator.