Marine Strategy Directive

The Commission proposal is a long-overdue and welcome step towards legally binding targets and deadlines to halt and reverse the dramatic decline and deterioration of Europe's marine environment. As it stands, the draft Directive sets out a framework for the development of national strategies, aimed at achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) in the marine environment by 2021 at the latest.


The Directive foresees that measures be taken at regional level within three distinct marine regions - the Baltic sea, the North East Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean sea. Each coastal state in the EU would have to develop a marine strategy for its European marine waters. In doing so, it may co-operate with other coastal states, using existing structures such as the Regional Marine Conventions.


The Commissions proposal is a long-overdue and welcomed step towards legally binding targets and deadlines to halt and reverse the dramatic decline and deterioration of Europe's marine environment. Regrettably, however, it falls far short of expectations and fails to establish the overarching framework needed to apply an ecosystem approach to the management of Europe's seas. The Commission was charged with developing legislation that would amongst others:

Recommendations

Regrettably, however, the draft Directive fails to establish the overarching framework that is needed to apply an ecosystem approach to the management of Europe's seas. To meet the ambitious targets that were set and to serve as an implementing tool of regional and international commitments to protect the marine environment, Greenpeace recommends that the proposal is amended to ensure that:

• all EU Member States take collective responsibility by committing jointly to restore, maintain and protect the marine environment within and beyond Community waters with the overall aim of achieving biologically diverse and dynamic oceans and seas that are safe, clean, healthy and productive now and in future;

• the proposal contains a clear vision of what constitutes a healthy marine environment, rather than defer this decision to a later date;

• in preparing strategies or action plans for achieving Good Environmental Status (GES), Member States produce a single marine strategy per marine region (or sub-region) rather than individual national strategies;

• all EU Member States are obliged to achieve GES and to improve the health of Europe's seas, with a particular onus on coastal states. Simply obliging them to draw up national strategies 'designed to achieve good environmental status' is not enough;

• provisions are introduced that embed the objectives of the Directive into all relevant EC policies, thus helping to consolidate measures and clarify interactions between the Directive and other EC law, to ensure that GES can be achieved in the context of other policies such as the Common Fisheries Policy; and

• the Directive makes more of existing laws and raises the bar on marine protection, consistent with international commitments and the recommendation of the UN Millennium Project to protect large-scale marine reserves.

Greenpeace is particularly concerned that the proposed Directive misses the opportunity to acknowledge and build on the advice of:

1. the World Parks Congress, which recommended in 2003 that "networks should be extensive and include strictly protected areas that amount to at least 20-30% of each habitat".
2. the United Nations Millennium Project, which in 2005 called for 10% of the oceans to be covered by Marine Reserves in the short to medium term, with a long-term goal of 30%.

As a minimum, the Directive should include provisions for the use of large-scale marine reserves as a mandatory component of regional marine protection.

Greenpeace is working within a coalition of environmental organisations to ensure that a future EU marine law incorporates all of the above.