REGIONE DEL VENETO
WP 4 – Act. 4.1: Holistic management
of the Adriatic Sea
Approaching to a common and legally binding MSP
in Adriatic area: an integrated analysis of the legal
framework, policies and planning instruments
Action 4.1 Final Report
15 May 2013
External Expert:
Thetis S.p.A.
Index
List of Acronyms ......................................................................................................................... 5 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 8 2 Policy and legal framework ............................................................................................. 12 2.1 2.2 European Union Policies ...................................................................................... 16 2.1.1 Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) and Maritime Spatial
Planning (MSP)........................................................................................ 19 2.1.2 The Coastal Zone Policy (CZP) ............................................................... 29 2.1.3 The Biodiversity Policy (BP) .................................................................... 31 2.1.4 The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) ...................................................... 36 EU legal instruments ............................................................................................ 40 2.2.1 The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) ................................ 40 2.2.2 The Water Framework Directive (WFD) .................................................. 44 2.2.3 The EU nature legislation ........................................................................ 47 2.2.4 The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and the
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directives ............................... 49 2.2.5 Integrated Coastal Zone Management Recommendation ...................... 51 2.2.6 The Marine Strategy Framework Directive links with other
European Environmental Directives ........................................................ 53 2.3 Proposal for a Directive on ICZM and MSP ......................................................... 55 2.4 The Mediterranean sea: international conventions and regional
initiatives ............................................................................................................... 56 2.5 2.4.1 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) ............... 56 2.4.2 The Convention of Environmental Impact Assessment in a
Transboundary Context (Espoo) ............................................................. 64 2.4.3 The UN Environmental Regional Seas Programme ................................ 65 2.4.4 The EU Environmental Strategy for the Mediterranean .......................... 70 2.4.5 Maritime Spatial Planning in the Mediterranean Sea .............................. 71 The Adriatic sea: agreements and strategy ......................................................... 73 2.5.1 Trilateral Commission for the protection of the Adriatic .......................... 73 2.5.2 The Adriatic Ionian Initiative .................................................................... 73 2.5.3 The Forum of Adriatic and Ionian Cities .................................................. 74 2.5.4 The Adriatic Euroregion Initiative............................................................. 75 pag. 2/216
3 2.5.5 Maritime Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Seas ................................. 77 2.5.6 Main cooperation programmes ................................................................ 78 Analysis at the national – regional level ......................................................................... 80 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Italy – National level ............................................................................................. 81 3.1.1 Implementation level of IMP and MSP .................................................... 81 3.1.2 Implementation level of MSFD ................................................................ 82 3.1.3 Other legislative and planning tools ........................................................ 84 3.1.4 International agreements ......................................................................... 88 Italy – Regional level ............................................................................................ 90 3.2.1 Veneto Region ......................................................................................... 90 3.2.2 Emilia Romagna Region ........................................................................ 107 3.2.3 Abruzzo region....................................................................................... 127 3.2.4 Puglia Region ........................................................................................ 139 Croatia ................................................................................................................ 142 3.3.1 Implementation level of IMP and MSP .................................................. 143 3.3.2 Implementation level MSFD .................................................................. 147 3.3.3 Other legislative and planning tools ...................................................... 147 3.3.4 Other managing tools and international projects ................................... 164 3.3.5 International agreements ....................................................................... 167 Slovenia .............................................................................................................. 171 3.4.1 Implementation level of IMP and MSP .................................................. 171 3.4.2 Implementation level of MSFD .............................................................. 173 3.4.3 Other legislative and planning tools ...................................................... 174 3.4.4 International agreements ....................................................................... 181 Bosnia Herzegovina ........................................................................................... 183 3.5.1 Legal aspects......................................................................................... 183 3.5.2 International agreements ....................................................................... 183 Albania ................................................................................................................ 184 3.6.1 Implementation level of IMP, MSP and MSFD ...................................... 184 3.6.2 Other legislative and planning tools ...................................................... 184 3.6.3 International agreements ....................................................................... 193 Montenegro ........................................................................................................ 195 3.7.1 Implementation level of IMP and MSP .................................................. 195 pag. 3/216
4 5 3.7.2 Implementation level of MSFD .............................................................. 197 3.7.3 Other legislative and planning tools ...................................................... 198 3.7.4 International agreements ....................................................................... 199 Maritime Spatial Planning: Adriatic sea integrated analysis and conclusions .............. 201 4.1 Maritime jurisdiction and international agreements ............................................ 201 4.2 Institutional and legal framework at the national level........................................ 204 4.3 Conclusive remarks ............................................................................................ 208 References ................................................................................................................... 210 pag. 4/216
List of Acronyms
AE = Adriatic Euroregion
AII = Adriatic Ionian Initiative
ANCI = Associazione Nazionale Comuni Italiani - Italian National Association of the Municipalities
AP = Action Plan
BAP = Biodiversity Action Plan
BD = Birds Directive
BP = Biodiversity Policy
BS = Biodiversity Strategy
CBD = Convention on Biological Diversity
CFP = Common Fishery Policy
CEA = Croatian Environmental Agency
CITES = Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
CMR = Center for Marine Research
CNR = Italian National Research Council
CZP = Coastal Zone Policy
COM = Communication
DTM = Digital Terrain Model
EC = European Commission
EEA = European Environment Agency
EEZ = Exclusive Economic Zone
EFPZ = Ecological and Fishery Protection Zone
EIA = Environmental Impact Assessment
ENPI = European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument
EMFF = European Maritime and Fisheries Fund
EMODNET = European Marine Observation and Data Network
EPZ = Ecological Protection Zone
EU = European Union
FAO UN = Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
GBS = Gravity Based Structure
GEF = Global Environmental Fund
GES = Good Environmental Status
pag. 5/216
GFCM = General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean
HD = Habitat Directive
ICCAT = International Commission for Conservation of Atlantic Tunas
ICZM = Integrated Coastal Zone Management
IMO = International Maritime Organization
IMP = Integrated Maritime Policy
IPPC = Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
ISMAR = Institute of Marine Science
ISPRA = Istituto Superiore per la Protezione dell’Ambiente – Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research
ITLOS = International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
LNG = Liquefied Natural Gas
LOSC = UNCLOS
MATTM = Italian Ministry of the Environment, Land and Sea
MCSD = Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development
MPA = Marine Protected Area
MAP = Mediterranean Action Plan
MARPOL = International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships
MSFD = Marine strategy Framework Directive
MSP = Maritime Spatial Planning
MSSD= Mediterranean Sustainable Strategy Directive
ROPME = Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment
SAC = Special Areas of Conservation
SCI = Site of Community Importance
SEA = Strategic Environmental Assessment
SIBM = Marine Biology Italian Society
SIC = Sito d’Importanza Comunitaria, i.e. Site of Community Importance in Italian
SPA = Special Protected Area
UNCLOS = United Nation Convention on the Law of the sea
UN = United Nation
UNCED = United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
UNDP = United Nations Development Programme
UNECE = United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
UNEP = United Nation Environmental Programme
pag. 6/216
ZPS = Zone di Protezione Speciale; Special Protected Area in Italian
ZTB = Zona di Tutela Biologica; Area of Biological Protection
WFD = Water Framework Directive
WSSD = World Summit on Sustainable development
pag. 7/216
1
Introduction
The sea is a complex ecosystem that cuts across administrative borders. It is subject to considerable pressures from sectors such as fishing, aquaculture, shipping and marinas, energy,
harbours facilities, tourism. These uses compete each other for vital space, threatening some
of the most sensitive and precious habitats. To face these conflicts and mitigate the environmental impacts, it is necessary to make a holistic analysis supporting the development of coherent pictures and the creation of spatial plans, examining the issue of the needed integration
among different policy tools.
The EU Recommendation of 30 May 2002 on Integrated Coastal Zone Management encourages a strategic approach to assure the sustainable development of coastal areas. Following
the EU Recommendation, Member States begun to use ICZM to regulate the spatial deployment of economic activities and to set up spatial planning systems for Europe’s coastal waters.
Nevertheless, there is still a lack of experience, instruments, tools and capacities available to
the policy makers and practitioners to implement these recommendations. At the beginning of
2008, 14 Mediterranean Countries signed the ICZM Protocol, in the framework of the Barcelona Convention and the Mediterranean Action Programme, marking a milestone in the implementation process of ICZM; on December 2008 also the EU signed the ICZM Protocol. Subsequently in 2009 the European Union signed the protocol. Finally it entered into force on the
24 March 2011 after Syria ratification, becoming binding for all the contracting parties.
On June 2008 the Commission adopted the Marine Strategy Framework Directive to promote
the sustainable development of the seas and the protection of the marine ecosystems. The
marine environment strategy and the EU ICZM policy are also enclosed in the general context
of the Integrated Maritime Policy, launched through the EU Communication 10 October 2007
(Blue Book) and defined to develop some of the strategic goals of the EU, which are formulated through the Lisbon strategy.
The IMP calls for Maritime Spatial Planning (Road Map for MSP, 2008) to allocate marine
space in a rational manner and thus to arbitrate between different sectoral or user interests.
This approach requires the consideration of ecological and socio-economic aspects, in line
with the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (COM(2001) 264 final). Consequently, all maritime uses have to be managed in an integrated way that is in compliance with a healthy ecosystem.
The sustainable management of the sea and maritime spatial planning need to be adjusted to
the specific characteristics of the sea and multiple dimensions. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the environmental pillar of IMP, expressly recognizes the importance of manage the sea on a regional basis, highlighting the importance of cooperation across bordering
countries. Marine region and sub region are defined taking into account hydrological, oceanographic and biogeographic features. Maritime spatial planning must operate in three dimensions by simultaneously addressing activities that take place on the sea bed, in the water column and on the surface.
Achieving consistency between land use and maritime planning systems is a challenge.
Coastal zones are the “hinge” between maritime and terrestrial development. Drainage areas
or land-based impacts from activities such as agriculture and urban growth are relevant in the
pag. 8/216
context of MSP. This is why land spatial planning should be coordinated with MSP
(COM(2008) 791 final). Recognising the complementarity and the need to achieve coherence
between the ICZM and MSP policies, in March 2013 the European Commission adopted a
draft proposal for a Directive establishing a common framework to further promote MSP and
ICZM. ). The Commission proposal will be considered by the Council of the European Union
and the European Parliament. Once adopted, the new initiative will become EU law and will
have a binding role for EU Member States. The proposed legislative instrument will require
Member States to establish integrated coastal zone management strategies and develop maritime spatial plans.
All these instruments, contribute to reach the commitments deriving from the Integrated Maritime Policy for the protection and management of the marine environment and provide operators with improved predictability for their planning of future investments.
The above mentioned EU policies, as well as the Communication on Integrated Maritime Policy in the Mediterranean (2009), are the basis of SHAPE Project, which aims at the sustainable
development of the Adriatic Region strengthening the protection and enhancement of the marine and coastal environment, setting-up of a multilevel and cross-sector governance system
assuring the rational use of the Adriatic Sea and its resources and able to solve conflicts
among different uses.
In line with the indications given by the European institutions, the proposed approach will allow
to reach a high level of coherence and complementarity between planning in coastal areas
and planning in maritime spaces, binding ICZM and MSP.
Projects’ specific objectives are to:

