Vivencia de la enfermedad y prerrequisitos para el tratamiento

EU Coastal and Marine Policy is the responsibility of DG ENV rather than DG MARE, which has responsibility for the IMP. Both policies are to some extent united under the umbrella of a single EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. According to DG ENV, EU legislation to protect Europe’s marine and coastal environments has been progressively implemented in many relevant areas, including through the CFP and Water Framework Directive (WFD). However,

‘these pieces of legislation, although crucial complementary tools to the protection of marine waters, contribute to the protection of the sea only from specific pressures resulting in a fragmented and sectoral approach’ (European Commission 2016b).

For this reason, the European Commission has pursued two instruments: the EU Recommendation on ICZM72 (in conjunction with the MSP Directive; see subsection 4.5.2) and the European Marine Strategy. Together, these offer a comprehensive and integrated approach to the protection of European coasts and marine waters (European Commission 2016b).

72 _{The EU Recommendation on ICZM (2002/413/EC) defines the principles of sound coastal} planning and management to be taken into account by member states when formulating their national strategies.

European Marine Strategy

In the EU Sixth Environment Action Programme (6th EAP 2002-2012) member states committed themselves to halt the loss of biodiversity before 2010 and to develop a thematic strategy for the protection and the conservation of the European marine environment. In 2002 the European Commission DG ENV outlined its vision for the development of a European Marine Strategy to protect and conserve the marine environment (European Commission 2002). Following a lengthy stakeholder consultation73 there was broad support for the notion that the strategy should be based on the following criteria (see European Commission 2006b):

• A holistic and integrated approach that addresses all human uses impacting on the marine environment, rather than through a sector-by-sector approach. • A common vision and general approach regarding strategic goals and

objectives for all sea areas in view of seeking common solutions for common and/or transboundary problems.

• A regional approach recognising specific regional contexts, problems and priorities and an ecosystem approach to the management of all human activities having an impact on the marine environment. Together, these should take into account the regional specificity and ecological diversity of different seas and their subregions (including marine ecoregions), their quality status, specific pressures and threats acting on sea regions, the political, social and economic situations in different regions, and the role of international institutional arrangements, including regional seas conventions (e.g. OSPAR and HELCOM).

• A dual EU/regional approach involving setting at EU level common cooperation approaches among member states and third countries bordering EU oceans and seas (particularly in devising marine strategies) while leaving planning, implementation and management of measures to the regional level (taking into account the diversity of conditions, problems and needs of marine regions and subregions requiring tailor-made solutions).

73 _{This involved two major stakeholder conferences (in Køge, Denmark in December 2002 then in} Rotterdam, The Netherlands in November 2004) and follow-up Internet consultation (March-May 2005).

• A sustained long-term political commitment to implement the European Marine Strategy.

It was widely acknowledged at the time that the European Marine Strategy did not propose the means to develop a fully coherent marine policy covering all uses of the marine environment; and that a new multilevel governance approach and management structure, including a regional stakeholder platform, was needed to deliver truly sustainable development in the marine environment. Developing proposals for this purpose was beyond the mandate of the 6th EAP and required initiatives within the broader framework of the then future IMP under the remit of DG MARE (EU Presidency 2002a, 2002b; European Commission 2004, 2006).

MSFD

In 2005 the European Commission simultaneously published two key documents that paved the way towards greater protection for Europe’s marine biodiversity and marine ecosystems. One was the Thematic Strategy on the Protection and Conservation of the Marine Environment (European Commission 2005c). The other was a proposal for a directive (European Commission 2005d) that subsequently led to the adoption of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).

The MSFD on the protection and conservation of the marine environment (EU 2008) came into force in 2008. It represents the environmental pillar of the IMP and a framework for achieving the sustainable use of marine waters and conservation of marine ecosystems and natural resources. It sets the stage for future development of IMP (Juda 2010). The MSFD is the most important legislative instrument at EU level to implement the ecosystem approach in the European seas and oceans. The overarching goal of the MSFD is for member states to put in place the necessary measures that will achieve or maintain ‘good environmental status’ (GES) of the EU’s marine environment at the level of marine regions or subregions by 2020 at the latest (EU 2008).74 In order to

74 _{GES has to be determined at the level of the marine region or subregion on the basis of 11} qualitative descriptors: biological diversity; non-indigenous species; populations of all commercially exploited fish and shellfish; elements of marine food webs; anthropogenic

achieve this target, each member state is required to develop and implement a strategy for its marine waters, to be reviewed every 6 years.75 Due to the transboundary nature of the marine environment, member states sharing a marine region or subregion are encouraged to cooperate with relevant neighbouring states and third countries to ensure the coordinated development and implementation of marine strategies.76 _Furthermore,

‘Where practical and appropriate, existing institutional structures established in marine regions or subregions, in particular Regional Sea Conventions, should be used to ensure such coordination’ (EU 2008: 20).

