Integrated Maritime Policy Research Articles

Revision of the EU's Integrated Maritime Policy: an Opportunity for Developing Maritime Power ?

Revision of the EU's Integrated Maritime Policy: an Opportunity for Developing Maritime Power ?

Africa Integrated Maritime Policy, blue growth and a new ocean governance: case studies from the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean

Integrated maritime and blue economy policies are changing ocean governance by introducing new policy drivers, reshaping institutional frameworks, as well as demanding new management instruments (e.g., Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP)). This started in 2007 though the European Union Integrated Maritime Policy approach, and in 2009 the Africa Union initiated a similar process, leading both to the Africa integrated maritime strategy as well as a blue economy strategy. Several countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, began to look to blue economy as a booster to socioeconomic welfare and initiated the development of national strategies, together with the necessary adaptation of institutional and legal networks. Case studies address those processes at the transition from the Atlantic to the Indian Oceans, focusing on Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, as well as several African Small Islands Developing States (SIDS), particularly Cape Verde, S. Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, Madagascar and Mauritius. Findings show that all countries covered in the case studies are developing national ocean and/or blue economy strategies and adapting their governmental, institutional, and legal frameworks, although there is a deeper political impact in SIDS. Overall, these new policy drivers are leading to a new model of ocean governance by addressing integrated maritime policies and blue growth strategies, as well as introducing MSP as a new EEZ governance tool.

Comparative analysis of National Ocean Strategies of the Atlantic Basin countries

In 2007 the European Union (EU) launched the Blue Book introducing the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) for the sustainable growth of the coastal regions of Member States. The IMP has several cross-cutting areas of intervention such as the Blue Growth Strategy, Maritime Spatial Planning, and Strategies for maritime basins. To ensure this policy’s implementation, the European Commission requested its coastal members to develop integrated maritime strategies. Furthermore, within the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, it is also a priority of the EU to ensure compliance with the 2030 Agenda, in particular the SDG14. This study focuses on countries from the Atlantic Basin, namely France, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and the UK (before Brexit) comparing key priorities and objectives of national ocean strategies of these countries and how they match IMP guidelines and the 2030 Agenda. The results show that one of the main focuses of these strategies is the mitigation and adaptation to climate change and nature conservation. On the other hand, desalination, exploration and prospection of oil and gas are the socioeconomic sectors of smaller significance. This study also demonstrated that Spain and UK’s ocean strategies cannot be considered as a national ocean strategy in the IMP concept. The national ocean strategy of Ireland was introduced almost 10 years ago, therefore can be considered outdated in several dimensions. France and Portugal are the only countries whose national ocean strategies are aligned with the objectives of the Atlantic Action Plan and the only ones that truly follow the guidelines of the EU Integrated Maritime Policy.

EU Integrated Maritime Policy and Multilevel Governance

EU Integrated Maritime Policy and Multilevel Governance

Guvernanța și securitatea maritimă – abordarea Uniunii Europene

At the level of European leadership in Brussels, it has been developed, based on preserving and affirming the European culture and civilisation, the idea of creating the conceptual and actional premises for “Europe ad integrum” to represent a “maritime force”. In this context, the Integrated Maritime Policy is a comprehensive approach to all European Union maritime and related policies. Basically, the Integrated Maritime Policy is the European Union’s response to develop the sustainable implementation of maritime governance, a concept in which maritime security plays a key role. This paper deals with the principles of maritime policies formulated at European Union level, which, in conjunction with the provisions of the European Union Maritime Security Strategy and Action Plan, form the European concept of maritime governance and security.

Governance and Maritime Security. The European Union’s Approach

At the level of European leadership in Brussels, it has been developed, based on preserving and affirming the European culture and civilisation, the idea of creating the conceptual and actional premises for “Europe ad integrum” to represent a “maritime force”. In this context, the Integrated Maritime Policy is a comprehensive approach to all European Union maritime and related policies. Basically, the Integrated Maritime Policy is the European Union’s response to develop the sustainable implementation of maritime governance, a concept in which maritime security plays a key role. This paper deals with the principles of maritime policies formulated at European Union level, which, in conjunction with the provisions of the European Union Maritime Security Strategy and Action Plan, form the European concept of maritime governance and security.

