The Benthic Ecosystem Quality Index (BEQI), intercalibration and assessment of Dutch coastaland transitional waters for the Water Framework Directive : final report

The Benthic Ecosystem Quality Index (BEQI), has been developed by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology on behalf of the Rijkswaterstaat/Institute for Coastal and Marine Management. It is based on an ecosystem functioning approach (Ysebaert & Herman, 2004), which aims to give an indication about ecosystem structure and functioning, and about biological relationships. BEQI evaluates at the scale of a whole water body, contrary to methods applied by other member states that evaluate the ecological status per sampling station. The aim of this report is to further develop the method proposed by Ysebaert and Herman (2004), apply it to the Dutch coastal and transitional waters and saline lakes, to compare this method with the assessment methods proposed by other member states (intercalibration), and to formulate advices to improve (adaptation of the evaluation method, new insights, new technologies) the WFD (Water Framework Directive) monitoring for the Dutch waters.