make human activities in coastal and marine areas more sustainable;

manage conflicts among concurrent uses and support the decision-making process;

strengthen the role of ICZM in the whole Adriatic region and to prepare the ground for
National and local strategies;

promote MSP in the Adriatic Region according to the EU key principles;

reach an high level of coherence between planning in coastal areas and planning in
maritime spaces, binding ICZM and MSP;

fill the lack of adequate legal framework (such as integrated coastal strategies) and
improve the existing tools;

improve the capacity building of institutions and authorities responsible for coastal
management and marine issues;

ensure coordination among institutions and authorities responsible for coastal and sea
management upgrading existing governance structures for better integration and cooperation;

enhance the stakeholders involvement, the information flow among various stakeholders and to strengthen the links among actors and key institutions;

improve the public participation process, through encouraging public participation in
coastal management processes, and to increase the public awareness;
pag. 9/216

share data and experience as a common base of knowledge allowing the coherent
and conscious governance of the coastal and marine environment;

develop a coherent picture of the Adriatic sea and contribute to the European Marine
Observation and Data Network (EMODNET) and to the objectives of the Marine
Framework Strategy;

coordinate the activities in the Adriatic Sea with other initiatives in the European Seas
and Oceans, allowing the creation of an European knowledge network;

create an Adriatic network where “put on the table” specific experience and knowledge
promoting synergies and avoiding duplications between different projects (especially
the ones financed by the IPA CBC Adriatic Programme).
The Shape project is structured in 5 Work Packages (Figure 1). Apart the horizontal ones,
namely WP1 – Project management and Coordination and WP2 – Communication and Dissemination, three WPs have been defined to embrace all the technical activities at the core of
the project: WP3 - Integrated Coastal Zone Management and WP4 - Shipping towards Maritime Spatial Planning, and WP5 Within Land and Sea.
Figure 1-1 The Shape Project Structure.
pag. 10/216
Due to the fact the project has itself an integrated methodology approach, it naturally goes
with an integrated methodology of participation: it starts from the management, coordination
and dissemination (WP1 and WP2) towards the real integrated coastal zone management with
the effective implementation of the ICZM Protocol (WP3) strengthening its role in the Adriatic
Region and preparing the ground for National and local strategies.
This approach goes towards the activities of the WP4 for a future Maritime Spatial Planning to
reach an high level of coherence between planning in coastal areas and planning in maritime
spaces, binding ICZM and MSP and it ends within the WP5 with the definition of a common
base of knowledge that develops a coherent picture of the Adriatic sea and contributes to
EMODNET.
WP3, WP4 and WP5 will be implemented contemporaneously, by a continuous exchange of
outputs and results from one to another, ensuring in this way the real coherence among single
activities.
Work Package 4 aims at addressing MSP in the Adriatic sub-region, creating an ad hoc methodology for maritime planning and to test MSP at local scale by common data processing,
mapping and developing pilot actions.
To reach this objective WP4 in articulated in 5 actions addressing the following issues:

Action 4.1 an holistic approach for a common Maritime Spatial Planning;

Action 4.2 ecosystem assessment as the basis for MSP;

Action 4.3 major issues analysis and maps creation for MSP;

Action 4.4 Pilot Project for ICZM/MSP integration;

Action 4.5 Development of a common methodology for MSP.
The present report is the final output of action 4.1. Action 4.1 is focused on the application of
an holistic approach for a Maritime Spatial Planning implementation and as a first step addresses the comparative and integrated analysis of the policies and legal framework concerning IMP, MSP and MSFD at European, Regional and sub-regional sea level (Mediterranean
and Adriatic sea). Beside this introduction the report is structured in other 3 chapters:

Chapter 2 illustrates the frame of reference in which MSP and MSFD occur, discussing the interlinks with other European policies and legislative tools directly related with
sustainable development and environmental protection. Since the discussion cannot
leave aside the international context, when useful, International Conventions and Regional and Sub-regional Initiatives (Mediterranean and Adriatic Sea level) are recalled.

Chapter 3 is focused on how IMP, MSP and MSFD have been concretely implemented in terms of legislative instruments and planning tools in project partner countries
and/or regions. Moreover, the analysis describes how other concretely implemented
legislative and planning tools - related to the issues highlighted in chapter 2 – can
support IMP, MSP and MSFD.

Chapter 4 intends to integrate information collected in previous chapters in order to
develop An overall picture of the Adriatic sea highlighting synergies, gaps and conflicts among different legislative and planning tools in order to successfully implement
MSP at the sub-basin scale.
pag. 11/216
2
Policy and legal framework
Coastal and marine ecosystems provide a variety of ecological functions that directly or indirectly translate to economic services and values to humans (MEA, 2003). For the most part,
marine and coastal natural resources are renewable and if sustainably managed, they should
provide continuing returns without diminishing their productivity. Indeed, for many of these resources, including fishing and tourism, efficient management and sustainable exploitation
have been the exception rather than the rule (Remoundou et al., 2009). Resources have been
depleted and have collapsed due to human pressures and climate change (IPCC, 2007; ESF,
2007), with economic and social consequences for humans.
Increased activity within marine waters has led inevitably to growing competition for finite maritime space. Seas and oceans, once used only for surface shipping and fishing, are now subject to competing claims for space from a range of different sectors and stakeholders (MRAG
et al., 2008). Static structures for energy production (oil and gas extraction, wind energy) compete with the needs of intensified shipping activity arising from more and ever larger vessels.
Tourism uses and landscape values conflict with new port developments and infrastructure
coastal defences that may be necessary to respond to climate change effects such as sea
level rise and storm surges. Moreover the overall pressures caused by urbanization and economic growth in coastal areas, threatens the maritime space needed for the survival of marine
ecosystems and habitats.
At the European level, in the last decades, sectoral policies were developed to tackle unsustainable development trends with a geographic perspective (land, coastal areas and sea) and
a thematic perspective (ecosystem quality, biodiversity protection, spatial planning). The past
has shown that this can lead to the adoption of conflicting measures, which in turn have unintended consequences on the marine environment, or may impose disproportionate constraints
on competing maritime activities (Schäfer, 2009). A fragmented way of policy making was the
result.
The challenge is to regulate or indeed plan these activities, overcoming the sectoral approach,
furthermore integrating horizontally and vertically different agencies competences with their
own specific legislative approach to the allocation and use of maritime space. Finally crossborder issues are to be taken into account since developments in one country (e.g. creation of
a wind farm) may have implications for another country (e.g. visual impacts).
In recent years the need for a more holistic approach was recognized and an overarching
framework, the Integrated Maritime Policy, was developed in order to integrate sectorial issues
with an ecosystem based management view.
The IMP sets out a common framework for EU policies relating to maritime issues. It will not
replace sector policies but will ensure that these sectoral policies are coherent and mutually
reinforce each other. It aims “to enhance Europe's capacity to face challenges imposed by e.g.
globalisation, climate change, degradation of the marine environment, maritime safety and security, and energy security and sustainability” (The Blue Paper, COM (2007) 575). The Integrated EU Maritime Policy is based on excellence in marine research, technology and innovation, and is anchored in the Lisbon and Gothenburg agendas which are the political foundation
for the promotion of growth and jobs in a sustainable manner.
pag. 12/216
IMP will focus its action in the following five areas:

Maximising the Sustainable Use of the Oceans and Seas;

Building a knowledge and innovation base for the maritime policy;

Delivering the Highest Quality of Life in Coastal Regions;

Promoting Europe's Leadership in International Maritime Affairs;

