In mid May the European Commission adopted the working document ‘A sustainable blue growth agenda for the Baltic Sea Region’ which sets out to provide Baltic Sea member states with a blueprint on how to harness the region´s strength to boost innovation and growth within the maritime area.
In their press release the European Commission says “sustainability is an integral part of the plan as it can act as a driver for innovation and more jobs, like in the area of clean shipping” raising some concern regarding the level of ambition in terms of sustainability and the overarching EU goal of reaching good environmental status (GES) by 2020 under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.
The document sets out to identify blue growth areas which could be strengthen within the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR). And as such there are hints within the document that the European Union would like to link the EUSBSR and the maritime policy even more closely, highlighting the need for the fisheries community to keep a closer eye on the EUSBSR.
The BALTFISH project is brought up as a good example of collaboration between EU administration, the fishing sector and the national administrations. Enhanced dialogue and partnership between the fishing sector and the scientific world is furthermore identified as a key step to further identify and develop sustainable fishing technologies and practices.
What the document fails to address is how the blue growth agenda is to tie in with other directives affecting the Baltic Sea region such as the Marine strategy framework directive (MSFD). There is no doubt that the blue growth agenda will have an impact on the Baltic Sea and its marine environment and as such should at the very minimum level make references to the MSFD and the target of reaching GES by 2020. Particularly as the document sets out that sustainability is a driver for growth with many of the activities identified to have the highest potential in the region depending on a healthy marine environment. A more coordinated approach which integrates EU directives and agendas affecting the marine environemnt such as the Blue growth agenda, MSFD, EU Marine Spatial Planning would be welcomed.