On Thursday, the European Union presented its strategy to improve ocean protection, in its endeavor to show its leadership role before the Ocean conference, which is organized by the United Nations in the French city of Nice next week.
European Commissioner Costas Kadis stressed that “the ocean is witnessing a rise in temperatures, its level is high, and its acid increases. The pollution caused by plastic, chemicals and noise negatively affects marine ecosystems, and urgent measures are needed.”
The European Plan on the oceans stipulated the promotion of the rules to protect these ecosystems in the coming years. Non -governmental and environmental organizations have shown fears that “immediate” measures were not taken in this field.
The European Union, within the plan, will propose on the ocean by 2027, which will be presented to the members of the European Parliament. To better protect biological diversity, the European Commission intends to review two laws on the marine environment and planning the marine space.
The UNHCR has also pledged to create “European Blue Carbon reserves”, as the European Union aims to survey marine environmental systems capable of detaining and expanding carbon dioxide.
To combat pollution, the Commission intends to enhance the Cleansenet system, or the seas cleaning network, for satellite monitoring, which wipes the seas to monitor any potential oil leaks, but a recent report issued by the European Accounting Bureau showed significant deficiencies in this system.
In the period between 2022 and 2023, member states responded to less than half of the alerts, and confirmed that there was pollution in only 7% of cases. This is often due to the time difference between taking the satellite image and inspection time at sea.
In the context of the plan, the European Union seeks to enhance the fight against illegal fishing. As previously announced, IT Catch will become a mandatory fish importer to the European Union in January 2026.
UNHCR also intends to provide what it called a “long -term vision” for fish fisheries and aquaculture in 2026.
A preliminary draft of this “plan” was leaked in mid -May, disappointment among environmental organizations that it considered to be cordoned, and denounced the absence of any “concrete measures to address the most urgent threats”, referring to ocean pollution.
Environmental and climate organizations, such as “Surfrider”, “WWF”, “WWF” and “Clientearth” and “Oceana” and “Oceana” to an immediate ban on fishing with a ritual preposition, which is a fishing technology that causes criticism of its destructive environmental impact.
But this issue, which is sensitive to many member states, provokes a division between the political forces, as it calls for the right and the center to follow a policy based on the study of “each case separately”.
Within its new strategy, the European Union promises to pay special attention to “small fishermen” and “weak coastal societies”. Brussels stresses the importance of the sea in the daily life of Europeans, about 40% of them live 50 km from the coast.
What is known as the blue economy provides approximately 5 million jobs in the Union, and contributes to more than 250 billion euros (286 billion dollars) in the annual GDP of the European bloc.
Ironically, the European Union still imports 70% of the seafood consumed by Europeans. This occurs while the ocean faces increasing pressure due to climate change and pollution.
It is noteworthy that the ocean conference is an integrated platform to discuss all issues related to the oceans and find solutions to them, which combines governments, NGOs and the private sector.