Public preferences for policy intervention to protect public health from maritime activities: A 14 European country study

Marine ecosystems provide a wide range of goods and services that directly and indirectly benefit economies and support human health and wellbeing. However, these ecosystems are vulnerable to anthropogenic influences such as climate change, pollution and habitat destruction. The European Union (EU) recognises the role of the blue economy in providing jobs and contributing to economic growth, with the EU Integrated Maritime Policy being a cross-sectoral framework within which maritime activities are managed and coordinated. Sustainability is a central tenet, ensuring that sectors such as aquaculture and offshore wind energy, which are earmarked for growth, must develop in ways that do not negatively impact the health of the marine environment. However, there is currently little consideration of how these activities might impact public health. The current research used survey data from 14 European countries to explore public perceptions of these issues, broadly focusing on 10 maritime activities, with a specific focus on five activities related to the EU’s 2012 Blue Growth Strategy. The respondents appreciated the interconnections between these maritime activities, environmental protection and public health, as well as the potential trade-offs. Preferences for policy intervention to protect public health from different activities were predicted by both marine contact (marine sector employment, recreational activities) and socio-demographic (political attitudes, gender, age) variables, potentially aiding future engagement and communication initiatives. Substantive differences observed across countries in terms of policy preferences for different activities, however, warn against generalising for the European population as a whole.

The Blue Growth Challenge to Maritime Governance

In 2006 the European Union (EU) began a dramatic change in its conception and approach to maritime policy. By developing what was called Integrated Maritime Policy, there was an attempt to coordinate different sectorial policies and thus adding value, through synergies and economies of scale. At the same time, and as a result of scientific and technological advances, five strategic sectors with great growth potential were identified: aquaculture, renewable energies, blue biotechnology, deep sea mining, and nautical tourism. These were the pillars for the Blue Growth Strategy, leading to more jobs and global economic growth. This trend quickly spread to other continents, universalising the concept of blue growth. However, the growing competition for maritime space, due to new uses, led to the realisation that along with the need to ensure confidence and stability for investors, it would be imperative to develop new planning and management instruments for these spaces. During this process, governments quickly realised that this evolution, which had the potential for far reaching economic and social impacts, required a new institutional framework adapted to this new reality, which would end up having an impact on the governments structure itself. We have witnessed, particularly during the last decade, a profound conceptual change in the governance of maritime space. The design of new political, legal, institutional, and governmental frameworks, which are introducing a new model of maritime and marine governance at a global scale, are probably the most critical one since World War II. This article develops this analysis, based on several examples, both in the EU as well as in other countries outside the bloc, particularly those surrounding the Atlantic, in order to demonstrate that the drive towards a blue economy triggered a profound and deep change in marine policies and governance.

Modeling Small Scale Impacts of Multi-Purpose Platforms: An Ecosystem Approach

Aquaculture and marine renewable energy are two expanding sectors of the Blue Economy in Europe. Assessing the long-term environmental impacts in terms of eutrophication and noise is a priority for both the EU Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and cumulative impacts will be important for the Maritime Spatial Planning under the Integrated Maritime Policy. With the constant expansion of aquaculture production, it is expected that farms might be established further offshore in more remote areas, as high-energy conditions offer an opportunity to generate more power locally using Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) devices. A proposed solution is the co-location of MRE devices and aquaculture systems using Multi-Purpose Platforms (MPPs) comprising offshore wind turbines (OWTs) that will provide energy for farm operations as well as potentially shelter the farm. Disentangling the impacts, conflicts and synergies of MPP elements on the surrounding marine ecosystem is challenging. Here we created a high-resolution spatiotemporal Ecospace model of the West of Scotland, in order to assess impacts of a simple MPP configuration on the surrounding ecosystem and how these impacts can cascade through the food web. The model evaluated the following specific ecosystem responses: (i) top-down control pathways due to distribution changes among top-predators (harbor porpoise, gadoids and seabirds) driven by attraction to the farming sites and/or repulsion/killing due to OWT operations; (ii) bottom-up control pathways due to salmon farm activity providing increasing benthic enrichment predicated by a fish farm particle dispersal model, and sediment nutrient fluxes to the water column by early diagenesis of organic matter (recycled production). Weak responses of the food-web were found for top-down changes, whilst the results showed high sensitivity to increasing changes of bottom-up drivers that cascaded through the food-web from primary producers and detritus to pelagic and benthic consumers, respectively. We assessed the sensitivity of the model to each of these impacts and the cumulative effects on the ecosystem, discuss the capabilities and limitations of the Ecospace modeling approach as a potential tool for marine spatial planning and the impact that these results could have for the Blue Economy and the EU’s New Green Deal.

