European Ocean Biodiversity Information System

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 NPMS-2016 was performed in period 2016.05.17-2016.05.21 in the North-Western shelf part of the Black Sea onboard the RV "Mare Nigrum". 31 samples taken in 15 coastal as well as shelf stations on the Ukrainian part (NPMS UA). The distribution of stations on depth intervals was as follow: 10 - 20 m: 6 stations; 21 - 30 m: 5 stations; 31 - 52 m: 4 stations. The macrozoobenthos sampling followed the protocol described by Todorova & Konsulova (2005). Thus, all samples have been collected with a Van Veen grab with surface of 0.135 m2, 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).