According to a report published on 9 December by the European Environment Agency, most of Europe’s marine area (93%) is under multiple pressures from human activities on land and at sea and there is hardly any part of the area that is not affected by at least two of these pressures.
The EEA states that, to be sustainable, human activities at sea and on land need to be decoupled from the degradation of marine ecosystems.
According to the report titled ‘Multiple pressures and their combined effects in Europe’s seas’, pollution, habitat loss and disturbance from demersal fishing are most intense along the coast and in continental shelf areas. Climate change adds to concerns about the resilience of marine ecosystems.
The most significant negative impacts are felt in the coastal and continental shelf areas of the North Sea, and partly in the Baltic Sea and the Adriatic Sea. Serious impacts have been observed in the narrow areas of the Western Mediterranean continental shelf. Significant gaps in the assessment data were identified in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
The growth of the EU maritime economy is leading to increasing competition for space and marine resources.
The report can be found at: https://bit.ly/2W0r45S (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)