Inspired by the shape of the starfish, the Mission has five overarching objectives for 2030: Filling the knowledge and emotional gap, regenerating marine and freshwater ecosystems, zero pollution, decarbonising our ocean, and waters revamping governance. These five objectives are mutually supportive and taken together, the Mission Starfish 2030 will enable the restoration of the water cycle as a whole.

: On 25 September 2020, the EU4Ocean thematic workshops on Climate and Ocean, Food from the Ocean or Healthy and Clean Ocean, discussed and gathered ideas for effective Ocean Literacy actions.

The EU4Ocean workshop “Designing Ocean Literacy action in Europe” built momentum for collective actions and knowledge sharing. At the three parallel thematic workshops, it was discussed and gathered ideas on how to help citizens in European landlocked or inland areas become Ocean Literate. The three themes of the parallel workshops were:

• Climate and Ocean,
• Food from the Ocean, and
• Healthy and Clean Ocean.

More info could be found here.

The maritime industry recognises there is a need for smarter collaboration to enhance operations, satisfy clients’ expectation of transparency and predictability and respond to societal concerns. Maritime Informatics, originally defined as “the application of information systems to increase the efficiency, safety, and ecological sustainability of the world’s shipping industry” was developed by data scientists to meet the needs of practice and to be applied cooperatively by practitioners and data scientists

Saturday 19/9 is World Cleanup Day. To raise awareness about the challenge of marine litter and encourage citizens worldwide to take action, the European Commission and the European External Action Service is organising the third edition of the #EUBeachCleanup campaign. In 2019, the campaign mobilised over 40,000 volunteers at events in nearly 80 countries.

Website: https://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/press/eubeachcleanup-ocean-starts-you_en

With the newest release of the European Atlas of the Seas today, citizens from all around Europe now have access to stunning marine maps and interactive oceanic information in their own language, making the atlas an even more accessible and useful educational tool.

Website : https://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/press/follow-lead-eu-commissioner-sinkevičius-and-exploreyourocean-24-languages_en

The new OECD publication brings together unique statistical sources to support developing countries in the implementation of a sustainable ocean economy.

Adopting more sustainable ways of managing the ocean is a global priority: protecting its health will bring benefits to all. Developing countries face specific challenges, as many depend heavily on ocean-based industries and are overly exposed to the consequences of ocean degradation. Enhancing their access to science, policy advice and financing would allow them to tap better into the opportunities of a more sustainable ocean economy, including more decent jobs, cleaner energy, improved food security and enhanced resilience, while contributing to the protection of the world’s ocean.

This report provides policymakers in developing countries, as well as their development co-operation partners with a wealth of fresh evidence on (i) the latest trends in selected ocean-based industries; (ii) policy instruments, including economic incentives, to promote ocean sustainability in various contexts; (iii) the first review of development finance and development co-operation practices in support of more sustainable ocean economies, including a discussion of how development co-operation can help re-orient private finance towards sustainability.

https://www.oecd.org/environment/sustainable-ocean-for-all-bede6513-en.htm

What will the sustainable ocean economy look like in 2030? What are the risks and opportunities facing companies and investors? Will the post-coronavirus recovery help or hinder the ocean’s potential to create economic growth and jobs?

In this report, the World Ocean Initiative assesses the challenges facing key sectors in the ocean economy including seafood, shipping, tourism and renewable energy. We look at the role of banks and investors in financing the transition towards clean, low-carbon technologies, as well as opportunities in data and analytics. Solutions to marine plastic pollution from source-to-sea are analysed, as is the ocean’s potential to remove carbon from the atmosphere and increase resilience to the impacts of climate change.

Drawing on the latest data and in-depth interviews with leading experts in government, business, finance and conservation, this report provides valuable insights for all stakeholders working to achieve a sustainable ocean economy.

The sea has traditionally been a large source of economic prosperity and it offers large potential to contribute to achieving quite a number of Sustainable Development Goals, including life below water, climate action, decent work and responsible consumption.

Fisheries and aquaculture have been important sources of food for a long time, but outside these sectors the use of renewable aquatic biological resources to make products is still in the infancy stage. In order to speed up the developments and achieve the potential of this so-called blue bioeconomy, the Blue Bioeconomy Forum (BBF) was set up in 2018 as a platform for entrepreneurs, researchers, government officials and other stakeholders. The aim of the BBF is to develop a common understanding of the current status of blue bioecono- my in Europe and to collectively identify strategic developments, market opportunities, appropriate financial assistance, regulatory actions and research priorities. The BFF seeks to exploit synergies between blue bioeconomy sectors which can benefit from the innovative and optimal uses of aquatic biomass, by sourcing biomass for a particular purpose (e.g. for high-value applications such as pharmaceuticals), but also by valorising by-products and ecosystem services.

In the past year and a half the BBF organised a process of interaction with more than 300 stakeholders including a starting event in December 2018 in Amsterdam and a roadmapping conference in Brussels in June 2019. The focus of their activities was on better identifying the wide range of initiatives in the sector, identifying drivers and hurdles for the development of the sector, and defining ways forward. Now they are presenting this Roadmap for the blue bioeconomy that should help the blue bioeconomy fulfil its potential and flourish. 

