Our seas provide us with endless natural resources, support wildlife, keep our climate stable and create employment opportunities. Coastal habitats protect us from extreme weather phenomena, and coastal activities such as tourism and fishing boost the economy.  

However, unsustainable practices threaten the fragile balance of marine ecosystems. This leads to marine litter, seabed damage, biodiversity loss and ocean warming. Marine and coastal environments are also under severe pressure from pollution.

The EU has an integrated coastal and marine policy to protect oceans and ensure their sustainable use.

The EU aims to effectively protect and conserve the health of our oceans and coasts through the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The aim is to achieve a good environmental status of the EU's marine waters and sustainably protect the resource base upon which marine-related economic and social activities depend.

In 2008, the EU adopted the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) to maintain healthy, productive and resilient marine ecosystems while securing a more sustainable use of marine resources.

The Directive requires Member States to develop national marine strategies in order to achieve, or maintain where it exists, 'good environmental status'. Such status should have been achieved by 2020. The marine strategies comprise regular assessments of the marine environment, setting objectives and targets, establishing monitoring programmes and putting in place measures to improve the state of marine waters. All these actions must be done in close coordination with neighbouring countries at regional sea level.

Good environmental status

The main goal of the Marine Directive is to achieve Good Environmental Status of EU marine waters by 2020. The Directive defines Good Environmental Status (GES) as “The environmental status of marine waters where these provide ecologically diverse and dynamic oceans and seas which are clean, healthy and productive”.

It means that the different uses made of the marine resources are conducted at a sustainable level, ensuring their continuity for future generations.

To help Member States interpret what this means in practice, in Annex I the Directive sets out eleven qualitative descriptors which describe what the environment will look like when GES has been achieved.

• Descriptor 1: Biodiversity is maintained
• Descriptor 2: Non-indigenous species do not adversely alter the ecosystem
• Descriptor 3: The population of commercial fish species is healthy
• Descriptor 4: Elements of food webs ensure long-term abundance and reproduction
• Descriptor 5: Eutrophication is minimised
• Descriptor 6: The sea floor integrity ensures functioning of the ecosystem
• Descriptor 7: Permanent alteration of hydrographical conditions does not adversely affect the ecosystem
• Descriptor 8: Concentrations of contaminants give no effects
• Descriptor 9: Contaminants in seafood are below safe levels
• Descriptor 10: Marine litter does not cause harm
• Descriptor 11: Introduction of energy (including underwater noise) does not adversely affect the ecosystem

Review of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive

The Commission is reviewing the Directive and will propose amendments if necessary. The review will build on the implementation report adopted in June 2020 that highlighted a number of elements that need to be addressed.

See the public consultation and provisional timeline.

Related laws

The Marine Directive builds on existing EU legislation and covers specific elements of the marine environment not addressed in other policies. Some of the key legislation and policies directly relevant to the Directive are

• The Water Framework Directive - sets the goal of achieving Good Status for all EU surface and groundwaters by 2015, tying in with the goal of Good Environmental Status under the Marine Directive.
• The Birds and Habitats Directives - Europe’s central laws on nature conservation, providing special protection for key sites including marine.
• The Common Fisheries Policysets out a collaborative approach to managing the EU’s shared seas and fisheries. It lays down rules to ensure Europe’s fisheries are sustainable and do not damage the marine environment.
• REACH Regulation - aims to improve the protection of human health and the environment through the better and earlier identification of the intrinsic properties of chemical substances, like the environmental risk they pose. It is directly related to Descriptor 8 (contaminants) and indirectly to Descriptor 9 (contaminants in seafood) and 10 (marine litter) of the Marine Directive.
• Action plan: Protecting and restoring marine ecosystems for sustainable and resilient fisheries

Find out more about the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

One of the key objectives of the Marine Directive is to contribute to fulfilling international commitments made by the EU and its Member States on marine environmental protection. Many of the concepts and approaches used by the Directive for the EU’s marine waters, such as the ecosystem and integrated approach, originated from international fora and agreements.

The Directive aims to contribute to the following instruments:

• The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS): UNCLOS provides the legal framework for contemporary principles of protection of the marine environment, including the ecosystem-based approach, the precautionary approach and sustainable development.
• The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): The CBD aims to halt biodiversity loss, ensuring the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity, and to create a global network of marine protected areas (MPAs).
• The Regional Seas Conventions (RSC): The RSC are cooperation structures set up to protect the marine environment of a specific marine region.

Regional sea conventions

When developing their marine strategies, Member States are required to coordinate with each other and third countries though existing regional cooperation structures. In Europe, there are four Regional Sea Conventions which aim to protect the marine environment and bring together Member States and neighbouring countries that share marine waters.

Barcelona Convention 

The Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean was adopted in 1995. The aim is to protect the Mediterranean marine and coastal environment while boosting regional and national plans to achieve sustainable development. 

Bucharest Convention 

The Bucharest Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution was adopted in 1992. It is the basic legal framework for regional cooperation to protect the coastal and marine environment. 

HELCOM 

The Helsinki Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area was adopted in 1992. It covers the whole of the Baltic Sea area, including inland waters, sea waters and seabed. Measures are also taken in the whole catchment area of the Baltic Sea to reduce land-based pollution. 

OSPAR 

The OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic was adopted in 1992. It is the legal instrument guiding international cooperation for the protection of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic. 

Underwater noise due to human activities at sea can harm marine biodiversity, leading for example to hearing impairment and behavioural disturbances. EU experts have adopted recommendations on maximum acceptable levels for impulsive (for example from oil and gas exploration and extraction) and continuous (such as from shipping) underwater noise.

Find out more about the limits

• EU action for sustainable oceans
• Marine pollution
• Marine biodiversity
• International ocean governance