The EMODNET  Black Sea checkpoint is a wide monitoring system assessment activity aiming to support the sustainable Blue Growth at the scale of the European Black Sea Basin by clarifying the observation landscape, evaluating the fitness for use of current observations and data assembly programs towards targeted applications (challenges) and prioritizing the needs to optimize monitoring systems in terms of availability, operational reliability, efficiency, time consistency, space consistency, etc. and observational priorities required in the future to meet the challenges.