EEB, Seas At Risk and their Greek member organisations - MedSoS, Elliniki Etairia, and Ecocity - co-organised a conference in Athens on “Could Blue Growth turn into Green?” The conference addressed the link between Blue Growth and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD.
Seas At Risk’s Belgian member organisations Natuurpunt and Sea First Federation are helping to organise an anti-trammel net campaign in Belgium, with a major beach rally planned for 1st May.
Directives, regulations and laws: the EU is at the forefront of laws to protect our natural environment. Consequently, in advance of elections the European Parliament on 23-25th May, Surfrider Foundation Europe is launching the “Vote for the ocean” campaign.
Brussels, 8th May 2014: As much as 80% of marine litter is from landbased sources; it therefore makes sense that to combat our marine debris problem, we need land based solutions.
Brussels, 16th April 2014 - Seas At Risk welcomes today’s vote by the European Parliament that will enable member states to ban plastic bags and that sets a strong target of 80% reduction in usage within five years.
This is a good first step towards preventing these damaging and wasteful items from entering our seas. The promotion of biodegradable bags, however will damage the overall effectiveness of the measure in tackling marine litter.
Brussels, 16th April 2014 - The European parliament adopted the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), concluding the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
Subject to adoption by Council on 6 May, the EMFF will begin to support the implementation of the CFP that was agreed in 2013.
London, 4th April 2014 – The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has abandoned the fixed start date of 2016 for the fitting on ships of advanced (Tier III) equipment for use in NOx emission control areas (NECAs), giving in to Russian political pressure and endangering the health of Europeans.
Brussels, 20-23rd March 2014 -- This week Surfrider Foundation Europe launched its 19th Ocean Initiative. After the success of last year’s campaign against single-use plastic bags, Surfrider decided to focus this year’s campaign further upstream and downstream. This served as an opportunity for Surfrider to convey the viewpoints of the growing number of citizens involved in the fight against marine litter to the national and European level. Ocean Initiatives are traditionally held on the first Spring weekend but are actually organised all year long, so it’s not too late to participate in our 2014 Ocean Initiatives! Raising awareness and getting the wider public involved 80% of marine litter comes from the land; for this reason, this year’s aim was to make people aware that an apparently harmless action like dropping litter on the ground, even in an urban space far from the sea, could have consequences for the marine environment. Each year the Ocean Initiatives bring together thousands of people from all over the world. The aim of these beach and inland litter collections is to raise awareness among the wider public about the great quantities of marine litter found along our coasts and in the oceans. This involvement of citizens gives more weight to Surfrider’s lobbying efforts to improve existing regulations and fight against marine litter in Europe. Humans: the source and solution of pollution on the coast and in the oceans Almost 6.5 billion kilos of plastic litter is poured into the oceans every year. Although the litter comes from many sources, this pollution does have one thing in common: humans. Our consumption and production patterns are the chief cause of today’s pollution on the coasts and in the oceans; it is therefore up to us to act. These Ocean Initiatives are an opportunity for each one of us to get as involved as we can by organising or taking part in a litter collection action near our homes. Surfrider helps facilitate these actions by sending educational kits to organisers to help them with their collection. Surfrider wants to go even further this year and bring a more scientific angle to the litter collection days - organisers are therefore invited to complete a report form after each collection using the existent quantification guidelines, in order to help Surfrider to establish the full picture of litter found on different coastlines like last year. If you would like to find out more about Surfrider and Ocean Initiatives: www.initiativesoceanes.org Facebook Blog
Seas at Risk is joining with a number of other organisations to issue a joint statement to alert MEPs on the Environment Committee to specific issues they have identified with the Draft ENVI Report and ongoing negotiations within the ENVI committee.
Brussels, March 10th 2014 - Seas at Risk is joining with a number of other organisations to issue a joint statement to alert MEPs on the Environment Committee to specific issues they have identified with the Draft ENVI Report and ongoing negotiations within the ENVI committee.
Brussels, 3-4 March 2014 -- Seas At Risk attended the Healthy Oceans - Productive Ecosystems (HOPE) conference in Brussels at the start of March.
The conference, organised by the European Commission’s directorate for Environment, focused on the progress on the implementation of the 2008 Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), and brought together numerous NGOs and other stakeholders from all the EU member states.
