RECENT DATA ON ZOOBENTHIC NON-INDIGENOUS SPECIES PRESENT IN ROMANIAN PORT MARINE AREAS IN 2023

Under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), Member States are required to report to the European Commission on the various stages of their marine strategies, assess the state of marine waters, determine the good ecological status and set the environmental objectives. Following Article 11 of the Directive regarding the need to update the monitoring programs, the Member States must establish and carry out the monitoring of the marine environment by applying these requirements. In order to respond to the requirements of the MSFD and to update the monitoring program for the qualitative pressure Descriptor D2- non indigenous species, in 2023 a monitoring of the Romanian port areas considered "hot spots" for the introduction of non-indigenous species was carried out to observe potential newly introduced species through maritime transport. The purpose of the paper is to present the results of the evaluation of the non-indigenous species present and identified in the three maritime port areas chosen for monitoring, such as Touristic Tomis Port, Constanța and Mangalia Ports. The investigations carried out on different types of habitats (collectors with artificial habitat and a system of biofouling plates) introduced into the sea led to the identification of 11 non-indigenous species from the total of 49 macrozoobenthic species that composed the benthic community present on the artificial substrate in the three port locations. The non-indigenous benthic species identified in 2023 are already established in the Black Sea basin, respectively near the Romanian coast, being periodically identified in populations with varying abundances.