Raising the Visibility of Maritime Europe.
“These actions will be guided by the principles of subsidiarity and competitiveness, the ecosystem approach, and stakeholder participation” (The Blue Paper, COM (2007) 575).
Sustainable development is at the heart of the Integrated EU Maritime Policy which is reflected
by its holistic, cross-sectoral approach. An integrated governance framework as set out in this
policy requires appropriate horizontal tools that help policy makers and economic and environmental actors to join up their policies, interlink their activities and optimize the use of marine and coastal space in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP), together with maritime surveillance and a comprehensive
and accessible source of data and information, is such a horizontal tool and therefore a key
instrument for the implementation of the Integrated EU Maritime Policy. MSP helps public authorities and stakeholders to coordinate their action and optimize the use of marine space to
benefit economic development and the marine environment.
MSP is an integrated process that builds on the ecosystem-based approach. This approach
requires the consideration of ecological and socio-economic aspects, in line with the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (COM(2001)264 final). Consequently, all maritime uses have
to be managed in an integrated way that is in compliance with a healthy ecosystem. The main
objective of MSP is to allocate marine space in a rational manner and thus to arbitrate between different sectoral or user interests. MSP is reaching beyond managing and protecting
the marine environment (Schäfer, 2009). It seeks to integrate all relevant maritime sectors –
no sector is given priority over the other.
Marine spatial planning regime seek to reconcile competing claims on the use of space and in
doing so make use of plans and maps as well as ‘zoning’ different areas for different purposes. The management process set up by MSP has to reflect the specific needs and challenges
of a given sea area. Moreover to be effective, MSP must operate in three dimensions by simultaneously addressing activities that take place: (a) on the sea bed; (b) in the water column;
and (c) on the surface (Figure 2-1). These activities are usually not independent from each
other but permanently intertwined.
MSP must however take account of both fixed structures, such as oil rigs and wind-farms, and
temporary activities such as navigation (both surface and submarine) and capture fisheries
(Figure 2-2). Finally the time dimension is of high importance in MSP which makes it in fact a
four-dimensional process (Schäfer, 2009). The compatibility of uses and the resulting management need of a particular maritime region might significantly vary over time. This variation
has to be taken into account when management decisions are made.
pag. 13/216
Figure 2-1 Water column view of potential areas of spatial conflict between users. Red
& black zones; Permanent conflict is created by the stakeholder. Green zones; Temporary conflicts arising between stakeholders, commonly an issue dealing with mobile
stakeholders & their location (from MRAG et al., 2008).
Figure 2-2 Plan view of potential areas of spatial conflict between users within the
coastal zone, with EU legislative tools. Red zones; Permanent conflict is created by the
stakeholder. Green zones; Temporary conflicts that arise between stakeholders, commonly an issue dealing with mobile stakeholders & their location (modified from MRAG
et al., 2008).
pag. 14/216
MSP can be implemented through various instruments of which zoning is only one possible
option. Maritime spatial planning is a circular process that consists of the definition of development objectives, the assessment of the present situation for which the best available data
and information should be used, stakeholder involvement, the transparent and participatory
development of a maritime spatial plan, the implementation of this plan, enforcement
measures, evaluation and subsequent revision or amendments.
The following figure explains the different steps of the MSP planning process and its circular
character.
Figure 2-3 Planning Cycle developed by the BALANCE project (Source: Ekebom et al.
2008).
In the European Union, the Integrated Maritime Policy envisages Marine Spatial Planning as
an instrument for developing and implementing maritime policy; however, neither of the two
actions is binding for States as yet. To this regard, as described by paragraph 2.3, in March
2013 the European Commission issued a proposal for a Directive establishing a framework for
maritime spatial planning and integrated coastal zone management (COM(2013)133 final).
The Commission proposal will now be considered by the Council of the European Union and
the European Parliament. Once adopted, the new initiative will become EU law.
The environmental pillar of IMP, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) is binding
for Member States; it provides a cross-sectoral framework for marine management, having also a strong link to other binding legislative tools such as the Habitat Directive, the Water
Framework Directive (Vivero and Manson, 2012). The Directive supports the implementation
pag. 15/216
of MSP through the requirement that Member States have to achieve or maintain Good Environmental Status (GES) of the marine environment by 2020. It particularly asks EU Member
States to develop marine strategies for their marine waters and to cooperate if they are sharing a marine region or sub-region (art. 5). Annex VI of the Directive explicitly mentions programmes of measures amongst which are management measures that influence where and
when an activity is allowed to occur and tools to ensure that management is coordinated – in
other words MSP. For a detailed description of the MSFD principles and the links with other
directives, included in particular the WFD (see prg. 2.2.1 and prg. 2.2.2).
In the present chapter European Policies and their pillars (legislative acts or strategies), directly or indirectly concerning sea sustainable management, are described. Beginning with the Integrated Maritime Policy, the coastal zone policy, the biodiversity and fishery policies are recalled; to follow the Mediterranean framework for marine protection is presented with a focus
on the Adriatic sea sub basin initiatives on cooperation. Major sources of information are the
web sites of the European Commission, official EU documents, peer review articles and EU
funded projects’ publications.
2.1
European Union Policies
The legal and policy regulation of the sustainable management of the sea has multiple levels.
In Figure 2-4 is illustrated the International Conventions and European Policy framework, regarding the sustainable management of the sea, with major links among policies and legislative tools at global, European, Mediterranean and Adriatic sea level.
At the global level United Nation Agencies and Programmes (such as International Maritime
Organization, UN Environmental Programme, the Agenda 21, The Espoo Convention and the
Convention on the Law of the Sea) constitute the general reference framework for regional
and local actions aiming at environmental protection and sustainable development worldwide.
The reference International instrument with an impact on Integrated Maritime Policy and Maritime Spatial Planning is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
which balances the rights and interests of, for instance, flag states, coastal states and port
states. The division of seas and oceans into maritime zones, some of which must be claimed
by coastal states in order to have legal effect, is particularly relevant. Also of importance is the
principle of freedom of navigation guaranteed under UNCLOS, which is conditional upon rules
and standards on maritime safety and protection of the marine environment being met .
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) establishes internationally recognized rules and
standards for shipping and maritime transport such as traffic separation schemes.
The European Union has developed a considerable policy framework over the last two decades aimed principally at the sustainable management of marine resources, but also in part
aimed at the protection of marine biodiversity. Cross sectorial policies concerning marine sustainable management and related legal tools are reported in Figure 2-5.
At the regional sea level, the Mediterranean sea was the first basin that adopted a Regional
Seas Programme under UNEP's umbrella, which gained to the Mediterranean Strategy for
Sustainable Development and several protocols for marine protection (under the Barcelona
Convention).
pag. 16/216
Since the cross sectoral nature of the IMP, all the major European Policies are closely linked;
the land –sea interface, as well as cross border issues, are gaining much more attention from
the EU than in the past driving a new effort toward a major coordination in integrated plans
and measures. Recognizing that the Mediterranean can only be protected with a coherent,
functioning region-wide system of environmental protection and recovery, the European
Commission set a strategy towards this goal through the environment cooperation with partner
countries (COM(2006) 475 final). At the Adriatic sea level several cooperation agreements between bordering countries were signed in the past; the Adriatic Euroregion, founded in 2006
represents a model of co-operation that includes trans-national and inter-regional co-operation
between regions of the Adriatic coastline.
In the following paragraphs the Integrated Maritime Policy is presented together with other relevant European policies, dealing with environmental protection and sustainable management
of marine resources.
pag. 17/216
Figure 2-4 International Conventions and European Policy framework.
pag. 18/216
Figure 2-5 Marine sustainable management in the context of European policies and legislative tools.
2.1.1
Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) and Maritime Spatial Planning
(MSP)
Following decisions made in the European Commission's Strategic Objectives for 2005–2009
about the establishment of a new European Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) the Commission
has put forward a new vision for Europe's oceans and seas.
The Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) applies to the oceans and seas a holistic, integrated approach and promises to replace compartmentalized resource management approach with an
ecosystem based management view. The Integrated Maritime Policy provides a reference
framework and a selection of specific objectives to allow Europe to define the actions needed
to attain both these objectives and the overall goals of the new policy.
pag. 19/216
IMP aims to tackle all maritime activities and sustainable development aspects of the oceans
and seas, including the marine environment, in an overarching fashion (COM(2007) 575 final):

