Joint Open Sea Surveys August 2017, Improving Environmental Monitoring in the Black Sea - Phase II (EMBLAS-II), ENPI/2013/313-169, (Macrozoobenthos)

Macrozoobenthos data: species composition, abundance (ind/m²), biomass (g/m²) collected during the Joint Open Sea Survey (JOSS UA - GE 2017) in the Black Sea waters (Transects Odessa - Batumi) onboard the R/V "Mare Nigrum" (Romania) in August - September 201 Data collected within the EMBLAS-II "EU-UNDP Project 'Improving Environmental Monitoring in the Black Sea' (EMBLAS-II)" (http://emblasproject.org/). EMBLAS-II is co-financed by the European Commission (EC) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project implementation started on 1 April 2014 and ended on 31 May 2018, having the total duration of 50 months. The EMBLAS project is addressing the overall need for support in protection and restoring the environmental quality and sustainability of the Black Sea. The specific objectives are as follows: Improve availability and quality of Black Sea environmental data in line with the MSFD and Black Sea Strategic Action Plan (2009) needs; Improve partner countries' ability to perform marine environmental monitoring along MSFD principles, taking into account the Black Sea Diagnostic Report II recommendations on capacity building.
The National Pilot Monitoring Studies (NPMS) and Joint Open Sea Survey (JOSS) Programme was developed within the framework of Project Activities. The JOSS UA - GE 2017 was performed in period 2017.08.26 to 2017.09.07 in the Black Sea waters (Transects Odessa - Batumi) onboard the R/V "Mare Nigrum" (Romania). The macrozoobenthos sampling followed the protocol described in Todorova & Konsulova, 2005. Thus, all samples have been collected with a Van Veen grab with surface of 0.135, washed through a 0.5 mm mesh size sieve, fixed with formaldehyde 4% buffered with seawater and finally stored in plastic jars. In laboratory, the organisms were identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level. Sampling performed by O. Kachalov (UkrSCES).