Brussels, 20th February 2014. 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.
Brussels, 29th January 2014 --- European policy makers have reached a political agreement for the future of EU fisheries subsidies, setting aside approximately €6.5 billion in the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) that will support the EU’s fisheries sector until 2020.
The EMFF will support implementing the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) that was agreed in 2013.
Brussels, 24th January 2014 – The new draft ‘Polar Code’ of safety and environmental rules fails to address the looming danger of having non ice-strengthened and poorly prepared ships in supposedly ‘ice-free’ polar waters, environmental organisations have warned.
In yesterday‘s plenary session MEPs agreed on the conclusions of a Parliamentary report (1) and voted in favour of the development of a European strategy on plastic waste in the environment. MEPs recognised the dangers of current plastic consumption and the resulting harmful effects on the marine environment, as highlighted previously by the European Commission.
The 66th session of the International Maritime Organisation’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC66) this April will see further attempts by industry and countries that support industry by providing “flags of convenience” (ie: countries who allow vessels to use their flags without much control) to undermine the implementation of important ship air pollution agreements.
Brussels, 9th January 2014 - Advanced emissions monitoring of large ships calling at EU ports could help save owners and operators of large ships up to €9 million/year, according to a new study [1] published jointly by Seas At Risk and Transport & Environment.
A number of important developments in 2013 have opened the way for the possibility of substantial progress on the development of International Maritime Organisation (IMO)green-house gases (GHG) measures for existing ships in 2014.
Brussels, 18th December 2013. Fisheries Ministers yesterday evening agreed surprisingly fast on fishing opportunities for European fish stocks in 2014, but failed in many cases to follow scientific advice.
The Ministers’ decisions will see 27 stocks harvested according to maximum sustainable yield (MSY) in 2014, bringing this up to 30 stocks in 2015. This shows some progress, compared to the 25 in 2013, but given that all stocks in EU waters should be managed according to MSY from 2015 on, much remains to be done.
Brussels, 12th December 2013 -- On the 14th anniversary of the 'Erika' shipwreck and four years after the adoption of the Erika III Package, Surfrider issued a ‘White Paper on Maritime Safety’ to provide food for thought on the need to bring about a new legislative package on maritime safety in Europe.
In the wake of the Prestige oil tanker disaster off the coast of Galicia in 2002, Surfrider Foundation Europe (SFE) decided to focus on the fight against pollution from maritime transport. For over 10 years, Surfrider has been protecting European coastlines through its programme to prevent accidental water pollution, through its lobbying of public decision-makers and by developing its legal action strategy against discharges by vessels.
On a European and international level, numerous laws and regulations have been adopted to make maritime transport safer. Unfortunately, these are all too often the result of an environmental disaster.
In November 2012, SFE published a report on maritime safety in Europe, aimed at maritime transport stakeholders and at the general public. The goal of the report was to highlight the shortcomings and discrepancies in existing law, and to encourage all concerned parties to be more proactive with regards to the risks. The report was approved by the European Commission and has been consulted by more than 2,500 people. It is available for download in English, French and Spanish at www.prestige10th.com.
On 22 and 23 November 2012, to mark the tenth anniversary of the sinking of the Prestige, SFE organised a transnational conference on maritime safety. NGOs, scientific and legal experts and representatives of local communities who have suffered maritime pollution were given the opportunity to shed light on the topic and share their expertise. The event was one of the first in the process of informing a new legislative package on maritime safety in Europe. Following on from the previous ‘Erika packages’ (EU legislation on oil transport safety), Surfrider has initiated an enhanced dialogue with the various stakeholders, in particular with the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions.
Based on the recommendations resulting from the November 2012 conference, several think tanks and editorial working groups were formed in order to participate in the drawing up of a white paper on maritime safety. The aim of the draft ‘towards an Erika IV package’ is to put maritime safety back on the European agenda.
This initiative would only be the starting point of a pan-European project, which would involve member states’ authorities, the European Parliament and Commission, and the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds. One of the main objectives is to achieve greater consideration of ecological factors.
The white paper deals with four separate topics: consideration of ecological priorities; consideration of human factors; emerging risks; and the idea of a European flag for shipping.
You can see the current white Paper on Maritime Safety from SFE here here. It is also available in French.
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