Applying the integrated approach to maritime governance;

Developing tools for integrated policy-making;

Maximizing the sustainable use of the oceans and seas;

Building a knowledge and innovation base for the maritime policy;

Delivering the highest quality of life in coastal regions;

Promoting Europe's leadership in international maritime affairs.
Preceded by successful involvement of stakeholders during the consultation process of the
Green Paper (European Commission 2006a) on 10 October 2007, the European Commission
adopted the Blue Paper proposing an Integrated Maritime Policy for the EU (COM(2007) 575),
and a detailed Action Plan (SEC (2007) 1278). The European Council endorsed the IMP and
the Action Plan on 14 December 2007.
IMP Blue paper announced some strategic initiatives as the foundation for more detailed implementation steps in the Actions Plan (AP):

A European Maritime Transport Space without barriers;

A European Strategy for Marine Research;

National integrated maritime policies to be developed by Member States;

An European network for maritime surveillance;

A Roadmap towards maritime spatial planning by Member States;

A Strategy to mitigate the effects of Climate Change on coastal regions;

Reduction of CO2 emissions and pollution by shipping;

Elimination of pirate fishing and destructive high seas bottom trawling;

An European network of maritime clusters;

Reviews of EU labour law exemptions for the shipping and fishing sectors.
The AP reflects the new integrated approach to maritime affairs, considering a wide spectrum
of issues, from maritime transport to the competitiveness of maritime businesses, from employment to scientific research and the protection of the marine environment. The AP states
that a new integrated governance framework for maritime affairs requires cross-cutting tools to
help policy makers and economic and environmental actors to join up their policies, interlink
their activities and optimize the use of the marine and coastal space in an environmentally
sustainable manner (Meiner, 2010). These tools, as set out in the Integrated Maritime Policy
Communication (COM(2007) 575 final) comprise: the development of a more integrated network of surveillance systems for European waters, the development of Maritime Spatial Planning, assisted by a road map drawn up by Commission, and an EU Marine Observation and
Data Network (EMODNET) to optimize and bring coherence to the current fragmented initiatives that gather data on oceans and seas.
Moreover the Action Plan announced the development of a Marine and Maritime Research
Strategy (COM(2008)354), in consultation with Member States and stakeholders, which sup-
pag. 20/216
ports infrastructure, education, capacity-building and a new cross-thematic approach. The aim
of the strategy “is to propose the means to create a better integration between marine and
maritime research. Whilst acknowledging the importance to pursue efforts within the different
marine and maritime research disciplines (e.g. cleaner and more efficient marine engines, better vessels design, optimal logistics of traffic flows, safety and security of maritime activities,
image of shipping, etc.), the focus of the communication is on improving interactions between
marine and maritime research rather than specifically addressing well established research
sectors”.
With the COM(2008) 791 (Communication on a Roadmap for Maritime Spatial Planning:
Achieving common principles in the EU) the Commission aimed “to facilitate the development
of Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) by Member States and encourage its implementation at
national and EU level”. It sets out 10 key principles for MSP (see box below) and seeks, by
way of debate, to encourage the development of a common approach among Member States.
In 2009 the European Commission has presented a Progress Report outlining the achievements of the EU’s Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) over the past two years and looking out
into its future. Alongside this, the Commission has presented concrete proposals on major issues concerning cross sector integration, cooperation among countries, maritime surveillance
and the international dimension of Europe’s maritime policy. The Progress Report takes stock
of two years of IMP achievements. It also sets out six strategic policy orientations1:

Integration of maritime governance: EU institutions, Member States and coastal regions have a particular responsibility in ensuring upstream policy integration and in
adopting coherent, joined up agendas for maritime affairs, further counteracting the
prevalence of isolated sectoral policy thinking. Effective structures for cross-sectoral
collaboration and stakeholder consultation need therefore to be put in place to harness all synergies from sectoral policies impacting on the seas.

Development of cross-cutting policy tools: namely maritime spatial planning, comprehensive marine knowledge and data, and integrated maritime surveillance.

Definition of limitations to maritime activities as necessary in order to guarantee sustainability: within the framework of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, this will
ensure that no maritime activities are allowed to develop without real consideration for
their cumulative impact on the marine environment.

Development of sea-basin regional strategies: priorities and policy-making tools of
maritime affairs need to be adapted to the unique geo-physical, economic and political
context of Europe's major maritime basins.

Development of the international dimension of the Integrated Maritime Policy: the EU
leadership in global maritime affairs, including in debating climate change and preservation of marine biodiversity will greatly strengthen the EU's position in multilateral and
bilateral relations.