INSTITUTIONAL-COGNITIVE AND NONLINEAR SCIENTIFIC FUNDAMENTALS OF INNOVATIVE "SMART"-SPECIALIZATION OF THE MARITIME ECONOMIC COMPLEX

Topicality. In the twentieth century, there was an active discussion about the structure of the innovation process as a single period of scientific knowledge - from the promotion of ideas and hypotheses to the introduction of products to market. The beginning of the discussion of this issue was the work of S. Klein and N. Rosenberg "The positive sum strategy: Harnessing technology for economic grown". They described and criticized the classical linear model of innovation, based on the idea that the development of science is based on basic research, which then finds its continuation in applied research. Directive 2014/89 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the creation of a framework for the planning of maritime spaces states: "Maritime spatial planning is intended to organize the management of activities in marine and ocean areas and the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources . The European Parliament and the Council of the EU adopted the document on 23 July 2014. It officially entered into force on 18 September 2014. The Directive allows each EU country to plan its own maritime activities, but the planning process - nationally, regionally or locally - is compatible with EU law. implementation and minimum general requirements. Realization of the purpose of work causes the following tasks of research: to define the basic categories and concepts of "blue economy" and features of the economic mechanism of ecological regulation as preconditions of sustainable development; to develop ways to implement the integrated maritime policy of the European Union; to determine the impact of the approaches of the integrated maritime policy of the European Union on the institutional transformation of the maritime economic complex of Ukraine; to offer institutional-cognitive and nonlinear scientific principles of innovative "SMART" -specialization of the maritime complex; to propose approaches to the formation of institutional foundations for the implementation of Maritime Spatial Planning for Ukraine as a leading innovation in marine nature management. Aim and tasks. The purpose of this work is to analyze the institutional support of innovative practices in the management of greening of the maritime sector of Ukraine, based on the implementation of the environmental component of nonlinear approaches to SMART-specialization in the structure of Maritime Spatial Planning. Research results. After analyzing the current processes, the methodology of maritime spatial planning (MSP) focuses on reproducing a comprehensive picture of the spatial impact of the synergy of maritime sectors. In the future, the methodology focuses on updating the data over the medium term and taking into account possible future trends in the development of sectors of the maritime economy, including changes in the industrial structure and the growth of technological progress. MSP is focused not only on minimizing current stakeholder conflicts, but also on preventing such conflicts in the future. The development of a "maritime vision" or "desired scenario" should play a role in shaping the overall understanding of the future of maritime space, which should be supported by maritime spatial plans. On this basis, the development of a "vision" creates a common goal, agreed by all stakeholders, on what to strive for in the maritime spatial plan. MSP makes extensive use of methods based on marine data: analytical, quantitative, qualitative and spatial. In the initial stages of the MSP process, more creative, nonlinear creative techniques are used. In some cases, the vision development process itself has proved more important than the final vision document or action plan, serving as a mechanism for involving stakeholders in cooperation, as well as facilitating dialogue on a common future. The use of nonlinear approaches helps to focus MSP, as well as provide a basis for the purposes of SMART specialization of maritime space. Conclusion. The paper shows that the Itzkowitz-Leidesdorf model formalizes the dynamic shifts in the structure of interactions of the three sectors (triple helix) that occur as a result of innovation and complexity of socio-economic systems and is a convenient tool for analyzing the institutional organization and specifics of social interactions. which innovation ecosystems and the innovation economy as a whole. Thus, the genetic connection of "quadro", "quinto-helix" method and SMART specialization is substantiated in the work. . The paper proves that overcoming the uncertainty of management factors due to cognitive mechanisms of interaction within the quinto - helix is the leading mechanism of innovative management of greening of the economy and sea spatial flooding in particular.

