As of 2024, Portugal will co-chair the WestMED Steering Committee for 2 years. It will do so together with Mauritania that had already assumed this position in 2023. We asked Marisa Lameiras da Silva, Director General for Maritime Policy and Portuguese Co-chair of the Westmed Initiative, for her views on the task ahead.

WestMED 2023 award winner Galatea is an excellent example of a sustainable blue economy accelerator. Read about this initiative and the importance of accelerators to boost innovation.

The WestMED 2023 factsheet is out listing its major achievements. Goals, priorities, governance, stories, number of projects supported and much more in one quick overview.

Experts from the WestMED Initiative assistance mechanism shared their experiences applicable to the whole sea basin and moderated some of the workshops during this major UfM Stakeholder Conference that took place in Athens on February 19 and 20.

A new strategic agreement between Greek and Tunisian maritime clusters represents an official gateway to boost the blue economy between the western and eastern Mediterranean.

On February 12, 2024, the Algerian National Hub of the WestMED Initiative, in coordination with the Ministry of Fisheries and Fisheries Production, organized their national event focused on on ‘Green Shipping in Algeria.’ This took place in Oran, Algeria.

On February 11, 2024, the GFCM Scientific Committee on Aquaculture, organized a workshop in close cooperation with WestMED Algeria on Climate Change, Resilient Aquaculture, and Mitigation Strategies. This event took place during the International Fisheries and Aquaculture exhibition (SIPA Algerie 2024) in Oran, Algeria.

This event was the first joint national event connecting the Atlantic Action Plan and the WestMED initiative. It was organised by the French national hub for the WestMED and the Atlantic Assistance Mechanism.

On December 18, 2023, WestMED’s National Hub Spain hosted a webinar titled “Opportunities and experiences for decarbonizing recreational and fishing vessels and ports”.

Organised for the first time in 2024, European Ocean Days will be a week of events related to European maritime topics. It will cover, on separate days over the week, the EU Mission Ocean and Waters, future priorities for Europe’s Seas, blue innovation and investment opportunities, as well as ocean literacy activities.

The European Blue Forum warmly invites you to join them to continue the journey toward a more sustainable and vibrant blue economy. This year’s theme is all about action – turning ideas into impactful practices, to identify innovative solutions to deliver bold and ambitious changes for a brighter, more sustainable future.

The European Maritime Day (EMD) is the annual two-day event during which Europe’s maritime community meet to network, discuss and outline joint action on maritime affairs and sustainable blue economy.

This year the EU Macro-regional Strategies Week becomes a two-day onsite event where sessions will cover topics of interest to both the Macro-regional strategies and the Sea Basin Strategies.

This Policy Study aims at contributing to the challenges and strategies that the region faces in the field of promoting sustainable development in the transport sector. It delves into this topic from three cross-cutting dimensions in the Western Mediterranean: infrastructures, energy and environment, and digitalisation.

This new policy report, commissioned by the European Commission (DG Near) to the EuroMeSCo network, and developed by eco-union under the supervision of the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), aims to assess the status and potential of the sustainable Blue Economy in the Mediterranean region, including an analysis of socioeconomic benefits and impacts in relevant Blue Economy activities.

This guide has been developed as a tool to provide decision-makers and aquaculture producers with practical recommendations for reducing the impact of aquaculture activities on the environment. Its content is based on current technical and scientific knowledge for the sustainable management of farmed species. (language FR)

SHORE Open Calls aim to enhance the ocean literacy of primary and secondary students, educators, and schools, by empowering youth to become agents of change and eco-citizens.

The Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership is pleased to announce its second joint transnational call entitled “Unified Paths to a Climate-Neutral, Sustainable, and Resilient Blue Economy: Engaging Civil Society, Academia, Policy, and Industry". This second co-funded call aims to support transnational research and innovation projects

With a substantial budget of €103.6 million, this call represents a unique opportunity to fund transnational cooperation projects aimed at catalyzing positive transformations and encouraging sustainable and inclusive development throughout the Mediterranean area.

A new EUR 2.2 million call for proposals has opened for a Pilot Project on a demonstrator fishing vessel to promote energy transition in the fisheries sector. The call seeks to finance a pilot project on a demonstrator fishing vessel that will be retrofitted with alternative propulsion technologies and other solutions to improve energy performance, cut emissions and reduce underwater noise.

EU Regions and stakeholders interested in exploring new interregional value chains in fisheries, aquaculture, coastal and maritime tourism, blue biotechnologies, and marine renewable energy, can get involved by expressing their interest to form a new partnership.

The European Blue Forum consisting of stakeholders from all 5 EU sea basins, has published its first 2 Position Papers related to key issues concerning the European Seas.

The event will host an exciting array of exhibitors from around Europe who will showcase the blue economy’s innovation and investment potential. In this way, the EMD exhibition space is an ideal place for stakeholders to meet, exchange experiences and discuss the latest developments.

Planning a big or small Maritime themed event for the public from April 1 to October 31, 2024? Join the 'EMD in My Country' campaign with EU-wide promotion!