Brussels, 08/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 8 May, the European Commission presented a communication on “innovation in the blue economy” because the floor of the Mediterranean holds more mysteries for Mankind than the surface of the moon. The general aim of this communication is to realise the potential of job creation and growth in our oceans and seas. According to Commissioner for Maritime Affairs Maria Damanaki, this objective should be achieved by way of an action plan with precise timeframes and the guarantee that any growth is “100% sustainable”.
Damanaki said that the initiative's objective could be summed up by the Commission's determination to “put the building blocks in place so that tomorrow's generation of Europeans will have the knowledge and skills to better manage our oceans and draw the full benefits they can provide us, while respecting the balance of the ecosystem of the sea”. These advantages are also economic, as underlined by Commissioner for Research Maire Geoghegan-Quinn. She said: “Maritime innovation has enormous potential for our economy, and will help us meet challenges like climate change and food security”.
The action plan consists essentially of five points that were already highlighted in EUROPE 11071. One of the flagship projects is called “marine knowledge” and aims to create a multi-resolution digital map of the entire seabed of European waters, with the guarantee of easy and unrestricted access. This objective has a two-fold justification. Firstly, around 30% of the sea floor around Europe has not yet been studied. And secondly, the Commission believes that broad dissemination of high quality marine data which could result in increases in productivity worth more than €1 billion a year.
To achieve this objective, the Commission is seeking to improve the European Marine Observation Data Network (EMODnet). The data available to this network would therefore be complemented by information from the Copernicus Maritime monitoring service and the databases of WISE-Marine, Euro-Argo and the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatory. The Commission would also like private companies to import their data and that consortiums that receive European research funding do the same. The Commission is proposing to create a mechanism, financed by the European Fund for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, to ensure coordination of the entire initiative and ensure that the results from the programmes and samples taken are included, in an effort to complement mapping with physical, chemical and biological data. The first mapping of the entire seabed is expected to be available in 2016 but this will only be low resolution. (JK)