After the second  workshop on  Black Sea Blue Entrepreneurship,  we have prepared a short survey to listen on your opinions!

We would be very grateful if you could spare a few minutes to provide your feedback, aiding us to enhance our services and pave the way for future activities to support CMA implementation. The survey is available at the following link:

Survey - Blue Entrepreneurship Workshop Follow-up on Business Ecosystem Support

If there’s anything from the event that you would like to catch up on, you can access speakers’ presentation slides and other materials on the event page: Black Sea Blue Entrepreneurship Workshop.

Many thanks again for your participation in the webinar and see you soon!

Black Sea Virtual Knowledge Centre

The Advanced Master in Sustainable Blue Growth is jointly organized by the University of Trieste and the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS. The Master is addressed to researchers, scientists and managers. The aim of the Master is to support the creation of stable and attractive career pathways and highly skilled talents that will be needed to support expanding marine and maritime sectors. The focus of the Master is on strengthening professional skills and enhancing competencies in fields related to the blue economy.

Further information: http://bluegrowth.inogs.it/advancedmaster/information

Apply here: https://inogs.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=49bb9311efd71f3250c9630f6&id=9b1aa15d97&e=d83a5e7a83

The Plastics Policy Inventory is an online public digital depository of plastics policy documents dating as far back as 2000 and is free to all. This inventory is easily searchable by topics, locations, and years, with the option to download documents for reading at users’ own time.

An accompanying report, 20 Years of Government Responses to the Global Plastic Pollution Problem, also provides assessments of the plastic pollution policy landscape over the last two decades, looking at trends and gaps in implementation and identifying effective policies throughout that time period. Together, these resources have proven useful to various researchers, advocacy groups, program implementers, and policymakers.

The call for the Flagship projects promoting a sustainable blue economy through regional maritime cooperation in the Atlantic, the Black Sea and the Western Mediterranean has been just launched.

In particular, in the Black Sea the overall objective is to support of the implementation of the Common Maritime Agenda for the Black Sea, in synergy with SRIA and Black Sea CONNECT project, with the Black Sea assistance Mechanism and the national Hub and with the Virtual Knowledge Centre, as well as with the DG MARE platform BlueInvest.

Specifically the call targets the following objectives:

- Strengthening the capacity of blue economy SMEs and start-ups to identify and tap into potential public/private investors.

- Improving the visibility of investment opportunities in the Black Sea blue economy and capacity of public/private investors to identify SMEs and start-ups.

- Develop stakeholder capacity to establish/enhance concrete cooperation and networking approaches and methods to improve the business environment and strengthen value chains.

- Contributing to the development of a networked, multi-stakeholder blue investment and innovation ecosystem in the Black Sea.

You can find all the details at this link Funding & tenders (europa.eu)

All CMA countries are eligible under the call.

Deadline for the submission is 12 January 2022, 17:00:00 Brussels time.

Using the existing experience gained in previous projects, and in collaboration with industry through linked marine innovation clusters and partners’ existing links to private sector, Black Sea CONNECT will identify the innovation needs and opportunities for healthy and sustainable use of the Black Sea while achieving economic growth by adopting emerging technologies offered especially by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

A critical step for this purpose will be bringing stakeholders from science and research, policy-making, industry, business, and investment together at a thematic workshop or conference on “innovation for sustainability and economic growth in the Black Sea” to enhance communication and collaboration.

The objectives of this workshop will be :

• To identify innovation needs and opportunities including potential gaps and barriers
• To achieve economic growth by adopting emerging technologies

While addressing these objectives, our  approach will be the following :

• Learning from the “others” to organize in the Black Sea region;
• Defining next steps to start organizing the Black Sea innovation ecosystem.

Based on the analysis of the local context and the Black Sea SRIA priorities, the workshop will raise awareness and build capacities on:

• The clustering approach: Enhance communication and collaboration between stakeholders from science and research, policymakers, industry, business and investment to generate innovative products and services.
• Share good practices to support innovation adaptable to the Black Sera context.

It will be based on a comprehensive analysis of innovation needs and opportunities for healthy and sustainable use of the Black Sea while achieving economic growth by adopting emerging technologies offered especially by the Fourth Industrial Revolution[1]. The workshop will also try to identify which are the potential gaps and barriers of all sorts (legal, financial, etc) in the successful development of Blue Growth in the Black Sea countries and will try to find best practice examples that could help smoothen the path forward.

The workshop will pave the way to provide the roadmap for marine innovation and technology transfer to the Black Sea countries, gathering together stakeholders from science and research, policymaker, industry, business and investment and exchanging best practices in between European advanced marine innovation clusters and nascent Black Sea clusters and innovation actors to achieve innovation for blue economy.

To map the innovation needs and potential gaps and barriers, Black Sea CONNECT CSA has launched an online questionnaire in all Black Sea countries targeting the business networks/ actors operating in the Black Sea countries. The questionnaire will feed into the content of the workshop that will take place in early 2022.

The questionnaire is available in all Black Sea languages and English.

