#OurOcean2016: EU-wide action to combat 'scourge of the oceans'

The beautiful Japanese coastal community of Kotohiki (pictured) has a front-row seat when it comes to observing the initial effects of ocean pollution on its territory. Every day, local people have to rid the pristine beach nearby of everything from TV sets and medical waste to plastics and fishermen’s tools. All have been carelessly deposited in the ocean by polluters predominantly from South Korea and China, washing ashore on the coastline. The impact of such environmental pollution is graphically portrayed in a moving new documentary, Washed Ashore: The Singing Sands of Kotohiki Sadly, Kotohiki is not alone in suffering such damage.

The threat of ocean pollution took centre-stage at 'Our Ocean', a major conference attended by Barack Obama and held in Washington, DC from 15-16 September. The next edition of this global gathering will be hosted by the European Union in Malta in October 2017.

In a recent EU survey, the public was asked what topics interested them most. The result was – the environment, including the oceans. With 71% of our earth’s surface covered by oceans that may not be too surprising. Many of us have probably all heard about green growth but perhaps not realised that blue growth is equally important, especially as the United Nations estimate that healthy oceans means job creation for billions of people around the world.

Blue growth is the strategy to support sustainable growth in our seas and oceans. Seas and oceans are drivers for the European economy and have great potential for innovation and growth and, if we can protect our oceans, our economy can grow.

The Rennes-based Conference for Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) is among those who have stood up for our oceans. It says that all countries bordering the sea should continue to work actively to engage private actors and companies and find effective ways to take the action that is needed to tackle the “scourge” of ocean pollution.

The good news is that action is being taken, including a ground-breaking new global vision for a future free from plastic pollution launched by a network of 90 NGOs. Plastics are arguably the main cause of ocean pollution and the vision lays out 10 principles with the ultimate goal being ‘a future free from plastic pollution’.

Scientists predict that without urgent action there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, threatening marine biodiversity and posing a risk to human health. Yet, despite the danger that plastic pollution poses to our planet and to human well-being, governments and industry have so far generally failed to face up to the systemic change required to solve the issue.

Over two thirds of our planet is covered by water yet, the oceans remain a fairly unknown world and we tend to not only forget about the sensitivity but also the potential that lies in this vast ecosystem.

Slowly, however, awareness is rising.

Take, for example, the establishment of the 'Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Co-operation' between the European Union, Canada and the USA and the European Union’s ‘Blue Growth’ strategy. Both are examples of increased interest in the issue among policy makers. But problems persist, including illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, a problem currently being addressed by the international community.

Last June, the Port State Measures Agreement, a key international treaty aimed at combating illegal fishing, came into force. The Agreement, adopted and promoted by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, allows countries to keep illegal operators out of their ports and to prevent them from landing illegal catches.

Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Commissioner Karmenu Vella said: “We need to make sure that all coastal states have the means to effectively implement the Agreement.” His comments are endorsed by Swedish MEP Linnea Engstrom, deputy chairman of the European Parliament’s fisheries committee, who has called for more EU-wide action to combat the 'scourge of the oceans'.

The European Commission recently warned three countries in the Pacific, Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean about illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Kiribati, Sierra Leone and Trinidad and Tobago each risk being listed as "unco-operative" in the fight against illegal fishing. Engstrom said: “Global fish stocks are exploited or depleted to such an extent that without urgent measures we may be the last generation to catch food from the oceans.”

“Today, 85% of global fish stocks are over-exploited, depleted or fully exploited. Unless we act now, seafood may disappear by 2048.”

With illegal fishing, rising sea levels, melting polar ice, coral bleaching, the ferocity of tropical and Atlantic storms – you could be forgiven that never has the health of the Earth’s oceans and its relationship to human lives and endeavours been under closer scrutiny.

But the fight goes on and not just on land but in space.

The third satellite of Europe’s Copernicus programme, launched from northern Russia on 16 February, is part of a fleet of satellites designed to deliver the wealth of data and imagery that are central to the European Commission’s Copernicus environmental monitoring programme, which will be a step change in the way we view and manage our environment, understand and tackle the effects of climate change and safeguard everyday lives.

Carrying a suite of cutting-edge instruments, Sentinel-3 will measure systematically Earth’s oceans, land, ice and atmosphere to monitor and understand large-scale global dynamics. It will provide essential information in near-real time for ocean and weather forecasting. With a focus towards our oceans, Sentinel-3 measures the temperature, colour and height of the sea surface as well as the thickness of sea ice. These measurements will be used, for example, to monitor changes in sea level, marine pollution and biological productivity.

Professor Otmar D. Wiestler, President of the Helmholtz Association, said, “Oceans play a crucial role in various future challenges that mankind is facing, for example, climate change, resource scarcity or natural hazards. The vastness and depth of our oceans encourage us to think that they are invulnerable. He says while space and territory are widely explored and analyzed, the oceans have barely been researched - a paradox that needs to be resolved.

In order to gauge the potential of the oceans but also to identify possible risks, an integrated observation system and common European research cooperation is required, he believes. Much more clearly needs to be done to leave our children with oceans like the ones that were left to us.

This is perhaps best summed up by MEP Engstrom, whose message is: “The struggle to stop the scourge of the oceans continues.”

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