European President Ursula von der Leyen introduced the European Ocean Pact at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice. The pact brings together the European Union’s policies and actions related to the ocean and creates a unified and coordinated plan for managing the ocean.
Europe has about 70,000 km coastline and 40% of its population live within 50 km of the sea. Maritime routes carry some 74% of the EU’s external trade, and underwater communication cables carry 99% of inter-continental internet traffic.
The EU blue economy (all the sectors related to the sea, including fisheries and aquaculture, shipping, coastal tourism, ports, marine renewable energy) directly supports nearly 5 million jobs and contributes over €250 billion in gross value added annually to the EU economy.
The pact announces the adoption of a proposal for an Ocean Act by 2027, as well as the establishment of an Ocean Board, gathering relevant stakeholders. It is built around six priorities:
- Restoring ocean health and productivity
- Boosting the sustainable competitiveness of the blue economy
- Supporting coastal and island communities
- Advancing ocean research, knowledge, and innovation
- Enhancing maritime security and resilience
- Strengthening EU Ocean diplomacy and international ocean governance
By 2027, the Commission will propose an Ocean Act, building upon a revised Maritime Spatial Planning Directive. It will strengthen and modernize maritime spatial planning through improved cross-sectoral coordination at national level and a more coordinated approach to managing seas basins, ensuring a more coordinated and sustainable use of marine resources
The Act will provide a single framework to facilitate the implementation of the Pact, while also reducing administrative burden. The Pact will also cut red tape by simplifying coordination processes and reducing reporting obligations for Member States. It will provide a clear strategy to implement existing legislations in a more cohesive and effective manner across different sectors.
In addition to the Ocean Act, key initiatives include:
- Establishing a high-level Ocean Board to support the effective implementation of the Ocean Pact.
- Launching a public “EU Ocean Pact Dashboard”, tracking the implementation and achievement of the Ocean Pact’s targets.
- Strengthening coastal communities’ resilience through EU financing and EIB loans, prioritizing support for small-scale fisheries and introducing a Blue Generational Renewal Strategy.
- Consulting and developing a strategy for islands and an updated strategy for outermost regions.
- Fostering sustainable aquaculture through a dedicated Initiative and promoting European blue carbon reserves and innovative business models for coastal communities.
- Implementing a coordinated strategy to remove unexploded ordnance in EU waters, starting in the Baltic and North Seas.
- Fostering a community of young ocean advocates through an EU Ocean Youth Ambassador Network
- Enhancing the fight against illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing through the mandatory implementation of digital catch certification and IT CATCH by January 2026.
The European Pact aims to position Europe as a global trend-setter in the sustainable blue economy, showing how environmental resilience goes hand-in-hand with economic opportunities. It aims to increase the EU’s competitiveness by supporting the development of sustainable and innovative industries, and by promoting the use of new technologies and tools to study and understand the ocean’s ecosystems.
By fostering innovation in sectors like renewable ocean energy, clean shipping, sustainable aquaculture, blue bioeconomy, underwater robotics and other emerging ocean sectors, the Pact contributes directly to Europe’s economic prosperity.
The EU will undertake a comprehensive evaluation and possible revision of the Common Fisheries Policy, as well as develop a Vision 2040 for fisheries and aquaculture. This complements the Vision for Agriculture and Food and aims to ensure a stable supply of sustainable and nutritious food for the EU market.
Key initiatives to support the development of fisheries and aquaculture include:
- Decarbonizing and modernizing the fisheries fleet, with support from the Energy Transition Partnership for the fisheries and aquaculture sector
- Prioritizing support for small scale fisheries
- Unlocking the potential of aquaculture through the establishment of an EU Initiative on Sustainable Aquaculture, involving various stakeholders such as Member States’ authorities, representatives of the aquaculture sector, research and innovation institutions, business accelerators, and financial institutions.
- Scaling up European algae production, which offers a promising opportunity for sustainable and nutritious food production
- Launching an EU-wide campaign in 2027 promoting the benefits and the value of EU-produced and sustainable aquatic food, and to raise awareness about the importance of sustainable seafood production.
- Leading by example, through its zero-tolerance approach to Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, based on dialogues with third countries the EU will promote sustainable fishing practices globally. A key tool in this effort will be the digital EU Catch Certification scheme (CATCH), which helps to prevent IUU fishery products from entering the EU market, thereby safeguarding its integrity and promoting a level playing field.
The Ocean Pact will launch an EU Coastal Communities Development and Resilience Strategy and a consultation to inform the development of an islands strategy and update the outermost regions strategy.
The EU will bolster coastal resilience and drive ecological, economic and social benefits by combining financing from structural and cohesion funds, Horizon initiatives (such as Mission Ocean programmes), complemented by EIB loans, to support coastal resilience investment.
It will also launch an EU Ocean Youth Ambassador Network, building on the success of the Youth4Ocean Forum. This network will provide a platform for young people to engage in ocean sustainability efforts, across the EU and globally. A new internship program under the EU4Ocean coalition will offer young people hands-on experience in jobs that contribute to a competitive and sustainable blue economy. This will not only equip young people with the skills necessary for future careers, but it will also promote a deeper understanding of the private sector’s impact on the marine environment and the importance of sustainable practices.
Another key outcome will be the operationalization of the European Digital Twin Ocean, a digital representation of the ocean and its multiple components. Its ambition is to make ocean knowledge readily available to citizens, entrepreneurs, scientists and policy-makers by providing them with an innovative set of user-driven, interactive and visualization tools. This knowledge will help design the most effective ways to restore marine and coastal habitats, support a sustainable blue economy, mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The Ocean Observation Initiative will be underpinned by a new European Ocean R&I Strategy, closely tied to the development of a robust EU marine knowledge framework. This framework will build on and further integrate the European Marine Observation and Data network (EMODnet) and the Copernicus Marine Services, which provide the EU with most advanced digital information services. These services include satellite data and predictive analytics for ocean conditions, offering unparalleled insights into global and European sea states.
The EU will notably prioritize swift ratification of the BBNJ Agreement, aim at an ambitious Global Plastics Treaty, and work on the designation of three vast marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean.