Renewed focus on sustainable economic growth, employment and innovation: The EU
should have a coherent, comprehensive agenda for economics on maritime affairs, in-
1
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1530&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLan
guage=en
pag. 21/216
cluding pushing for the development of intra-European maritime transport, stimulating
investments in EU flagged shipping and in the shipbuilding sector, taking forward the
project of clean ships, linking further the EU energy and climate change policies with
maritime policy, and by ensuring that in the debate on territorial cohesion policy maritime and coastal areas are fully taken into account.
This progress report was accompanied by a Commission Staff Paper which presented in details the progress made so far on the items of the Action Plan adopted in October 2007 (COM
(2009) 540 final of 15.10.2009).
The Council conclusions on Integrated Maritime Policy of 16 November 2009 encouraged the
Commission to make proposals on improving the use of scientific knowledge considered as a
key component of the EU's plan to integrate marine and maritime research (COM(2008) 534).
In the COM(2010) 771 of 17.12.2010 Achievements and future development the Commission
draw three main conclusions from the experience gained on MSP since the launch of the EU
IMP and the Roadmap Communication on MSP:

The consultation process that followed the Roadmap revealed broad agreement on
the need for a common approach on MSP and confirmed an interest to develop MSP
further at EU level.

Development of MSP processes by Member States is taking place, but on an ad hoc
basis, following different paths and time scales. A more coherent common approach
would significantly enhance the potential value of MSP for the EU as a whole, as well
as in a sea basin context.

