Marine and Coastal Zones Policy

 

 

2008: Blue Book on an Integrated Maritime Policy in the EU

Chairman: Emanuel Gonçalves, Portuguese Council for the Environment and Sustainable Development ( CNADS) 

Main outcome 2008

The WG assessed how their input to the Green Paper on a Future Maritime Policy for the European Union was embodied in the "Blue Book" on an Integrated Maritime Policy in the European Union. 

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2006-2007: Maritime Green Paper

Chairman: Emanuel Gonçalves, Portuguese Council for the Environment and Sustainable Development ( CNADS) 

On 7 June 2006, the European Commission adopted a Green Paper on a Future Maritime Policy for the European Union. The Green Paper is accompanied by a number of background documents which have been produced by European Commission Working Groups and by the Maritime Policy Task Force which oversaw the drafting of the Green Paper. The Commission hopes that this Green Paper will launch a broad public debate both on the principle of the EU adopting an overall approach to maritime policy and on the many ideas for action. It wishes to base its further work in this area on the views of stakeholders and it intends to spend the next year listening to what they have to say.

The WG Marine Chairman’s response to the consultation process was submitted to the head of the Task Force, John Richardson. This response supports the vision of the Green Paper and the need to implement a holistic approach to all maritime activities and the marine environment. It also supports the Green Paper’s commitment to ‘ecosystem-based management’ but highlights that other concepts such as sustainable development or integrated management should inform the subsequent development of actions. WG members agreed to give input on several key sectoral policies, namely fisheries, ports, shipping and tourism. Regarding climate change mitigation, the EU Maritime policy should include measures addressed to this target such as carbon sequestration, marine renewables, sustainable maritime transport and shoreline management planning. The chairman’s response also examines the use of governance tools. In this respect, it states that Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is an obvious tool to help to implement an ecosystem approach and makes some suggestions on where the EU can add value to what is done at the Member State level.

Download WG Marine Chairman's response to the consultation process on the Maritime Green Paper

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2004-2005: Marine Environment: "Towards an EU Marine Strategy"

Chairman: Michael Scott, Council Member Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH)

The 12th EEAC Annual Conference took place in Berlin on 14-16 October 2004, with the theme Marine Environment. The WG Marine presented a joint statement as recommendation for the EU Marine Strategy. The statement is supported by 17 EEAC Councils and is now an EEAC statement.

The statement was submitted to the participants at the Marine Stakeholders Conference to discuss the proposed Marine Strategy, in Rotterdam on 10-12 November, at which EEAC was represented by Michael Scott (WG Marine Chair) and Paul Gilliland (EN).

Download statement 'Towards a European Marine Strategy'

Background

In the wake of the publication of the EU Commission Communication “Towards an EU Marine Strategy”(COM(2002) 539 final) in 2002, DG Environment set in February 2004 the EC Marine Stakeholder Groups. The WG Marine has been actively involved in the four EC Stakeholder Groups: Strategic Goals and Objectives (SGO), Ecosystem Approach to Managing Human Activities (EAM), European Marine Monitoring and Assessment (EMMA), Hazardous Substances (HS).

The EEAC WG Marine prepared a paper to highlight gaps which still remain in the process underway to draw up the Strategy, and to suggest areas where further work was required. It was informed by an analysis of COM(2002) 539 final, along with subsequent papers, and taking into account the establishment of the four EC Working Groups.

The WG Marine structured this paper around higher level issues, i.e. the aim of the Strategy, principles and then focused on strategic points, addressing specific sectoral issues. The WG Marine believed and hoped this structure would suit the evolution of the Strategy, noting that it is an evolving process.

Download Gap Analysis in the process to draw up the European Marine Strategy

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2003: Preparation and Early Input to the "Towards an EU Marine Strategy" EU Marine Strategy

Chairman: Michael Scott, Council Member Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH)

The WG Marine met on 31st March 2003 in Brussels and discussed a paper on policies for the oceans and the marine environment submitted by the Portuguese CNADS. The document of EU Commission "Towards an EU Marine Strategy" (COM(2002)539) was considered in this context.

