Press releases/news articles

More than 900 foreign species invaded the Mediterranean Sea in recent years due to climate change and other environmental pressures. That’s both a challenge and an opportunity. While these newcomers can seriously impact biodiversity, heralding the loss of some “native” species, they also represent new economic opportunity for commercial fishing — and local chefs are starting to embrace the new ingredients!

The material and presentations from the workshop are available on the CISE website in the Meetings and workshops section. The recording of the workshop will be published at the EMD website.

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) has held its annual session from 16 to 20 May 2022. The main priorities of the European Union at the meeting were to discuss how to address the yellowfin tuna stock in the Indian Ocean, the adoption of a new management measure for drifting fish aggregating...

A new EUMOFA report reveals that the EU’s organic aquaculture production has increased by 60% in five years (2015-2020), mainly due to a growth in organic mussel production. Organic production from finfish, however, is stalling or even decreasing, mostly due to the limited demand and..

On 19 and 20 May 2022 Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries is co-hosting the European Maritime Day (EMD) conference, which is taking place in Ravenna in Italy.

The new observatory will help put the EU on the path towards a sustainable, carbon-neutral and circular blue economy.

The European Commission has published its annual EU Blue Economy Report to take stock and uncover the latest trends and developments in all economic sectors related to the oceans and coastal areas.

In parallel to the annual European Maritime Day (EMD) conference in Ravenna (Italy) on 19-20 May 2022, a series of local related events are organised across Europe, reaching out to young people and citizens under the 'EMD in my Country' label. These activities enable the many European regions with a maritime culture to join in the celebrations and highlight the vital role of the seas and ocean for the local societies. The Map of the month shows an overview of the EMD in my Country 2022 local events in 29 different countries, including both online activities and physical events.

The European Commission has published a report on the implementation of the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive, which sets the obligation for the 22 coastal Member States to establish maritime spatial plans by 31 March 2021 at the latest.

What is maritime spatial planning? Why do we need it? How does the EU promote it? How well are Member States implementing the directive? What are the next steps? What is this progress report for and what does it tell us?

The Commission has adopted a renewed strategy for the most remote parts of the EU, known as outermost regions, to unlock their potential through appropriate investment and reforms.

The EU Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030”, a large-scale, “Appollo-11 style” push to protect and restore the health of our ocean and waters, has just launched a second wave of actions.

After more than 2 years, it's time to celebrate the efforts of the EU4Ocean Coalition‘s members! On 19 May, you are welcome to join us at the EU4ocean booth and exhibition space, where many interactive activities will be organised by the coalition’s members.

When you think about lice, you normally associate them with dogs. But did you know that salmons could have lice too? Sea lice, that is. These are parasites that typically cause infections in salmons and other farmed fish. If left untreated, they can eventually kill the salmon.

Fishing always comes with a certain degree of unpredictability and uncertainty. This is equally true for professional fishers as it is for enthusiasts. When they cast their nets or fishing lines, they never know if and what they might catch.

The Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MARE), in cooperation with the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR), EU4Algae, BLUEFasma Interreg MED project and the Atlantic assistance mechanism is organising two brokerage sessions on Smart Specialisation. In Barcelona on 9 May 2022 with a focus on Blue Biotechnologies and in Santander on 10 May with a focus on Marine Renewable Energies.

This year EMD In My County organisers registered 630 events in 28 countries (20 EU and 8 non-EU counties), between April and October, covering all the sea basins of the EU.

Norway and the EU reached a political understanding in relation to the fisheries in the Northeast Arctic, in ICES subareas 1 and 2. The area concerned includes the waters around the archipelago of Svalbard and the international waters of the Barents Sea.

In this episode, we meet Portuguese fishers and researchers looking for ways to modernise the sector — from a simple “scarecrow of the seas” preventing accidental bycatch of marine birds (EU-funded MedAves Pesca project) to high-tech underwater robots that rely on acoustic sensing and artificial

Registrations are now open for a hybrid stakeholder event on the functioning of the common fisheries policy (CFP) and common market organisation (CMO), taking place on 10 June 2022 in Brussels, Belgium.