Why is the Ocean Act important for the Mediterranean Sea? Our Response to the Public Consultation

The Mediterranean is a strategic basin for the European Union. It is Europe's leading blue economy basin and it is also home to exceptional marine biodiversity, internationally important fisheries and tourism activities, major maritime transport routes, and more than 520 million people living along its coasts. The ecological, economic and social benefits that the Mediterranean provides, however, ultimately depend on the health and resilience of its marine ecosystems. 

Its semi-enclosed nature, the transboundary character of its ecosystems and the fact that more than half of its coastline belongs to non-EU countries make the Mediterranean fundamentally different from other European sea basins. At the same time, it is one of the world's most climate-vulnerable marine regions, warming around 20% faster than the global average and facing accelerating cumulative pressures from pollution, overexploitation, habitat degradation, invasive species and maritime activities. A basin this economically productive and ecologically singular for the EU, should see its problematics entirely accounted for in the EU’s upcoming most complete and strategic law on Oceans. Achieving and maintaining Good Environmental Status (GES) in the region therefore cannot rely solely on EU legislation but requires coherent implementation across national boundaries and effective cooperation through existing regional governance frameworks. In fact, GES should be the central thread of the Act, the overarching principle that anchors ocean health as the basis for climate resilience and long-term prosperity. As such, GES can serve as the shared standard that EU legislation and regional frameworks are jointly held to, and as the single objective against which restoration efforts, finance flows and governance arrangements are all measured.  

This brief argues that the Mediterranean Sea should be considered a flagship basin for implementing the Ocean Act given its importance to EU’s ecosystem and economic foundations. Many of the recommendations are equally relevant to other European sea basins facing similar challenges of ecosystem degradation, fragmented governance and competing maritime uses. The Ocean Act provides a unique opportunity to place a healthy ocean at the heart of EU ocean policy, and to shed light on the essential contribution of healthy marine ecosystems to global climate resilience, food security, and a competitive and sustainable blue economy. Recognising the Mediterranean as a flagship basin for implementation would demonstrate how stronger policy coherence and regional cooperation can restore ocean health while delivering benefits that extend well beyond the Mediterranean and can inspire action across Europe's regional seas. 

The Mediterranean is one of the world's richest marine biodiversity hotspots, yet also one of its most vulnerable seas. Its sea surface temperatures is increasing approximately 3.7 times faster than the global ocean average. Marine heatwaves are becoming more frequent, longer lasting and more intense, accelerating biodiversity loss and threatening coastal communities and key blue economy sectors. As a semi-enclosed sea with limited water exchange, the Mediterranean is particularly vulnerable to the accumulation of pollutants and the impacts of climate change. 

The basin is exposed to multiple and cumulative pressures that interact and reinforce one another. It is the world's most plastic-polluted sea, while also receiving significant inputs of contaminants from land- and sea-based sources, and facing increasing underwater noise from shipping and offshore activities. More than 500 non-indigenous species have become established, while climate change is further accelerating biological invasions and altering ecosystem functioning. Overexploited fish stocks, habitat degradation and the rapid decline of key ecosystems such as Posidonia oceanica meadows and emblematic species including Pinna nobilis are reducing the Mediterranean's ecological resilience, carbon storage capacity and ability to provide essential ecosystem services. These cumulative pressures require integrated, ecosystem-based governance that recognises the transboundary nature of Mediterranean marine ecosystems. 

Establish Good Environmental Status (GES) as the legally binding overarching objective of the Ocean Act by: 

• Aligning the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and the EU Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (MSPD) by making Good Environmental Status (GES) the legally binding environmental boundary for Maritime Spatial Planning, streamlining reporting obligations, and requiring Maritime Spatial Plans and sectoral activities to demonstrate their contribution to achieving and maintaining the health of the Mediterranean Sea;

• Ensuring the GES framework developed under the Ocean Act is aligned and interoperable with the Ecosystem Approach (EcAp) under the Barcelona Convention/Mediterranean Action Plan;

• Establishing common GES indicators, environmental targets and interoperable data standards across the Mediterranean;

• Setting binding 2030, 2040 and 2050 targets to reduce cumulative pressures, including marine pollution, underwater noise, habitat degradation, invasive alien species and greenhouse gas emissions from maritime sectors, in line with the Zero Pollution Action Plan, the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive, the Birds and Habitats Directives, the Invasive Alien Species Regulation and the European Climate Law;

• Embedding cumulative impact assessments and adaptive management into Maritime Spatial Planning.

Strengthen the precautionary approach by: 

• Applying the precautionary principle to emerging activities and preventing the authorisation of activities with potentially irreversible impacts until cumulative impact assessments demonstrate environmental compatibility;

• Phasing out destructive activities, including bottom trawling in Marine Protected Areas and the exploration of new offshore oil and gas resources, in line with the EU Marine Action Plan.

Ensuring that economic development actively contributes to achieving and maintaining a healthy ocean requires a fundamental shift in both public and private financial flows. Redirecting finance towards sustainable and regenerative activities should therefore become a central pillar of the Ocean Act. 

The Mediterranean blue economy is a major driver of both regional and European prosperity, supporting food security, tourism, maritime transport and millions of jobs. It is Europe's leading blue economy basin, with three of the EU's four largest blue economy contributors – Spain, France and Italy – bordering the Mediterranean, which is also the EU's busiest sea for short-sea shipping. Yet many of these sectors continue to operate beyond ecological limits. Around 52% of assessed fish stocks remain overexploited; while growing tourism, shipping, aquaculture and emerging offshore industries are placing increasing cumulative pressures on already fragile marine ecosystems. At the same time, the Mediterranean is one of the world's busiest maritime regions, with maritime transport contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, underwater noise, pollution and the spread of invasive species. 