[1] http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Harnessing_4IR_Oceans.pdf

Bulgarian 

Georgian 

English 

Romanian 

Russian 

Turkish 

Ukrainian 

The 17th of September, the Commission adopted a proposal for fishing opportunities for 2022 in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas. The proposal promotes the sustainable management of fish stocks in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas and delivers on the political commitments made in the MedFish4Ever and Sofia Declarations. It reflects the Commission's ambition for achieving sustainable fisheries in these two sea basins, in line with the recently adopted 2030 Strategy of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM).

Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said: “Sustainable fisheries management in all of the EU's sea basins is our commitment and responsibility. While we have seen some improvement in recent years in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, we are still far from reaching sustainable levels and more effort is needed to achieve this goal. We are, therefore, today making our proposal for fish catches in the two sea basins fully reliant on scientific advice.” 

In the Black Sea, the proposal includes catch limits and quotas for turbot and sprat. For turbot, the proposal transposes the EU quota decided in the revision of the GFCM turbot multiannual management plan. For sprat, the Commission proposes to maintain the same catch limit as in 2021.

Next steps

The Council of Fisheries Ministers of the European Union will discuss the Commission's proposal in December and establish the allocation of fishing opportunities. The regulation should apply as of 1 January 2022. 

Background

The Commission promotes an enhanced multilateral approach and cooperation to fisheries management in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas. The Malta MedFish4Ever and Sofia Declarations established a new governance framework, which was strengthened by the adoption of the new 2030 GFCM Strategy on 9 July 2021.  

The multiannual management plan for demersal stocks in the Western Mediterranean adopted in June 2019, introduced a fishing effort regime for trawlers intended to achieve an overall reduction of up to 40% in five years. In 2020, the first year of its implementation, a 10% reduction was introduced, while the 2021 fishing opportunities proposal resulted in the reduction of a further 7.5%.

GFCM is a regional fisheries management organisation competent for the conservation and management of fish stocks in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas. The GFCM Adriatic plan has reduced demersal fishing effort by 16% in the first two years of implementation. It is set to reach MSY for the key demersal stocks by 2026 by limiting the annual fishing effort on the basis of scientific advice.

In 2017, the GFCM adopted a multiannual management plan for turbot in the Black Sea, the first management and control measures to be implemented at regional level.

For more information

Proposal for a Council Regulation fixing for 2022 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in the Mediterranean and Black Seas

Read the full news here.

First #CEFEnergy call for 2021-2027 published

The first call under the CEF Energy programme 2021-2027 has been just published. €785 million is made available for studies and works for Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) in the field of trans-European energy infrastructure. CINEA organises an info day on 14 September to present the call, explain its policy context and inform about the application and evaluation process. Another CEF Energy call - for preparatory studies for cross-border renewable energy projects - will be launched in the second half of September.

LIFE Call for proposals 2021 - Q&A sessions

The virtual Q&A session held on 8-9 September gave the opportunity to potential applicants to raise questions on the recently published LIFE Calls for proposals following the recorded information sessions. Participants were able to ask their questions via Sli.do directly to the LIFE team at CINEA.Recordings are already available at the event page. The calls are open for nature and biodiversity, circular economy and quality of life, climate change mitigation and adaptation, clean energy transition and operating grants.

The Kraimorie district in Burgas, Bulgaria, is a community of only 851 souls, known for its long tradition in fishing and fish farming. At the same time, Kraimorie also projects some wider global trends. Worldwide, like in Kraimorie, small coastal communities are struggling to preserve their identity through upholding and developing their centuries’ old livelihoods and tradecraft. Meanwhile, climate change is also making its mark in Kraimorie, as the coastline on which it depends, is suffering from landslip and erosions, caused by progressively more severe storms and flooding. In recent years, thanks to support from the European Union, both these existential issues have been addressed.

At the heart of the solution is a covered boat shelter, constructed with supported from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The shelter is the first of its kind in Bulgaria and has been built in a pioneering way. The immediate purpose of the shelter is to improve the safety and working conditions for the local small-scale coastal fishing operations, but it has been constructed in such a way as to protect the coastline from erosion.

The shelter has capacity for 54 boats: 10 berths for vessels of 9–12 m, 16 berths for vessels of 6–9 m, and 28 berths for vessels up to 6 m. It includes northern and southern enclosed malls and an area with service facilities and a checkpoint. Research was conducted to identify the best location. Ideally situated between the fishing communities of Kraimorie, Chengene Skele and Pobed, allows for serving the largest possible number of users (between 50-60 fishers are using it at the moment).

The EU-funded facility helps to preserve local fishing traditions and will allow further growth of artisanal fishing. The municipality of Burgas also hopes that the structural improvement will make the area more attractive for maritime tourism and stimulate economic growth. Five new jobs were created for maintenance and guarding of the structure, alone.

But the purpose of the shelter was not only economic: the facility, apart from providing coastal protection from marine erosion and landslips, was built without changing the natural depth of the water (between one and three meters), so as to avoid the damage that dredging could cause to marine creatures and plants living on the sea bed.

The successful shelter project is in line with the objectives of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region: Creating prosperity and supporting fishing communities in the coastal regions by creating new jobs and improving working and safety conditions for the fishers; and environmental protection, restoration and maintenance of water quality and risk management of climate change.

