Oceana has since 2010 conducted three expeditions in the Baltic Sea and Kattegat area and have, based on the finding of these expeditions, proposed 13 marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Baltic Sea and the Kattegat.
The Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM) hosted a national stakeholder meeting yesterday to discuss and collect input from stakeholders on SwAMs recently released draft report on marine spatial planning for Swedish waters. More work is needed how to integrate the marine spatial planning with other directives and policies already in place.
Some of the key issues discussed when representatives of the (Regional) Advisory Councils met with the Commission where the landing obligation, the omnibus regulation and the consultation on a new technical measures framework. It became clear that there is a widespread disappointment with the omnibus proposal among stakeholders.
Marine mammals, including the endangered North Atlantic right whale, use sound for navigation, communication as well as locate food – seismic blasts caused by the airguns may disrupt these behaviours and possibly deafen these animals.
Earlier this morning Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB) launched a detailed report where they reviewd the Baltic Sea EU member states work on implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).
Last week the Permanent Representatives Committee approved a draft directive establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning, which is aimed at contributing to sustainable growth of maritime economies and the sustainable development of marine areas.
The HOPE conference aimed to discuss, based on Article 12, the progress made since the adoption of the MSFD. The conclusions from the review is clear – there is a lack of common understanding of what GES really is about, poor level of implementation together with targets that often are weak and non-measurable. Despite Article 12 clear message only a hand full of speakers brought it up as if they been asked not to touch upon these failures.
Last week the GAP 2* meeting “Putting science into regionalization: Participatory approaches in the new regionalized CFP” was held in Brussels. Main topics discussed were how relevant knowledge can be developed, accessed and deployed in a regional context.
ICES new Strategic Plan presents the direction ICES will take over the next five years based on the background of a rapidly changing marine science and policy landscape.
Poor implementation, poor coordination, poor integration. This, in a nutshell, is the Commission’s view of progress in implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) so far. NGOs are dismayed by the low level of ambition most countries take on achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) of their marine waters in 2020, the overarching goal of the Directive.