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Coastal zones are among the most climate-vulnerable environments, exposed to extreme weather events, sea level rise, accelerating coastal erosion, biodiversity loss, and socio-economic vulnerability. As these pressures intensify, adaptation strategies have moved beyond engineered infrastructure toward nature-based solutions restoration interventions that work with ecosystems. One of most spread nature-based coastal restoration are seagrass and saltmarsh recovery, dune and wetland rebuilding, and integrated watersh...

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) is a framework for collective action in the marine environmental policy established by Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on 17 June 2008. It calls for EU Member States to create national marine strategies to achieve good environmental status (GES) by 2020 or to maintain it in areas where it already exists. Five factors are laid out in Commission Decision (EU) 2017/848 for GES assessment in regard to a number of broad habitat types, as two...

The present study is aimed to assess the status of Black Sea fish species harvested by the Bulgarian fishing fleet, according to the three criteria of Descriptor D3 under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Achieving healthy fish populations depends on the adverse impact on species as a result of fishing activity. Descriptor D3 of MSFD addresses the commercial fish stocks status by applying indicators assessing the exploited fish sustainability, reproductive capacity and recruitment, and the age and si...

The study aims to assess the diversity, density, and heterogeneity of seafloor litter, distributed in the Bulgarian Black Sea’s shelf area. The indicators for assessment follow the national monitoring program under Descriptor D10 of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The survey campaign took place between 19.10 – 14.11.2017. Marine debris was gathered by 53 trawl hauls distributed in four regions at depths between 30 and 100m. During the survey, all litter items were collected and classified into seven categ...