With Ocean Week (30 September to 4 October 2024) taking centre stage in Brussels, 138 organisations have called on the newly-elected EU institutions to take a series of bold measures to stop the Union’s ocean and coastlines being pushed to the brink, including launching an Ocean Fund and proposing new legislation to ban destructive activities at sea.
Launched at the European Parliament on 1 October, the Blue Manifesto – led by BirdLife Europe and Central Asia, ClientEarth, Oceana, Seas At Risk, Surfrider Foundation Europe and WWF – advocates for an Ocean Deal that places ocean health at the heart of EU decision-making. It comes after the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged to create a “European Ocean Pact” in July as she was re-appointed for a new term.
In a statement, the the NGOs said: “The ocean is vital for food, health, wellbeing and livelihoods. It covers 70% of the world’s surface, acts as a vital carbon sink, mitigates climate change, regulates the weather patterns and produces oxygen. But Europe’s seas are at a tipping point, having been overexploited due to the relentless pursuit of “blue growth”. That’s why, this Ocean Week, we launch the Blue Manifesto – our step-by-step roadmap to a healthy ocean backed by 140 organisations.
“The announcement of a European Ocean Pact marks a step in the right direction from the EU. However, aligning the pact with the policy roadmap outlined in the Blue Manifesto will be crucial to ensuring meaningful, long-term ocean protection, as will proper funding to support it. There is no time to waste – if we don’t want an ocean that’s polluted and degraded, the EU must implement the measures outlined in this manifesto without delay.”
The NGOs highlight the European Environment Agency’s assertion that more than 90% of Europe’s marine area is under pressure from human activities, including intensive fishing, shipping, oil and gas drilling, tourism and other coastal activities.
They added that destructive practices such as bottom trawling continue in 90% of EU offshore marine protected areas (MPAs), and more than 14 million tonnes of plastic still enter the ocean each year.
The Blue Manifesto includes calls on the EU to:
- Use its money more wisely, for example by:
- Removing all subsidies that are harmful to the marine environment and redirecting resources towards an EU Ocean fund
- Increasing resources for compliance and enforcement units to address marine-related legislation violations
- Improve ocean governance, for example by:
- Establishing an EU Ocean and Seas Agency that issues regular reports on the environmental and climate status of the ocean
- Introducing a framework for the traceability and labelling of all seafood products in the EU
- Ensuring proper implementation and enforcement, in line with the priorities outlined in the Commissioner Mission Letters
- Ensure effective marine protection, for example by:
- Proposing a ban on destructive activities, including bottom trawling, in all EU MPAs
- Proposing new legislation with binding 2030 targets for the effective protection and management of at least 30% of EU seas, including at least 10% under strict protection, by 2030
- Proposing new legislation to restrict the import and trade of aquatic food products that cause harm to endangered species and bycatch of sensitive species
The Blue Manifesto follows the recent appointment of Costas Kadis as European Commissioner-designate for Fisheries and Oceans. The six NGOs leading on the manifesto have shared concerns that the mission letter addressed to Kadis by President von der Leyen failed to provide concrete plans to achieve a healthy ocean.
The Blue Manifesto was first launched in 2020. Each year since, the six NGOs have tracked the EU’s progress in delivering a healthy and climate-resilient ocean by 2030.
