On Monday, 18 May, MEPs called for the European Maritime Spatial Planning Directive to be revised to ensure management of how the sea is used is more coordinated, balanced, and fair (see EUROPE 13850/4).
Rapporteur Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew Europe, French) recommended creating priority zones for fishing with reserved and preferential access for small-scale fishing in the 12-nautical mile band, defining zones dedicated to aquaculture, promoting multi-use planning (without exceptions among maritime activities), strengthening the mandatory participation of professionals in planning decisions (offshore wind projects), and developing cross-border planning (macro-regional strategies).
Emma Fourreau (The Left, French) submitted, on behalf of her group, an amendment that aims to “prohibit fishing vessels that are over 25 metres long from fishing in EU waters up to 12 nautical miles from the coast”.
European Commissioner for Fisheries Costas Kadis confirmed that the proposed European Ocean Act would build on the revision of the directive so as to reflect the new policy requirements while “preserving enough space for fisheries and aquaculture, marine protected areas, and areas aimed at renewable energy production and maritime transport” (see EUROPE 13864/3).
The Ocean Act will also examine how to better support identifying good areas for aquaculture and how to better strengthen coherence between national strategies and maritime spatial planning. The draft report will be put to a vote on Wednesday, 20 May. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)