Outcomes of this work developed a framework for future eutrophication monitoring
Our understanding of our coastal and marine systems is changing, and our approach to eutrophication needs to consider fluctuating baselines, cumulative pressures, and new technology.
With improving insights, our eutrophication assessments in the United Kingdom are changing — in multiple ways and in multiple directions.
This review lays out a framework for a more integrated, holistic, collaborative approach.
Assessing water quality, particularly eutrophication, has been essential for communicating human impacts on UK coastal waters.
Modern water quality reporting must consider “cumulative impacts”, climate change, and both bottom-up and top-down processes to define sustainable use levels.
This paper reviews eutrophication assessment approaches, highlighting the need for new indicators, improved harmonisation, consideration of pelagic community, climate and better understanding of shifting baselines.
Future approaches to eutrophication need a re-analysis of the issues, updating our frameworks and a rethinking of the complex solutions to achieve sustainable use of the marine environment.
Our new paper (Devlin et al. 2025) presents the outcomes of an evidence review and prioritisation exercise, identifying gaps in current eutrophication assessment frameworks within UK marine waters and what is needed in future assessments to account for the complexity of the pressures that drive the impacts and the scale of potential solutions.
