This report was made as a part of ongoing work to improve the water management of the research area since the Water framework directive (2000/60/EG) states that all water bodies within the EU has to reach good-quality or better by 2027 at the latest. This report investigated the overall changes in classification of coastal waters in the Skagerrak and Kattegat water district in Sweden over management cycles. The aim was to identify quality elements of interest for further investigation and their trends of development. The study also assessed the impact of changes in the assessment criteria and if this has influenced the comparability between management cycles. The changes in overall Ecological status from cycle 1 to cycle 2 were small with only 6% of the water bodies improving their status with one class while 84% remained unchanged. However, from cycle 2 to cycle 3 the changes showed a more positive trend with 31% of the water bodies having an improvement by one class or more and 63% remaining unchanged. The changes in individual quality elements were not as clear and multiple suggestions for further studies to identify more reliable trends are made. This study indicates that the changes in assessment criteria has influenced the classifications investigated and further studies are needed. Development of a method to overcome these changes in assessment criteria are of great importance to be able to successfully compare the status of waterbodies between management cycles.

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