Goal: Support the implementation of marine protections spanning 5% of the European Union’s seas by 2025

The Blue Nature Alliance is collaborating with Seas At Risk, Oceana, and seven country-level partners across Europe. Together, we hope to increase the protection of marine biodiversity across Europe through a network of ocean conservation areas, helping European Union Member States to become champions for ocean protection and restoration, and building the durability of European marine protected areas (MPAs). 

“Our mission together with our project partners is to safeguard marine biodiversity and build ocean resilience to the impacts of climate change by ensuring that Europe fully protects its waters from harmful fishing.”

– Andrea Ripol, Senior Marine Policy Officer, Seas At Risk 

The ocean and seas surrounding Europe comprise a large eco-region, rich in biodiversity, that serves as a significant resource for nations across the European Union. Approximately 40% of Europeans reside in coastal areas where the ocean underlies a heritage of cultural identity and history.

However, despite the European Union’s status as a large maritime power, overfishing and destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling, limited marine protections, and a lack of management planning for the small number of marine protections that do exist, have paved the way for a mosaic of paper parks and degraded ecosystems.   

But the momentum is building for Europe to adjust course. In 2024, the European Union adopted a new Nature Restoration Law that sets legally binding targets for restoring 20% of their land and seas by 2030.  

The Blue Nature Alliance is partnering with Seas At Risk and Oceana to advance their multi-tiered campaign to ensure effective marine protections are established across European waters. The campaign seeks to advance the designation of new MPAs by 2025 and achieve upgraded protections for existing MPAs through bans on bottom trawling.    

The campaign will shed light on the importance of ocean conservation across the region in multiple languages and amplify the voices of local champions. The project brings together partners from Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden, as well as advisory partners based in the UK and Belgium. New protections and a halt to destructive fishing practices will allow nature to heal itself and restore ecosystems and biodiversity while supporting the resilience of coastal communities in the face of the realities of climate change.