A revised version of the WG paper was discussed at the subsequent meeting in Lisbon on 19 May 2003. It was decided to address to the European Council of Thessaloniki (20 June 2003) that the issue marine environment and oceans needed to remain high on the agenda, and that in further work towards an EU marine strategy some major issues required further consideration, which included, but were not restricted to, the following:

i) Integration and synergy between marine sectoral policies, international conventions and agreements. For example, there was insufficient attention given to the potential synergy between policies and targets stemming from regional agreements such as OSPAR, Barcelona and HELCOM Conventions and international mechanisms such as the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC), and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

ii) The importance of the land-sea interface and implications for a more integrated approach to policy and management. For example, there was inadequate consideration of the need for change to agricultural policy and practice to address the influence of that sector and catchments on the marine environment, particularly the problem of marine eutrophication.

iii) Greater prominence to governance mechanisms, particularly sea use planning, to provide more efficient allocation of space for different activities whilst reducing conflict between activities and with wildlife and ensuring cross-sectoral issues such as cumulative effects weere taken account of. Such planning should be based on the scale of the EU large marine ecosystems (e.g. Baltic Sea, North Sea, Northeast Atlantic, Iberian Atlantic Region, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea).

iv) In view of the impacts suffered by the marine environment, for example the pervasive and long-term effects of fishing, there was an urgent need to explore mechanisms to enable recovery, as well as maintenance, of European marine ecosystems and biodiversity. In particular, consideration needed to be given to a European network of marine protected areas (coastal and oceanic) which did not rely solely on the Birds and Habitats Directives to meet international targets within the international agreements referred to herein. This should incorporate more effective means of regulating extractive use such as fishing, through the inclusion of no-take areas.

v) Strengthen the scientific basis for management and policy making, not only through better integration of large scale marine research and monitoring programmes within the EU (such as an enlarged European Global Ocean Observing System) but also through more effective management models based on forecasting systems and best practice by relevant stakeholders. However, unless there was the political will to actually take account of the evidence, in view of the principles referred to above and the experience of, for example, implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy, a strengthened scientific base would not in itself bring improvements across the full range of marine sectors.

vi) Encouragement to implement adequate and effective actions for increasing public awareness and understanding of marine issues amongst the stakeholders, and at all levels, together with the required institutional adjustments.

These concerns and recommendations were sent to the EU Presidency in June 2003.

Download letter to EU Presidency on EU Marine Strategy

The WG Marine decided to scrutinize the Commission document and to elaborate a statement by the end of 2003. The next meeting took take place on 8th October in Florence in the course of the 11th EEAC Annual Conference.

The WG Marine believed that the EU Marine Strategy needed to include ambitious, clear and coherent objectives. In November 2003, the WG Marine sent a letter to the Head of Unit Water, the Marine and Soil, Mr Patrick Murphy, laying out their matters of interest on the Marine Strategy for Europe that are considered within the Group’s Terms of Reference.

Download letter addressed to Mr Patrick Murphy

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2002: Integrated Coastal Zones Management

Chairman: Carlos Reis, Portuguese Council for the Environment and Sustainable Development ( CNADS) 

The WG Marine held its first workshop on 8-9 March 2002 in Lisbon, hosted by the Portuguese CNADS who also chaired the group at that time. The focus here was Integrated Coastal Zone Management, including the consideration of the proposal for a "Recommendation concerning the implementation of ICZM in Europe" (COM(2001) 533 final). A statement "Towards the Sustainable Development of the European Coastal Zone - Statement of the EEAC Working Group on the EU Integrated Coastal Zone Management Policy", was discussed and circulated in the EEAC network.

Download the WG Statement "Towards the Sustainable Development of the European Coastal Zone

It was planned to focus with the second workshop on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy and the EU Strategy to Protect and Conserve the Marine Environment [COM(2002)539] early in 2003. Details were discussed at the working group meeting in Kilkenny in October 2002. Brief assessments of the Commission's proposals from 28.05.02 and from 2.10.2002, respectively, are available at the EEAC Office.

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Last update: 28 October 2008