life due to impulsive noise the approach enables the protection of habitats by safeguarding the availability of a minimum proportion of undisturbed habitat at all times. Hence, the approach may ensure that relevant populations sensitive to under- water noise are able to use their habitat for vital functions despite being subjected to noise. Priority targets for a successful implementation of such a harmonized assessment in the next MSFD cycles were identi?ed as follows: • Implement a robust area-based assessment methodology. This conclusion is supported by the fact that uncertainties are introduced by the regional registries that do not support a high-resolution assessment. • Focus has to be directed to achieve data completeness in the noise registries. An assessment based on data, which islacking the majority of noise events would introduce uncertainties that are not acceptable. • Focus on the improvement of the quality, reliability, and completeness of biolog- ical input data. • Identify and agree on the biological component addressed in the assessment, such as at least one relevant species per region. • Establish biological thresholds for species, species groups, or habitats of interest for the assessment in order to quantify the area affected by sound. • Acquire information on the occurrence of species and their spatial and temporal distribution. • Analyze impulsive noise characteristics, including spatial and temporal variations and differences between noise generating activities. • Document and acquire additional information on impulsive noise occurances, such as results from measurements or results from the application of mitigation measures (e.g., technical noise abatement, spatial/temporal restrictions, and deter- rence protocols). Future objectives to be addressed after Member States and regions have gained experience with the evaluation of the current environmental status are how to use the assessment to determine the good environmental status (GES). In addition, a future task will be to identify targets and measures to be applied if the assessment shows that GES has not been achieved. References Bellmann MA, Brinkmann J, May A, Wendt T, Gerlach S, Remmers P (2020) Underwater noise during the impulse pile-driving procedure: in?uencing factors on pile-driving noise and techni- cal possibilities to comply with noise mitigation values. Supported by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und nukleare Sicherheit (BMU)), FKZ UM16 881500. Commissioned and man- aged by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie (BSH)), Order No. 10036866. Edited by the itap GmbH Collins MD, Kuperman S (1994) A parabolic equation for poro-elastic media_COLLINS_1994.pdf 18 C. Juretzek et al.