One of the challenges is the way money is allocated. Public subsidies and private investments continue to support activities that undermine the natural capital on which the Mediterranean Blue Economy depends, while funding for ecosystem restoration and conservation remains comparatively limited. WWF found that between 5% and 12% of the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), totaling €59–138 million per year, is channeled into biodiversity harmful subsidies. This is up to 2.5 times higher than the EMFAF funding dedicated to protecting and restoring biodiversity, amounting to €53 million per year.  

Redirect public and private finance towards a regenerative and sustainable blue economy by: 

• Integrating the principles of a Regenerative Blue Economy (RBE), as defined by the IUCN, across all blue economy policies, ensuring that economic activities actively contribute to restoring and protecting marine ecosystems rather than merely reducing their impacts in line with the Water Framework Directive and the Nature Restoration Regulation;

• Developing EU-wide blue subsidy guidelines, in line with the principles of a Regenerative Blue Economy to support the identification and the phasing out of environmentally harmful subsidies with a clear timeline while establishing common criteria for environmentally sustainable public support;

• Coordinating the development of science-based, marine-specific metrics aligned with Good Environmental Status and integrating them into EU sustainable finance instruments, including the EU Taxonomy, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), to scale up ocean-positive investment.

Leverage the three main pillars of the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) to redirect EU funding towards ecosystem restoration, nature-positive investments and regenerative blue economy sectors by: 

• National and regional partnership plans (NRPPs): supporting the transition of small-scale fisheries, coastal communities and ecosystem restoration;

• European Competitiveness Fund: financing research, innovation and the decarbonisation of maritime sectors, including ports, shipping and blue technologies;

• Global Europe: strengthening partnerships with non-EU Mediterranean countries and supporting marine conservation, sustainable fisheries and regenerative blue economy projects across the basin.

Accelerate the transition of Mediterranean blue economy sectors by: 

• Promoting sustainable coastal tourism through the forthcoming EU Sustainable Tourism Strategy, including water-efficient infrastructure, circular waste management, nature-based tourism and diversification beyond seasonal coastal mass tourism;

• Accelerating the decarbonisation of maritime transport through the implementation of FuelEU Maritime, the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) and the Energy Transition Partnership for EU Fisheries and Aquaculture, alongside cleaner fuels, shore-side electricity, improved port infrastructure and measures to reduce underwater noise and other forms of marine pollution;

• Reinforcing the fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing through full implementation of the FAO Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), enhanced Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (VMS, AIS and electronic monitoring), stronger traceability systems and tighter controls on transshipment.

The Mediterranean is a shared sea, yet its governance remains fragmented across national jurisdictions, sectors and institutions despite the transboundary nature of its ecosystems and maritime activities. Effective implementation of the Ocean Act will therefore depend not only on coherent legislation but also on stronger regional cooperation. Rather than creating new governance structures, the Ocean Act should build on existing regional frameworks, notably the Barcelona Convention and its Ecosystem Approach (EcAp), to strengthen coordination, promote ecosystem-based management and support joint implementation across the basin. 

Achieving a sustainable and regenerative blue economy also requires inclusive governance. Mediterranean islands and coastal communities are on the frontline of climate change and depend directly on healthy marine ecosystems for their livelihoods. Their knowledge and participation, together with that of fishers, scientists, local authorities and civil society, are essential to ensure that ocean governance is equitable, locally supported and capable of delivering long-term ecological and socio-economic resilience. 

Recommendations for the Ocean Act 

Strengthen regional governance by: 

• Strengthening, through the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme of the Mediterranean and EMODnet, harmonised marine monitoring by promoting common monitoring methodologies, indicators, definitions and data standards, while ensuring open data sharing and interoperability to enable consistent basin-wide assessment and ecosystem-based management;

• Mandating the Barcelona Convention Secretariat to coordinate Maritime Spatial Planning at whole-basin scale (and reinforcing its capacity to do so), drawing on the HELCOM regional model, with national plans harmonised against a shared Mediterranean MSP roadmap;

• Strengthening cooperation between EU and non-EU Mediterranean countries to develop an ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed network of Marine Protected Areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, building on the Barcelona Convention and other existing regional governance frameworks, supported by a joint technical working group under existing EU and Barcelona Convention structures to coordinate the implementation of Good Environmental Status targets across the basin;

• Leveraging the EU's leadership within Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, in particular the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, to promote the implementation of the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, support the successful conclusion of the Fish II negotiations, and encourage coordinated action across the Mediterranean.

Strengthen participatory governance by: 

• Establishing minimum standards for early, meaningful and continuous stakeholder participation throughout the preparation, implementation, monitoring and revision of Maritime Spatial Plans;

• Requiring Maritime Spatial Planning processes to ensure the effective participation of coastal and island communities, local authorities, fishers, scientists, civil society organisations and holders of traditional and local knowledge;

• Recognising Mediterranean islands and coastal communities as priority areas for climate adaptation and resilience, ensuring coherence between maritime planning, Integrated Coastal Zone Management, the European Water Resilience Strategy and the Strategies for Coastal Communities and for Islands.