If you look at the sea, it appears to be an expanse without borders or limits, where everybody could roam boundlessly. But then, if you think about all the activities taking place there (fishing, transport, fish farming, tourism etc.), you realise that they each occupy a bit of that expanse, and that there are plenty of activities taking place at the same time, with the risk of some disrupting the others. For those activities to coexist there is a process, called maritime spatial planning (MSP), which analyses and plans the distribution of human activities in marine areas to achieve ecological, economic and social objectives. Its goal is to develop spatial plans, which define the effective use of marine areas for different maritime activities and sustainable use of marine and coastal resources. At the same time, MSP creates a framework for coordinated, transparent and sustainable decision making on the basis of reliable data and cooperation across borders.

Now, focus on the Black Sea. That sea is the EU’s eastern gate, a junction between Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East, an important transport and energy hub, a crossroad of different cultures, a region with significant political, social and economic fragmentation. The Black Sea is among the most endangered ones in Europe, with a “closed” and unique ecosystem under threat by the continental pressures and conflicting coastal and maritime activities.

While there have been some international, European, regional and local initiatives, since the beginning of the 1990s  (including the Convention on the protection of the Black Sea against pollution in 1992, the World Bank and Global Environment Facility (GEF)/United Nations Development Programme Black Sea Integrated Coastal Zone Management Programme in 1994-1997 and the EU recommendations for a common integrated approach through a number of communications and strategies), the region still suffers from lack of synergy and sufficient coordination.

This is where the MARSPLAN-BS II project comes into play. Building on a previous project, which ended in early 2018, MARSPLAN-BS II will last into 2021 to further develop maritime spatial plans and a common cross-border strategy between Romania and Bulgaria for the Mangalia-Shabla area. This area presents a high level of complexity in terms of important maritime ports and shipyards, touristic resorts, biodiversity and wetland protected areas and mineral resources (gas extraction).

The main aim is to support coherent maritime spatial planning (MSP) focusing on social, economic and environmental objectives and establishing a stable framework by Bulgarian and Romanian authorities. The project is analysing the current and future uses and conditions of the cross border area and developing draft MSPs for both countries. The process involves consultation of all relevant stakeholders, authorities and the wider public, involving also non-EU countries in the Black Sea (eg. Ukraine, Turkey and Georgia). The resulting plan will be approved, implemented and monitored.

EU support has significantly facilitated the creation of a MSP. This helps protecting the environment of the Bulgarian/Romanian cross-border area of the Black Sea, as well as ensuring a sustainable use of the sea, in turn boosting the sustainable growth of marine and coastal economies.

On behalf of the World Bank, the Joint Venture lead by Ambiente spa has launched an open consultation via online survey on the state of pollution in the Black Sea in the context of the Blueing The Black Sea Programme’ A Regional Initiative To Tackle Marine Pollution In The Black Sea.

The consultation will collect feedback and inputs from a broad set of stakeholders in Black Sea littoral states and Republic of Moldova, concerning the current state of pollution, national policies, action to be taken for pollution prevention, pollution hotspots, in order to have a bigger picture of local needs and priorities.

In particular, the stakeholders interested in the consultation are:

• National and local decision makers
• NGOs and civil society organizations
• Environmental experts and academia
• Legal and policy experts
• Business and enterprises

Stakeholders are encouraged to participate in this consultation by filling the questionnaire at the following link and spread the word to other environmental experts and stakeholders.

TAKE THE SURVEY

The questionnaire is free, user-friendly and can be answered immediately; any response will be valuable to support the World Bank in identifying appropriate national and regional strategies, to which the Bank's future investment projects will be linked.

Consultation workshop with key decision makers in four Black Sea littoral states including the Republic of Moldova have already been conducted in the context of the study, to present preliminary results of the National Background Pollution Papers and collect essential feedback for the finalization of the works carried out by the World Bank analytical teams.

The World Bank aims to establish an up-to-date diagnostic of the state of play and issues at stake regarding marine pollution in the Black Sea. The findings will be included into four countries (Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Turkey) and one regional pollution diagnostic paper.

For further information: bbsea@ambientesc.it

The BBSEA Regional Initiative is aimed at “Tackling Marine Pollution in the Black Sea” and is funded by the GlobalEnvironmentFacility (GEF) and supported by the WorldBank.

This episode of OCEAN takes us to the Black Sea Search for available translations of the preceding link in the EU’s southeastern corner, where an invasive snail has generated a multi-million euro business, but also guided riparian countries towards unprecedented scientific cooperation to ensure sustainability of stock. In Bulgaria, we join rapa whelk fishers as they catch this invasive species by diving and trawling, and meet scientists studying rapa stocks within the groundbreaking EU research project BlackSea4Fish. The story will continue in Romania, where the EU-supported Aquaculture Demonstration Centre in Constanta helps local investors start sustainable sea farming businesses. We’ll visit the demonstration center to meet a local fisherman that decided to diversify his income by investing into the first operational mussel farm in Romania. Finally, OCEAN visits a one-of-a-kind mussel farm and restaurant in Bulgaria, which benefited from EU support to develop blue farming on the Black Sea.