1. Marine Expert Group 7th November 2013, Brussels
Marine protected area networks in Europe
Johnny Reker, European Environment Agency
With support from ETC Inland, Coastal and Marine waters & ETC Biodiversity
S. Agnesi, G. Mo, A. Annunziatellis, L. Snoj, L. Globevnik, G. Subelj & B. MacSharry
Glad to have this meeting
Provide an opportunity to discuss and agree (for now) to the structure and planned process
I will
Provide an introduction to the MBA
Progress so far
Structure and content
Future process
Room for discussions and interuptions – joint effort

2. European regional seas
10 regional seas are directly influenced by EU nature legislation
km2
EEA host two databases on protected areas
Common Database on Designated Areas (national sites)
Natura 2000 database
EEA received data from HELCOM, OSPAR and Barcelona RSCs
2/9

3. Coverage of marine protected areas in European Sea 2012
– % cover of Natura 2000, national designated sites & RSCs
0.1
3.0 %
The MPA networks covered km2 in 2012 of the EU marine areas (within 200 nm)
– 65% of the area has designated more than once. In total sites (N2k sites km2)
3/9

4. Coverage of MPA networks in European regional seas
– coastal and offshore
Regional seas
% of 0-1 nm zone covered by MPAs
% of 1-12 nm zone covered by MPAs
% of 12 nm to END covered by MPAs
Baltic Sea
36.1
16.4
3.9
North East Atlantic Ocean
52.1
2.3
Celtic Sea
47.5
8.9
Greater North Sea incl. Kattegat &English Channel
63.4
32.4
11.2
Bay of Biscay and the Iberian Coast
48.9
15.8
1.7
Macaronesia
28.0
4.0
0.6
Mediterranean
30.6
14.2
6.1
Western Mediterranean
60.4
29.6
10.1
Ionian Sea and Central Mediterranean Sea
30.5
2.7
0.0
Adriatic Sea
17.0
1.4
Aegean-Levantine Sea
2.4
Black Sea
77.9
19.3
Total
40.2
15.6
3.0
0-1 nm zone due to WFD, 1-12 nm is territorial waters, nm is a mixture of areas that MS have decided to report upon regardless of jurisdiction capacity (MSFD implemention and relevant for art. 13).
4/9

5. Marine Protected Area networks in European seas
- A coherent MPA network?
Adriatic Sea: MPA cover in 2012
17% covered in the 0-1 nm zone
1.4% covered in the 1-12 nm zone
0% covered beyond 12 nm
5/9

6. Marine Protected Area networks in European seas
- A coherent MPA network?
North Sea: MPA cover in 2012
64.4 % covered in the 0-1 nm zone
32.4% covered in the 1-12 nm zone
11.2% covered beyond 12 nm
6/9

7. Marine Protected Area networks in European seas
- status in 2012
Consists of sites
65% of the network area has been designated more than once
Cover km2
Large differences in coverage between regional seas
Large differences in coverage of coastal vs offshore waters
MPAs cover 5.9 % of EU marine areas
Two regional seas meet the Aichi target of 10% cover in both coastal and offshore waters
Natura 2000 adds a significant part to EU MPA networks
If EU is to meet the Aichi target 11 (10% cover) by km2 still needs to be designated
Will this equal a representative, adequate and coherent network?
7/9

8. Marine Protected Area networks in European seas
- Assessment of ecological coherence
HELCOM 2013
Moved from 3.9% MPA cover in 2004 to 11.7% in 2013
”In 2010 the BSPA MPA network nor the joint BSPA/N2k MPA network could be considered ecologically coherent...”
OSPAR 2013
”OSPAR MPA network is not ecologically coherent though with positive signs”
Opportunities to joint work with HELCOM in the future due to similar conclusions
8/9

9. Thank you
9/9