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Congratulations from the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment where I work, to the European Environment Agency and its European Topic Center for Biological Diversity for their work. The Spanish Ministry has recently (april 2013) published a List of Marine habitats present in Spain with a new national classification as part of the Spanish Inventory of Habitats and Marine Species, this fact is being considered in different European projects in order to integrate the new Spanish typologies together with France, Portugal and Spain: MeshAtlantic project coordinates input from Madeira and Canaries to ensure all Macaronesia is covered properly. MeshAtlatinc project involves France, Spain and Portugal in order to consider the inclusion of new types proposed in the Atlantic Region COCONET FP7 it is expected to be the potential source of useful information to propose coherent typologies in the Mediterranean Sea These projects consider the List of Marine habitats present in Spain as the Spanish source of information of a existing classification in order to guarantee the coherence in the new proposals at a Regional level. So, I will to make two observations: A) Considered as justified the inclusion of Macaronesia in EUNIS structure (Level 3) as an independent marine biogeographic region of the Atlantic region, with its own characteristics completly different from other regions. This statement is based on the following five arguments: 1. The Macaronesian region, and particularly, the Canary Islands, have biogeographic elements different from the rest of the Atlantic waters (in terms of biology, geology, oceanography, wind patterns and weather) this fact is relevant enough to be considered independently as a separatly region. For the preparation of the List of Marine habitats present in Spain a geographical division to respect the confluence of three distinct biogeographic provinces in marine waters was adopted Spanish, as part of the Spanish Inventory of Habitats and Marine Species; so each region has got its own characteristics: the Lusitana, temperate-cold, the Mauritanian, with subtropical influence, and the Mediterranean. Thus, the Spanish List was structured considering three marine regions: Atlantic, Macaronesian and Mediterranean. Thus, it is considered that the current proposal for EUNIS geographic structure based on general patterns of temperature and salinity of water masses, it is too simplistic and not properly correspond to the special characteristics Macaronesian. 2. Moreover, the particularities of the Macaronesian region become even more apparent at the EUNIS classification for European seas, especially in contrast with the more northern areas of the Atlantic coast. 3. It has been found that the marine waters of the Canary Islands (and Macaronesia) are nowadays in a process of progressive tropicalization, what implies that the biogeographical differences with other Atlantic waters may be also greater in the future. This would justify even more, if possible, the independent management of this marine region within EUNIS where their particular habitats are collected. 4. The marine environment of the Macaronesia is not represented in international forums where he is currently working on the identification and definition of their respective marine habitats, for proper management and protection, such as OSPAR, HELCOM, Barcelona Convention or Convention Bucharest. To the extent that decisions made in these areas tend to influence European policies, a clear distinction of the Macaronesian waters from the rest of the NE Atlantic could help to create an appropriate forum that protects and assimilate to other European seas. 5. Adding a new Macaronesia biogeographical region make EUNIS classification more intuitive and understandable, also more realistic and, in this way, help alleviate the current lack of definition of the types of macaronesian habitats are presented as unclear in EURedLisTypology. In conclusion, it is proposed that the EUNIS level 3 (Bioregion) remains structured as follows: Cold marine (Arctic) Cool brackish (Baltic) Temperate marine (Atlantic) Warm marine (Macaronesian) Warm marine (Mediterranean) Warm brackish (Black Sea) Level 3, which is one in which the different marine regions differ, not shown in the Spanish List, considering the region as a separate attribute of habitats, except for specific exceptions, in which case it is considered Macaronesia as an independent marine region. B) In regards with biogenic habitats of EUNIS Level 2, biogenic habitat (faunal) are not considered as a kind of independent substrate in the Spanish List being represented in levels 3-5 on the List. However, certain biogenic habitats of vegetal origin, which have been elevated himself to the level of independent substrate, as is proposed in the new proposal EUNIS, but treated as equivalent to all seagrass habitats composed infralitorales, and not limiting ourselves only to Posidonia. Also marshes have not been considered in our Spanish List as biogenic habitats (vegetal) independent from substrate that supports them. This is due to the inherent complexity of these habitats, which may occupy more than one biological zone, and the difficulty of differentiation beyond habitats belonging to estuarine complexes. Best regards Antonio Fdez y G de Vinuesa Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment Secretary of State for the Environment General Directorate for Sustainability of the Coast and the Sea Division for the Protection of the Sea [email protected]