The increased need for coordinated planning of sea basins, both in the context of current economic developments and in the context of the implementation of EU policies
and legislation, would benefit strongly from MSP, as this policy would set out parameters that facilitate cross-border cooperation on MSP among Member States.
On this basis, the Commission sees the need and the value to push efforts towards a common
approach to MSP, relying on the significant experience that has been gathered in the Member
States, as well as in international fora and third countries. An important added value is recognized in that further action on MSP at EU level lies also in focusing on cross-border cooperation, establishing a common process-oriented framework within which Member States can carry out MSP in an optimal way.
The Commission underlines the importance of full coordination in any further action on MSP at
EU level with, and in support of, current and future policies and initiatives within the field of
maritime policy; in particular stresses the importance of fully integrate the implementation of
the MSFD and of ICZM, and fully respecting the existing competences and jurisdictions of the
relevant authorities. The need for coastal and marine policies integration, as well as the coordination of their respective planning and regulatory tools was also one of the major outcomes
of the public consultation launched from the Commission in 2011. The Consultation was one
of the initiatives promoted by the Commission to inform the impact assessment launched to
explore a range of options to promote and develop MSP further, in conjunction with options to
develop ICZM further, and taking other EU policies into account (for further information
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/iczm/ia.htm). The results of the consultation showed that the
respondents call for the promotion of a more active debate in international fora by the EU in
the field of International co-operation on the high seas; a common framework is needed and
pag. 22/216
EU must have a coherent direction, common goals and objectives for MSP. Also based on the
consultation results, the EC launched a proposal for a Directive establishing a framework for
maritime spatial planning and integrated coastal zone management (COM(2013)133), that is
described in paragraph 2.3.
Maritime Spatial Planning key principles
COM(2008) 791 final
1. Using MSP according to area and type of activity: Management of maritime spaces through MSP should be based on the type of planned or existing activities and
their impact on the environment.
2. Defining objectives to guide MSP: MSP should be used to manage on-going activities and guide future development in a sea area. A strategic plan for the overall
management of a given sea area should include detailed objectives.
3. Developing MSP in a transparent manner; Transparency is needed for all documents and procedures related to MSP.
4. Stakeholder participation; In order to achieve broad acceptance, ownership and
support for implementation, it is equally important to involve all stakeholders, including coastal regions, at the earliest possible stage in the planning process.
5. Coordination within Member States — Simplifying decision processes; Coordinated and crosscutting plans need a single or streamlined application process and
cumulative effects should be taken into account. The internal coordination of maritime affairs within Member States proposed in the Guidelines for an Integrated
Approach to Maritime Policy should also benefit the implementation of MSP.
6. Ensuring the legal effect of national MSP; MSP should be legally binding if it is to
be effective. This might also raise the issue of the appropriate administrative
framework for MSP.
7. Cross-border cooperation and consultation; Cooperation across borders is necessary to ensure coherence of plans across ecosystems. It will lead to the development of common standards and processes and raise the overall quality of MSP.
8. Incorporating monitoring and evaluation in the planning process MSP operates in
an environment exposed to constant change. It is based on data and information
likely to vary over time. The planning process must be flexible enough to react to
such changes and allow plans to be revised in due course. To meet these two requirements, a transparent regular monitoring and evaluation mechanism should
be part of MSP.
9. Achieving coherence between terrestrial and maritime spatial planning —relation
with ICZM; Achieving consistency between terrestrial planning (including coastal
zones) and maritime planning systems is a challenge. The respective services
should cooperate and involve stakeholders so as to ensure coherence.
10. A strong data and knowledge base; MSP has to be based on sound information
and scientific knowledge. Planning needs to evolve with knowledge (adaptive
management).
Following the importance, highlighted in 2009 by the General Affairs Council, to fund the further development and implementation of the IMP by inviting "the Commission to present the
necessary proposals for the financing of integrated maritime policy actions within the existing
pag. 23/216
Financial Perspective, with a view to entry into force by 2011", a Proposal for a Regulation of
the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Programme to support the further
development of an Integrated Maritime Policy was elaborated (Council of the European Union,
10916/11). In September 2010, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Regulation of the
European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Programme to support the further development of an Integrated Maritime Policy and submitted it for examination to the Council
working bodies and to the European Parliament.
The European Parliament legislative resolution of 17 November 2011 on the proposal for a
regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Programme to support
the further development of an Integrated Maritime Policy (COM(2010)0494 – C7-0292/2010 –
2010/0257(COD)) approved € 40M budget for the Integrated Maritime Policy that incorporates
transport, tourism, fisheries and environmental protection. It stresses that the policy should
contribute to the development of the EU’s coastal areas.
As stated in the Regulation, the Programme shall have the following general objectives:
a) to foster the development and implementation of integrated governance of maritime
and coastal affairs;
b) to contribute to the development of cross-sectoral tools, namely Maritime Spatial
Planning, the Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE) and marine
knowledge on the oceans, seas and coastal regions within and bordering the Union, in
order to develop synergies and to support sea or coast-related policies, particularly in
the fields of economic development, employment, environmental protection, research,
maritime safety, energy and the development of green maritime technologies, taking
into account and building upon existing tools and initiatives;
c) to promote the protection of the marine environment, in particular its biodiversity, and
the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources and to further define the boundaries of the sustainability of human activities that have an impact on the marine environment, in particular in the framework of Directive 2008/56/EC (the Marine Strategy
Framework Directive);
d) to support the development and implementation of sea-basin strategies;
e) to improve and enhance external cooperation and coordination in relation to the objectives of the IMP, on the basis of advancing debate within international forums; in this
respect, third countries shall be urged to ratify and implement the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS);
f)
to support sustainable economic growth, employment, innovation and new technologies in maritime sectors and in coastal, insular and outermost regions in the Union.
pag. 24/216
Table 2-1 EU Maritime and Marine Policy development.
ACT
COM(2006) 275 Volume
II – ANNEX of 7.6.2006
Title
Major scope
GREEN PAPER Towards a future Maritime
The Commission proposes an Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union, based on the clear recogni-
Policy for the Union: A European vision for
tion that all matters relating to Europe's oceans and seas are interlinked, and that sea-related policies must de-
the oceans and seas
