EASAC’s Response to the European Commission Public Consultation on the Marine Strategy Framework Directive

• Feedback written by EASAC’s Environment Steering Panel members Prof. Fiona Regan (Ireland) and Prof. Lars H. Smedsrud (Norway).

For decades, the EU has built one of the world’s most advanced bodies of marine law: the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, maritime spatial planning rules, fisheries management, climate adaptation tools, and biodiversity protections. Yet these instruments, strong as they are individually, now operate in a fragmented seascape, which are spread across sectors, timelines, and institutions. Today these instruments no longer match the scale or urgency of the triple planetary crisis that hits our oceans hard – biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change. EASAC thus holds that a European Ocean Act is critical for the protection of the planet.

The Act will set the stage for integrated ocean governance, ecosystem-based management, science-policy interface and the demonstration of data infrastructure & monitoring that can transform our understanding and management of the oceans.

In 2023, the international community adopted the UN High Seas Treaty, or BBNJ Agreement (Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction). BBNJ is a landmark accord designed to protect biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, covering nearly two-thirds of the world’s oceans. The treaty established, for the first time, a legal framework to create marine protected areas on the high seas, require environmental impact assessments for activities in international waters, and ensure fair sharing of benefits from marine genetic resources.

The EU has been a strong supporter of the BBNJ Agreement. But international leadership now demands internal coherence. Without a unified European framework, the EU risks promoting ambition abroad while struggling to align implementation at home. Central to global efforts is the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) where a 30x30 target is underway. This is an international commitment to protect and conserve at least 30% of the world's oceans by 2030 through Marine Protected Areas.

EASAC and the environmental panel warmly welcomes an evaluation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive from 2008 as well as a revision on how we can improve community action in the field of marine environmental policy.

The salt waters of Europe are home to an abundant and diverse array of species and ecosystems, provides habitats for rich marine biodiversity, and supports essential services for all Europeans. EASAC fully agrees that the Directive has not achieved its main objective of Good Environmental Status (GES) in all EU marine waters, and that our oceans are today suffering more than ever under the triple planetary crisis.

This is where the European Ocean Act becomes essential. The Act would provide a single, coherent legal frameworkcapable of coordinating Europe’s existing ocean-related policies on environmental protection, maritime spatial planning, climate resilience, blue economy development, research, and security into a single strategic vision. Rather than replacing existing directives, it would align them, close governance gaps, reduce policy conflicts, and ensure that cumulative impacts on the ocean are finally addressed as such.

Our firm view on why we should progress more significantly towards nature restoration both at sea and on land was recently summarized in our Opportunities in Nature Restoration Commentary (January 12, 2026). Here we outline that restoring nature is one of Europe’s smartest investments in health, security and economic resilience. The cost is estimated to EUR 150 billion – the benefits to 1.8 trillion.

It is also our conclusion that, at present, progress is limited by lacking implementation and enforceability and the existing administrative burden. We already know well that any further additions of plastic and pollutants to our seas are harmful for the marine ecosystem and that we need to stop this pollution as fast as possible. It is for example well documented that a large portion of the plastic found at sea comes from the fishing industry. Strong enforcements need to be put in place to prevent this pollution. After required action is taken, we also need to monitor the rate of success and a return to a less polluted state than we observe today. We also need to better educate the public in how dependent we are on our oceans. Considering evidence of sea level rise and pollution impacts of urban developments, we should stop further development along our shorelines and restore significant portions of the nature we have already degraded.

The cost of delay is no longer abstract. Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and competing uses are converging faster than Europe’s current policy architecture can manage. Fragmentation is now a strategic risk for our marine environment. Therefore, the European Ocean Act cannot be about creating more regulation. It must be about making existing commitments work together, aligning EU action with global obligations, and giving Europe the governance tools it needs to act at the speed and scale the ocean now demands.