Without affecting member states’ jurisdictions, the MSFD extends the EU maritime space and identity seaward from the coastal zone by designating spatial subdivisions of Europe’s marine environment for planning and management purposes. The directive establishes European marine regions and subregions within the geographical boundaries of existing regional seas conventions.77 These transnational marine regions and subregions are determined mainly on the basis of oceanographic and biogeographic ecoregion features (ICES 2004).

eutrophication; sea floor integrity; alteration of hydrographical conditions; concentrations of contaminants; contaminants in fish and other seafood for human consumption; marine litter; and introduction of energy, including underwater noise (EU 2008: Annex I). Furthermore, the Commission Decision 2010/477/EU on criteria and methodological standards on GES of marine waters contains a number of criteria and associated indicators for assessing GES.

75 _{For further details of the marine strategy development and implementation timeline see (1)} http://mcc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/dev.py?N=12&O=16&titre_chap=About%20MSFD, (2) http://ec.europa.eu/environment/marine/eu-coast-and-marine-policy/marine-strategy-framework- directive/index_en.htm and (3) http://www.msfd.eu/knowseas/msfd.html.

76 _{Successful implementation of the MSFD is vital. This involves many implementation challenges} (see van Leeuwen et al. 2014), which are addressed through an informal programme of coordination, the Common Implementation Strategy, between the Commission and the member states (see http://ec.europa.eu/environment/marine/eu-coast-and-marine- policy/implementation/index_en.htm).

77 _{The MSFD divides Europe’s marine environment into four sea basin marine regions: Baltic Sea,} North-East Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Black Sea. The North-East Atlantic Ocean is subdivided into four marine subregions: Greater North Sea, including the Kattegat and English Channel; Celtic Seas; Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast; and the Macronesian biogeographic region, being the waters surrounding the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands.

Interaction with other policies

According to Juda (2010, the MSFD highlights the need for cross-cutting coordination of present efforts to protect the marine environment with a host of other EU-wide policies such as the CFP, the Common Agricultural Policy and WFD as well as with relevant requirements of international agreements. In this sense, the MSFD is seen as ‘a corrective reaction to the failures associated with earlier sectoral policies taken on a compartmentalized basis that have addressed particular marine uses’ (Juda 2010: 38). In other words, the MSFD should not be seen as an end in itself, but rather another step in an ongoing process of policy evolution.

In relation to EU water policy, the MSFD complements the landward vision of the WFD (EU 2000) for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater. The WFD is coupled to, but not truly integrated with, the MSFD (Cinnirella et al. 2014; European Commission 2016c). It is intended to improve water quality in river catchments (Borja et al. 2010). The WFD provides general, normative environmental quality standards for the management and use of freshwater and coastal water ecosystems. The overarching goal is to achieve ‘good status’ of all waters by 2015 (tying in with the goal of achieving GES under the MSFD).78 Water management takes place on a river basin basis. Member states, EU candidate and European Economic Area countries are required to develop and implement river basin management plans in a cooperative and coordinated way, through a Common Implementation Strategy. Regarding EU fisheries policy, Penas Lado (2016) states that the MSFD represents the opposite approach to the one implemented around the CFP:

‘instead of an incremental process of gradual addition of new elements into the picture, the MSFD starts with the whole picture, and sets out to reach objectives in all areas that are relevant for the management of the marine ecosystem. Of course these differences are originated in the different starting point of the fisheries and environmental policies: for

78 _{The second management cycle extends the implementation timetable to 2021 and the third cycle} to 2027 (see http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/info/timetable_en.htm).

the CFP this is the fishing activity, for the MSFD it is the whole sustainability of the marine environment’ (p. 244).

Nevertheless, despite these differences of approach, the MSFD and CFP should ideally fit seamlessly. The objective of keeping marine ecosystems healthy and productive to ensure sustainable exploitation ‘is fully compatible with and conducive to the achievement of the objectives of the CFP’ (p. 244). The MSFD also enshrines the principle of regionalisation, based on the need to act jointly at the level of sea basins, in a way that anticipates the regionalisation of the CFP (Penas Lado 2016).

Following the 2013 reform, the new basic CFP regulation (EU 2013) stresses that the CFP should be coherent with EU environmental legislation and contribute to the protection of the marine environment, sustainable management of all commercially exploited species and, in particular, the objective of achieving GES by 2020 as set out in the MSFD. The new CFP regulation requires member states to implement the ecosystem approach in fisheries management (see subsection 4.5.3) to ensure that negative impacts of fishing activities on the marine ecosystem are minimised. Furthermore, it is appropriate that member states adopt conservation measures under the CFP in order to fulfil certain obligations imposed under the MSFD, that is, regarding marine protected areas (EU 2013: 24).79 Penas Lado (2016: 242) states that the implementation of the MSFD will represent a new frontier in the implementation of the ecosystem approach not just in relation to fisheries policy but also in connection to all EU maritime policies.