Contribution of an Integrated Maritime Policy to the Dialogue of Civilisations: The Asia-Pacific Case

Sustainable development of marine resources requires a robust national coastal and ocean policy and harmonization of environmental management systems in areas of overlapping interests among nations. This is becoming increasingly important in the efforts of governments worldwide. Critical issues related to the exploitation of natural resources and the degradation of marine ecosystems, coupled with global crosscutting environmental issues such as climate change and climate-related hazards, require forging cross-border cooperation and international consensus on ensuring ecosystem-based approach principles in marine management and maritime domain awareness and security as reflected in the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals. Increasing the scale of marine planning processes entails increased cooperation on humankind’s shared endowment of global oceans and interconnected marine systems. As a result, interactions across the world are multiplying, which intensifies the dialogue of civilisations. The following exploration of a roadmap for developing an Integrated Marine/Maritime Policy in the Asia-Pacific region reveals enhanced opportunities for maintaining environmental integrity and sustainability in transboundary areas while considering local, regional, and global socio-economic and environmental challenges. This is a science-policy analysis of the marine-related practices of the region under consideration. The key here is to improve environmental safety and strengthen global security because of coherent actions jointly adopted in a setting of mutual respect and unity by a shared purpose to create reliable foundations for sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region.

Blue governance: Sustainable port governance

This research presents a proposal for a study of governance from the perspective presented in the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) of the European Union, which seeks to provide coherence to the problems in the maritime sector through the coordination of all stakeholders in the maritime sector. The objective of this research is to identify the barriers and the problems that occur when a Member State tries to implement the Integrated Maritime Policy in the governmental organization of marine spaces. The challenge is to achieve ‘blue governance’ i.e.the activation of a network of cooperation between the different stakeholders of the port sectors so as to be able to integrate the different regional, national, European and international levels with the purpose of establishing a structured, systematic collaboration framework

Analysing the Feasibility of Establishing an Integrated Maritime Policy Amongst ASEAN Members

The Asia-Pacific region is vast, with diverse cultures and political systems, yet all countries are connected by the common resource, the seas. Through limited, shallow regionalization, and globalization in general, the sea links are becoming stronger and the exploitation of the seas is rising, forcing the sovereign states to cooperate in even more fields, from transport, to natural disaster early warning systems, to security, to fisheries. Whilst these individual areas are seeing a growth in cooperation agreements, the ASEAN region has yet to follow the European Union in establishing an integrated maritime policy that brings all industries that use the seas and oceans under one umbrella. The EU’s integrated policy encompasses transport, energy, fishing, tourism, and trade with a view to forging the sustainable use of the seas. This paper looks at the main reasons why ASEAN and its plus members are unlikely to establish an integrated maritime policy, namely the various territorial disputes across the region and the unwillingness to cede sovereignty that such an integrated policy demands. As such, this paper assumes that an integrated maritime policy in Asia is required, but alas is infeasible with the ASEAN Way.