velop in a joined-up way if we are to reap the desired results.
The Conclusion from the Consultations highlighted that Member States and the institutions of the European
Communication from the Commission to the
Union welcome the principle of the integrated management of maritime affairs.
European Parliament, the Council, the Eu-
The EU institutions often wish to go even beyond the proposals made in the Green Paper, whereas opinion is
COM(2007) 574 of
ropean economic and social Committee and
more divided amongst civil society. There is consensus on objectives, but at times disagreement as to the solu-
10.10.2007
the Committee of the regions. Conclusions
tions proposed. Environmental organizations view maritime policy as a way of involving environmental objec-
from the Consultation on a European Mari-
tives in all sectors.
time Policy
All stakeholders agree on the importance of better public awareness of the seas and oceans, as this could improve the image of the maritime economy and make citizens more aware of the maritime environment.
Communication from the Commission to the
COM(2007) 575 of
10.10.2007
European parliament, the Council, the European economic and social Committee and
the Committee of the Regions - An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union
Commission Staff Working Document - Accompanying document to the Communication from the Commission to the European
SEC(2007) 1280 of
Parliament, the Council, the European Eco-
10.10.2007
nomic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union. Action
Plan
This Communication aims to sketch the first steps towards a common approach on MSP. In identifying key
principles both from on-going practice and existing regulations, it seeks to encourage a debate to help guide
the development of MSP in the EU. the Commission has therefore proposed an overarching Maritime Policy
with the following goals: (1) maximizing the sustainable use of the oceans and seas; (2) building a knowledge
and innovation base for the maritime policy; (3) delivering the highest quality of life in coastal regions; (4) promoting Europe’s leadership in international maritime affairs; and (5) raising the visibility of Maritime Europe.
Moreover, an Action Plan lists a range of concrete initiatives that were taken as first steps towards a more consistent, integrated EU Maritime Policy. The Action Plan sets out a number of measures to be taken by Commission as a first step in implementing a new integrated maritime policy for the EU, namely actions which aim to
improve the maritime economy, protect and restore the marine environment, strengthen research and innovation, foster development in coastal and outermost regions, provide leadership in international maritime affairs,
and raise the visibility of Europe's maritime dimension.
pag. 25/216
ACT
Title
Major scope
The guidelines set out the policy’s overarching vision and encompass the actions of Member States and maritime stakeholders towards an integrated approach to maritime affairs at the national level.
Member States are encouraged to establish their own integrated maritime policies in close collaboration with
their national and regional maritime stakeholders. Due to the many interactions between different maritime policies, efficient coordination of every action developed by government organisations will be required. To achieve
this it is advised that Member States improve and facilitate cooperation at all levels of maritime governance,
including at the European level.
Member States should consider creating internal coordinating structures within their government frameworks
(government departments, national parliaments, etc.). Such a structure could provide a government framework
to facilitate decision-making at the national level. A post responsible for the coordination of maritime affairs
Communication from the Commission to the
could be created. The role would consist specifically of structuring the dialogue between the different sectoral
Council, the European Parliament, the Eu-
interests.
ropean Economic and Social Committee
Coastal regions and other local decision-makers should be allowed to play a role in the development of inte-
COM(2008) 385 of
and the Committee of the Regions. Guide-
grated maritime policies, taking into account their experience of Integrated Coastal Zone Management and reg-
26.06.2008
lines for an Integrated Approach to Maritime
ulating the spatial deployment of their activities.
Policy: Towards best practice in integrated
All maritime stakeholders should participate in integrated maritime policy-making. These include economic
maritime governance and stakeholder con-
partners (industries and services), social partners, NGOs, universities and research institutions. Their participa-
sultation
tion at the national, regional and local levels is recommended. Member States should authorise the participation of these stakeholders in the governance of maritime affairs whilst ensuring the transparency of the decision-making process.
It is essential to develop cross-border coordination at regional sea basin level, to ensure the dissemination of
good practices and to develop improved cooperation between Member States in certain areas, such as those
relating to the protection of the marine environment, to the safety, security, and surveillance of Europe’s maritime areas and to marine and maritime research. To this end, the European Commission is developing regional
strategies and is currently preparing strategies for the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean.
The Commission invites Member States to share information on the steps they are taking towards integrated
maritime governance. The Commission shall publish the collated information on the Internet in table form. The
information could be used as a model for sharing good practice.
pag. 26/216
ACT
Title
Major scope
Maritime Spatial Planning is an instrument of the Integrated Maritime Policy which helps to improve coordina-
COM(2008) 791 of
25.11.2008
Communication on a Roadmap for Maritime
tion between the parties involved and optimizes the use of the seas and oceans. This Communication defines a
Spatial Planning: Achieving common princi-
set of fundamental principles inspired by current practice and existing legislation. These principles will serve as
ples in the EU
the basis for the discussions leading to the drafting of a common approach concerning Maritime Spatial Planning.
In this Communication, the Commission describes its strategy to strengthen its authority in multilateral and bilateral relations in the domain of maritime affairs. This strategy should allow the European Union (EU) to exer-
COM(2009) 536 of
15.10.2009.
Communication on developing the international dimension of the Integrated Maritime
Policy of the European Union
cise greater influence over international debate on marine issues in order to safeguard its economic and social
interests and increase protection of the environment. It should also contribute to sustainable maritime governance at global level.
This strategy covers a number of domains (for example the protection of marine biodiversity, climate change,
maritime safety and security, working conditions on board ships and research into the marine environment)
which necessitate international and integrated solutions.
In the European Union, most data relating to maritime affairs is processed by sectoral authorities. These authorities are responsible for the surveillance and monitoring of activities at sea in the sector under their responsibility, without necessarily informing their counterparts in other sectors. This is a drawback, since the sharing
of this data makes it possible to increase the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of maritime surveillance activities.
Communication "Towards the integration of
COM(2009)538 of
maritime surveillance: A common infor-
15.10.2009
mation sharing environment for the EU
maritime domain”
Data sharing and interoperability between maritime surveillance systems pose certain technical and legal problems, however, as well as problems from a security perspective. In this Communication, the Commission identifies these problems and puts forward solutions.
The creation of a common information sharing environment is based on compliance with the following Guiding
Principles:

optimising the exchange of information between the different user communities.

