Brussels, 25/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki will present a new maritime strategy for growth and jobs in the Atlantic Ocean area, in Lisbon on Monday 28 November. This strategy, adopted by the European Commission on Friday 25 November, identifies challenges and opportunities in the region and takes stock of existing initiatives that can support growth and job creation. The strategy will be implemented through an Action Plan in 2013.
The Commission calls on stakeholders to help design concrete projects which would be able to benefit from EU funding. The Commission will facilitate the development of this Action Plan through a series of workshops and discussion groups that will be open to a wide array of participants - the “Atlantic Forum”. The new strategy follows similar strategies for the Baltic, the Arctic and the Mediterranean areas.
The Atlantic Ocean has high potential for wind, wave and tidal energy. It is estimated that, by 2020, around 20% of Europe's offshore wind capacity could be located in the Atlantic region. Sea-bed mining could help meet some of the EU's demand for raw materials. Offshore aquaculture is a promising sector, and one third of all the fish caught by the EU's fishing fleet is landed in the Atlantic ports. (LC/transl.rt)