Evaluating the ecological status of cold-water coral habitats using non-invasive methods: An example from Cassidaigne canyon, northwestern Mediterranean Sea

Cold-water coral ecosystems have been identified as vulnerable, but quantitative data on their conservation status is very limited. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) is the tool implemented by the European Union’s Integrated Maritime Policy to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) of marine waters by 2020. In this context, the aim of this study was to evaluate the Ecological Status of benthic habitats in Cassidaigne canyon, focusing in particular on cold-water coral habitats dominated by Madrepora oculata.Data were collected during the Videocor1 cruise (2017). Videos and photos collected during eight dives of the H-ROV Ariane were used to reconstruct, in 3-dimensions, the areas where cnidarians have settled in the canyon. A total of 33 3D models were built, which allowed measuring the spatial and vertical distribution, surface, density and size structure of cnidarian populations at four different sites. When 3D reconstructions were not possible, GIS tools were used. The seven cnidarian species considered were the scleractinian M. oculata; three antipatharians: Leiopathes glaberrima, Antipathella subpinnata, Antipathes dichotoma; and three aclyonaceans: the precious red coral Corallium rubrum and the gorgonians Callogorgia verticllata and Viminella flagellum.Using photogrammetry, we were able to reveal the size structure of the dense population of M. oculata in the canyon, as well as to obtain knowledge on a complex site (Cassis-200) composed of 15 knolls, and to quantify the surface occupied by M. oculata at a separate site (Cassis-500) influenced by industrial discharges. At the southern flank of the canyon we found a highly diverse site (SW Flank) dominated by antipatharians and gorgonians composing large forests, and finally a reservoir of M. oculata was identified under overhangs at a site called the Wall. The diversity of accompanying species is also reported and marine litter quantified. Images collected before 2017 were compared to the 3D models to precisely locate them on the sites, and assess temporal changes in M. oculata colony sizes at Cassis-200 site. We also report on the ground-truthing of predicted habitat maps produced previously, and confirm their good representation of the distribution of cold-water coral habitats. Finally, we quantified the criteria defined by the MSFD, aimed at evaluating the GES of benthic habitats for M. oculata ecosystems, at the scale of the Cassidaigne canyon. Measurements showed that the extent of loss of the observed M. oculata habitat reached 56% according to the MFSD definition.

Trends in Maritime Spatial Planning in Europe: An Approach to Governance Models

Maritime spatial planning is considered a key instrument for the success of integrated maritime policy. MSP is therefore an integrated approach to address the conflicting and competing uses of ocean resources and spaces in order to achieve the sustainable development of seas. This paper aims to access how governance models have been evolving with the implementation of MSP in Europe. The study compares institutional and legal frameworks in a North-South context, based on the case studies of Norway, Netherlands, England, Germany and Portugal and concludes that, although there are similarities in the legal frameworks developed to implement MSP, more profound differences arise on marine governance models and institutional frameworks, reflecting different political approaches and regional contexts.

Сучасні тенденції формування морської політики держав Cередземномор’я

The article is devoted to the coverage and the analysis of the main areas of the maritime policy of the Mediterranean states. The Mediterranean Sea is described as a strategic factor in European politics, historical, social and economic spaces. The trends of the modern Mediterranean dialogue are determined. Analyzing the maritime policy of the EU, the southern and the eastern Mediterranean, the main vectors of their development are identified. Some aspects of the EU’s integrated maritime policy, counteraction to narcotic drugs, maritime security, counteraction to illegal maritime migration, protection and prevention of pollution of the Mediterranean environment are considered. The directions of the naval policy of the non – European states of the region are singled out. In the North – African states, it is aimed at countering illegal migration to the EU and conducting naval exercises, while in the Middle East it focuses on the search and the redistribution of hydrocarbon deposits to ensure a stable supply of energy. It is noted that tensions in the implementation of the maritime policy of the states of the Mediterranean region are still in progress, that stipulated by the significant resource, transport and economic potential of the coastal countries, as well as the great social, cultural and religious contradictions that occur among their people. It is noted about the importance of searching for non-divergent aspects and building policies exclusively on a consumer component, but the development of common butt points of interaction and mutual cooperation in the most important spheres of social life – legal, economic, environmental – with the preservation of identity and positive civilizational memory of people and states constructed by them.

