Published the new report on the Europe's seas by European Environment Agency
“Marine messages II: Navigating the course towards clean, healthy and productive seas through implementation of an ecosystem‑based approach”
The new report of the European Environment Agency (EEA) provides a worrying picture of the health of European seas with extremely negative repercussions for European citizens in terms of health and economy. The report highlights that the constant impact caused by human activities on our seas, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, has caused the change in the composition of marine species and habitats and, in some cases, even the physical and chemical components of European seas.
To all this must be added climate change, which accentuates the negative effects; however, the Agency highlights that positive experiences of recovery of marine ecosystems that are the reference for new initiatives for the management of human activities are already available.
The EEA, based on the available data, notes that the European states have not managed to reach the "good ecological status" of the seas by 2020, as required by the Framework Directive for the Marine Strategy, the main European legal instrument for the protection of the marine environment.
For this reason, the EEA report proposes the application of an ecosystem management of human activities which is essential to favor the achievement of this very important goal-