Brussels, 29/08/2012 (Agence Europe) - The oceans and seas of the EU offer new perspectives for growth and jobs and in order to make the best use of this potential, it is vital to get to know better what goes on under the sea. This is why the European Commission on Wednesday 29 August proposed the creation of a digital map of the seabeds of the European waters by 2020. It makes this suggestion in a Green Paper on knowledge of the marine environment, adopted the same day. This document launches a consultation which will run until 15 December 2012, asking a number of questions, such as: "How can ongoing efforts in member states be incorporated into a common EU effort?", "How can cheaper observation technologies be developed?" and "How can the private sector contribute?".
The new digital multi-resolution map of the seabeds of the European waters should be of the highest resolution possible and cover topography, geology, habitats and ecosystems. It should be accompanied by access to timely observations and information on the physical, chemical and biological state of the water column, accompanied by associated data on the impact of human activities and oceanographic forecasts, the Commission explains in a press release. All of this information should be easily accessible, interoperable and free of restrictions on use. The system should be designed in such a way as to allow the countries of the EU to get the most out of their observation, sampling and surveying programmes.
Maria Damanaki, the Commissioner for Maritime Affairs, said that the European economy could benefit from a more structured approach to marine knowledge. This approach “can improve the competitiveness of those working on our seas and coasts by €300 million a year. It can generate new opportunities worth another €200 million a year", said Ms Damanaki. She also stated that reducing uncertainty regarding future sea-level rises by 25% a year would allow the European coastal protection authorities to save an additional €100 million a year. "A first set of pilot projects have shown this approach to be feasible. We will build on the lessons learned from these", she said.
The seas and oceans could generate jobs which respond to young people's expectations, supply the clean energy needed to stave off a climate catastrophe, be a source of protein for a healthy diet and provide pharmaceuticals or enzymes from organisms inhabiting the greatest extremes of temperature, darkness and pressure. Additionally, deep-sea mining could respond to growing global demand for raw materials.
The Commission also points out that the lack of available land and fresh water is encouraging mankind to look again at the resources in the 71% of our planet's surface covered by salt water. The rapid advances in underwater observation, remote handling and construction technology, developed mainly by the oil industry, could be used in many other nascent industries under a wide range of oceanographic and meteorological conditions. In order to realise this potential, the Commission takes the view that access to all possible investments must be facilitated. "So, we need to know what the state of the sea is now and how it might change in the future. We need to understand how the changing climate will affect the ocean and vice versa". Data are currently held by hundreds of institutions in Europe. It is hard to find data on a particular parameter in a particular area or to obtain the authorisation to use them, and it takes a great deal of time to create a coherent set out of mutually incompatible data from a variety of sources. This situation increases maritime operators' costs and means that many potential activities never get to see the light of day.
The Commission's aim is to work with the member states to pool resources and available mechanisms in order to make this knowledge available to industry, the public authorities, researchers and society.
An initial series of preparatory actions in the framework of the EU's integrated maritime policy has made it possible to set in place data platforms, providing access to data on the marine environment held by European public bodies. Six thematic assembly groups (hydrography, geology, physics, chemistry, biology and physical habitats) have brought together a network of 53 organisations. At the same time, a marine service has been set up under the European Earth monitoring programme (GMES) using satellites and in-situ data to provide oceanographic forecasts, and the EU's data collection service has set up a process for a structured collection of fisheries data. The member states of the EU have also been highly active in this area. (LC/transl.fl)