• Roadmap for the blue bioeconomy
• Highlights:  Summary of the roadmap and a selection of viable and innovative projects.

On 25 November, the Executive Agency for SMEs organised an information day for the launch of the "Blue Economy Window" call that has a total budget of €2.5 million.

Watch the event online  

Under the 2019 call, organisations can get between €700,000 and €2,500,000 for their projects. Any for-profit SME based in the EU (single participant or a member of a consortium) can apply.

The Information Day was also an opportunity take advantage of the match-making session, meet your potential partners, stakeholders or discuss your project directly with our project advisors. Check the whole agenda and also see the event presentations

• Introducing the Blue Invest - Grants call for proposals
• The BlueInvest initiative
• From ArcheoSub To Seastar - A journey through the Internet of underwater things 

For further information, visit our funding opportunities page here and also check the call's FAQs and the general EMFF FAQs. 

The 43rd General Fisheries Commission for Mediterranean (GFCM) Annual Session attended by 24 countries took place in Athens from 4 to 9 November 2019. The 15 recommendations and resolutions, proposed by the European Union, were adopted by consensus with the crucial support of the GFCM Secretariat.  These adoptions constitute an important step towards the full implementation of a new fisheries governance in Mediterranean and in the Black sea, in accordance with the objectives established by the MedFish4Ever (2017) and Sofia (2018) declarations, as well as the regional plan of action for small-scale fisheries (2018).

Historical management plans will help protecting iconic species, such as turbot in the Black Sea, red coral in the Mediterranean, blackspot seabream in the Alboran sea, demersals in the Adriatic, deep-water shrimps in the Strait of Sicily. These plans are based on the principles of transparency and traceability that will allow, in particular, to implement catch certificates and joint inspections. Management measures concerning the composition, maintenance, identification and retrieval of fish aggregating devices (FADs) were endorsed to better asses their impact on dolphinfish.

The annual session also focused its effort on protecting cetaceans and vulnerable species and ecosystems with the adoption of resolutions mitigating by-catches and preventing significant adverse effects of fishing activities. A working group on new technologies will focus on the issues of gear selectivity and mitigation of by catches.

The fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities was also enhanced through the better categorisation of cases of non-compliance, the launching of pilot projects on the use of electronic logbook and on the implementation of a centralised vessel monitoring system (VMS) for all GFCM areas of competence. In addition, all riparian countries are invited to share information about their fishing access agreements. In this same vein, the GFCM Secretariat will map all the conservation and control measures implemented by the riparian countries for protecting the fishing restricted areas.

The results of the second performance review of the GFCM has shown  impressive progress since 2014, notably in terms of conservation, data collection and management plans. They underlined also the efficiency of the GFCM Secretariat. However, they highlighted the need for better monitoring, control and surveillance measures for fighting against IUU and clear enforcement of the decisions adopted.

GFCM has also established the calendar of events for next year:

• High level meeting (June 2020, Algiers) for the adoption of the new GFCM Strategy for the five-year period (2021-2025)
• High-level conference on the follow-up of the Sofia declaration (October 2020, Georgia)
• 44TH GFCM Annual Session (November 2020, Tirana)
• High-level conference on the review of the MedFish4Ever initiatives (2021, Greece)

More information in the Fisheries section of the European Commission.

The Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) launched today a call for proposals under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Blending Facility. It seeks to promote the participation of private sector investors and financial institutions in projects contributing to the environmental sustainability and efficiency of transport in Europe.

€198 million are made available in the form of grants to support Blending Operations. These operations are a combination of grants and/or financial instruments from the EU budget and financing from Implementing Partners (via a loan, debt, equity or any other repayable form of support).

A virtual information day on the rolling call will take place on 5 December 2019.

What projects are eligible for funding?

The rolling call for proposals supports two priorities of the CEF Transport multi-annual work programme for 2014-2020, with an indicative budget of €99 million each:

• Deployment of European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS)
• Alternative fuels for transport

This innovative blending mechanism has been devised to make sure that projects selected for grant support are bankable with a proven maturity.

Who can apply?

Two types of applicants can submit their proposal:

• One or more Member States
• With the agreement of the Member State(s) concerned, international organisations, joint undertakings, or public or private undertakings or bodies established in an EU Member State supported by financing from an Implementing Partner.

How to apply?

Project promoters must engage first with an Implementing Partner (public financial institutions), which performs an initial screening of each project to be potentially supported by financing from the Implementing Partner, in order to be included in the CEF Transport Blending Facility’s Project Pipeline.  The Implementing Partner will then engage with the project promoter to conduct the necessary appraisal to obtain the approval of the Implementing Partner’s governing bodies for the project, included in the CEF Transport Blending Facility’s Project Pipeline. The appraisal results are summarised in the Project Report and Eligibility Check List, which will become part of the application file.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the first Implementing Partner and will be joined soon by other entities, such as national banks. The list of all Implementing Partners of the CEF Transport Blending Facility is published on the call page.

Please address all questions related to this rolling call to the call helpdesk.