Marine & Coastal Environment
In Europe, over one third of us live within 50 km of the coast while fish represent a quarter of our total protein intake. Coastal tourism is responsible for approximately 7% of all employment in Europe. However coastal areas are exposed to risks - over 30% of global oil shipments pass through European Mediterranean waters while 70% of Europe’s oil imports (or 20% of total world oil production) pass through Spanish and French coastal waters and through the English Channel. The North Sea accounts for over 7% of the total global oil production while there is increasing pressure from fish farming on European coasts - aquaculture constitutes 17% of the volume and 27% of the value of the total European fishery production.
European coastal and marine areas are extremely diverse –the Mediterranean is a semi-enclosed sea where evaporation exceeds precipitation and run-off, the North Sea has some of the strongest tidal currents in the world and the Baltic Sea is the largest brackish water system in the world.
European seas host a wide variety of ecosystems - the North Sea is one of the most productive areas in the world, with a wide range of plankton, fish, seabirds and benthic communities, while the Mediterranean has one of the richest biodiversity status of any marine areas, with almost 9% of the worlds marine species present. Europe’s seas are exposed to a wide range of environmental conditions including sea ice in the Baltic and Black Seas, coastal erosion and sediment transport. In addition, the European coast is exposed to urban waste, agricultural run-off and industrial pollution discharges.
The marine and coastal environment impacts directly on our health, our employment, our food and our leisure and quality of life. At European level, the marine and coastal environment is taken very seriously. The newly appointed European Commission has identified the marine environment as one of their main priorities and several new agencies have been set up in recent years. In addition, a host of new legislation has been put in place. These include new rules on marine pollution and tanker operations, coordinated by the European Maritime Safety Agency and an improved approach to management and control of European fisheries supported by a new European Fisheries Monitoring Centre. Further measures are currently in preparation, including a directive on the management of the marine environment and further legislation making operational oil discharges illegal in international waters adjacent to Europe’s coastal zone.
This is not a recent development. Coastal water quality has been a European priority for thirty years - directives on bathing water quality and water quality for areas where shellfish are farmed have been in force since 1976 and 1979 respectively, and new regulations and recommendations protecting water quality have been continuously issued since then. These include a directive on nitrates concentration, a directive on urban waste water treatment, a recommendation on Integrated Coastal Zone Management and an integrated approach to water quality management under the Water Framework Directive.
