Assessment of the ecological status of Maltese coastal waters using the Ecological Evaluation Index (EEI)

Abstract

Benthic macroalgae are a reliable indicator of the trophic status of coastal waters. Macroalgae are also one of the Biological Quality Elements for the evaluation of ecological quality required by the European Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EE). The Ecological Evaluation Index (EEI) described by Orfanidis et al. (2001), a specific biological index for the implementation of the WFD in the Mediterranean, was applied to seven sites around Malta with different degrees of anthropogenic stress and which were therefore expected to have a different ecological status. One aim was to assess if the EEI would discriminate between these sites and another was to investigate whether the annual EEI value remained stable for each site over a two‐year period.