Marine Protection is Inadequate, Warns EU Experts

katherine.weingartner@ecologic.eu — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 13:30:49 +0000

According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), the current EU network of marine protection areas is lacking in representation and ecological coherence. Failing to meet the UN Convention on Biological Diversity's original global goal to have 10% of seas be named as Marine Protection Areas (MPAs) by 2012, only 5.9% of European seas met this goal in 2013. The 2012 goal has since been extended to 2020.

The European Commission sited "enormous progress" in designating MPAs up until 2012 with many being added since. It went on to assure that 10% coverage by 2020 was possible in a progress report on MPAs. However, the EEA stressed that issues with representation and ecological coherence within the European MPA network cause these MPAs to be misaligned with the goals of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).

Some measures for improvement have been put forth. Though controversial, the EEA believes that a fishing ban in MPAs would be "very effective" and thus should be considered. Proper management and enforcements of MPAs also needs to be prioritized. One option to do so is to extend MPA protection from a certain habitat or species to all ecosystem features. Additionally, Member States should be held accountable for MPA mismanagement by the Commission.

The Commission will "develop an EU methodology for the assessment of MPA network coherence and representativeness" while facilitating greater knowledge of MSFD provisions.

For more information, see:

EEA report

http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/marine-protected-areas-in-europes

and press release, Commission paper

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/marine/eu-coast-and-marine-policy/implementation/pdf/marine_protected_areas.pdf

AQUACROSS - Marine Strategy Framework Directive

Marine Protection is Inadequate, Warns EU Experts