The overarching goal of our participation in the MSIII project was to advance the application of model-derived food-web indicators, to support the assessment of Descriptor 4 towards the achievement of GES in the Macaronesia sub-region. We concluded that the parameters describing the cumulative biomass curve of marine ecosystems are robust model-derived indicators of the food-web state. Furthermore, we estimated threshold values in these parameters that inform a critical condition of the system and suggest a weak ability of the system to return to a baseline state. Crossing these thresholds represents a significant change in the structure and functioning of the ecosystem.