A supporting marine information system for maritime spatial planning: The European Atlas of the Seas

The European Atlas of the Seas is a web-based coastal and marine information system, originally aimed at the general public, but capable also of supporting non-specialist professionals in addressing environmental matters, human activities and management policies related to the sea. It is based on a combination of data (and metadata), which present a snapshot of both natural and socio-economic elements of coastal and marine regions in the European Union and its Outermost Regions. The first idea of a European Atlas of the Seas was set forward in 2007 with the launch of the Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union. Early work on the Atlas was conducted by the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs of the European Commission, while further development of system architecture, data collection, map services and descriptive text was assigned in 2013 to the Joint Research Centre, with the aim to offer new services and features, as well as the interaction with other available information tools. The present European Atlas of the Seas consists of background data layers designed to be displayed as map backdrop, as well as a number of thematic data layers, classified under 8 main categories: geography, nature, tourism, security and safety, people and employment, transport and energy, governance and European policies, fisheries and aquaculture. These can be used to compose customized maps, as user-defined ad hoc indicators, and to probe them with tools such as product-to-product correlations, or time series visualisation. Non-specialist professional users can use such analysis and interpretation capabilities to couple data into ecological and socio-economic indicators for a wide range of applications. The thematic map collection provided a common baseline that can be used by Member States of the European Union in getting started with the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive requirements. As this is seen as a pre-requisite for Blue Growth, the European Atlas of the Seas will help the sustainable use of marine ecosystem services and resources.

Is there a need for a new governance model for regionalised Fisheries Management? Implications for science and advice

Over the years, the breadth and depth of EU marine policy has increased with revisions of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and new legislation like the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) and the Framework for Marine Spatial Planning Directive in Europe (FMSP). Not only do these different policies have different remits and hence scope, they also present a multitude of modes of implementation. Although the CFP and MSFD have many common goals when it comes to conservation and sustainable use of living marine resources, they differ substantially in governance set up and implementation modalities, including the underlying scientific advisory processes and structures. Regional cooperation and coordination is foreseen, but there is no governance model in place to coordinate requests for scientific advice, nor institutions coordinating the activities of advice providers, either across policies or across regions. This results in an increase in uncoordinated requests for scientific advice yet the pool of experts fuelling the advisory system is limited. As a result the European marine scientific advisory system is increasingly under pressure. In this paper the consequences of this problem are analysed and a redesign of the institutional governance setting to accommodate these challenges and make the science and advice system ready for the future is explored.

The role of EMODnet Chemistry in the European challenge for Good Environmental Status

Abstract. The European Union set the ambitious objective to reach within 2020 the goal of Good Environmental Status. The European Commission (2008) represents the legislative framework that drives member state efforts to reach it. The Integrated Maritime Policy supported the need to provide a European knowledge base able to drive sustainable development by launching in 2009 a new European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). Through a stepwise approach, EMODnet Chemistry aims to provide high-quality marine environmental data and related products at the scale of regions and sub-regions defined by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The chemistry lot takes advantage and further develops the SeaDataNet pan-European infrastructure and the distributed approach, linking together a network of more than 100 National Oceanographic Data Centres providing data from more than 500 data originators. The close interaction with EEA, RSCs, ICES and EMODnet–MSFD coordination group facilitated the identification of the most appropriate set of information required for the MSFD process. EMODnet Chemistry provides aggregated and validated regional data collections for nutrients, dissolved gasses, chlorophyll, and contaminants, properly visualized with OGC WMS and WPS viewing services. Concentration maps with 10-year moving window from 1960 to 2014, by season and for selected vertical layers, are computed and made available.

Comparing the Integrated Maritime Policy of the European Union and the Oceans Policy of Canada

This contribution compares the European Union’s newly-adopted Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) to the integrated ocean policy of Canada, which in 1996 became the first country to declare that it had a full-scale integrated ocean policy. It can be presumed that the European Union (EU) can benefit from the Canadian ocean policy, both as a model to construct an integrated ocean policy as well as from the experience gained in Canada while implementing its ocean policy. This analysis focuses on the basic documents laying out integrated ocean policies in Canada and the European Union, respectively. First, however, it is important to examine in general the evolution of integrated ocean policies, which will assist in understanding the place of Canadian and EU integrated ocean policies in a larger trajectory.