building a non-hierarchical technical framework of maritime monitoring and surveillance systems.

exchanging information between civilian and military authorities.

removing obstacles to the exchange of information imposed by specific legal provisions.
pag. 27/216
ACT
Title
Major scope
The Council conclusions on integrated maritime policy of 16 November 2009 encouraged the Commission to
make proposals on improving the use of scientific knowledge. This Communication responds to this request by
Communication from the Commission to the
COM(2010) 461 of
European Parliament and the Council. Ma-
8.9.2010
rine Knowledge 2020 marine data and observation for smart and sustainable growth
outlining the case for a more coordinated approach to marine data collection and assembly and describes an
action plan whereby the different EU policy measures are contributing pieces to an overall strategy that will
achieve this aim.
This Communication details an action plan which makes up one of the three cross-cutting tools provided for by
the EU’s Integrated Maritime Policy. This action plan is divided into three strands aimed at improving the reliability of marine data, making it more user-friendly and less expensive and stimulating competitiveness amongst
the users of this data.
In this Communication the Commission draw three main conclusions from the experience gained on MSP since
COM(2010) 771 of
17.12.2010
Communication from the Commission to the
the launch of the EU IMP and the Roadmap Communication on MSP: the Commission sees a clear need for,
European Parliament, the Council, the Eu-
and added value in, continued work towards a common approach to MSP. Further action on MSP at EU level
ropean Economic and Social Committee
needs to be based on the significant experience that has been gathered in the Member States, as well as in
and
international fora and third countries. The Commission also believes that an important added value of further
the
Committee
of
the
Regions.
Achievements and future development
action on MSP at EU level lies in focusing on cross-border aspects and establishing a common processoriented framework within which Member States can carry out MSP in an optimal way.
The programme, which will support the sustainable use of the seas and oceans, and the expansion of scientific
EP-PE_TC1COD(2010)0257
17.11.2011
Regulation of the European Parliament and
of the Council establishing a Programme to
support the further development of an Integrated Maritime Policy
knowledge, has as general objectives to foster the development and implementation of integrated governance
of maritime and coastal affairs; to contribute to develop synergies and to support sea or coast-related policies,
particularly in the fields of economic development, employment, environmental protection, research, maritime
safety, energy and the development of green maritime technologies; and to promote the protection of the marine environment, in particular its biodiversity, and the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources, in line
with the marine strategy framework directive.
pag. 28/216
2.1.2
The Coastal Zone Policy (CZP)
The European Coastal Zone Policy dates back to the seventies, when the Council of Europe
concluded a Resolution on the Protection of the Coastline (Resolution (73) 29). In those years
the first European Community action programmes on the environment were launched, leading
in 1981 to the European Coastal Charter, prepared by the Conference of Peripheral Maritime
Regions in Europe, and the subsequent Resolution of the European Parliament in 1982 which
supports the principles laid down in the Coastal Charter. The Charter and the Resolution underscore the need for integrated planning of coastal areas.
In 1983 the work of the Conference of Ministers Responsible for Spatial/Regional Planning led
to the adoption of the European Regional/Spatial Planning Charter (Torremolinos). The Council of Europe further supported work on a Model Law on Coastal Protection and a code of conduct for coastal zones (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/iczm/background.htm).
The principle of sustainable development gained precedence following the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) – the Earth Summit - in Rio de Janeiro, 1992. The oceans chapter of Agenda 21 (the action plan emanating from the Earth Summit) gave international prominence to the concepts of ICZM and sustainable development,
whereby coastal states are required to provide for an integrated policy and decision making
process, including all involved sectors, to promote compatibility and a balance of uses in the
coastal marine area (Robinson, 1992).
The recognition of the need for a concerted European effort to improve the management of
coastal zones, pushed Europe to adopt in 19922 and in 19943 resolutions on Integrated
Coastal Zone Management. In the resolutions the Council acknowledged the integrated approach as very important for facing the challenges in regard to coastal management, and urges the Commission to come forward with proposals for action in Europe.
The Commission Communication 511/95 launched the EU Demonstration Programme (DP) on
ICZM, promoted to respond to coastal land, waters and resources degradation (Commission
of the European Communities, 1995). Its aim was to provide concrete examples of good practice in ICZM in a range of socio-economic, cultural, administrative and physical conditions.
The programme was intended also to lead to a consensus regarding the measures necessary
in order to stimulate ICZM in Europe. In 2000, based on the experiences and outputs of the
Demonstration Programme, the Commission adopted two documents:

A Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament
on "Integrated Coastal Zone Management: A Strategy for Europe" (COM/00/547 of 17
Sept. 2000);

A proposal for a European Parliament and Council Recommendation concerning the
implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Europe (COM/00/545 of 8
September 2000). This Recommendation was adopted by the European Parliament
and Council on 30 May 2002.
2 Council Resolution of 25 February 1992 on the future Community policy concerning the European coastal zone
3 Council Resolution of 6 May 1994 on a Community strategy, for integrated coastal-zone management
pag. 29/216
The Recommendation calls the Member States to take a strategic approach to the management of their coastal zones, based on (2002/413/EC):
(a) protection of the coastal environment, based on an ecosystem approach preserving its integrity and functioning, and sustainable management of the natural resources of both the marine and terrestrial components of the coastal zone;
(b) recognition of the threat to coastal zones posed by climate change and of the dangers entailed by the rise in sea level and the increasing frequency and violence of
storms;
(c) appropriate and ecologically responsible coastal protection measures, including
protection of coastal settlements and their cultural heritage;
(d) sustainable economic opportunities and employment options;
(e) a functioning social and cultural system in local communities;
(f) adequate accessible land for the public, both for recreational purposes and aesthetic reasons;
(g) in the case of remote coastal communities, maintenance or promotion of their cohesion;
(h) improved coordination of the actions taken by all the authorities concerned both at
sea and on land, in managing the sea-land interaction.
According to the Recommendation, Member States should have conduct or update an overall
stocktaking to analyse which major actors, laws and institutions influence the management of
their coastal zone (CHAPTER III). Based on the results of the stocktaking, Member States
should develop a national strategy (CHAPTER IV). to implement the principles for integrated
management of the coastal zone (see prg. 2.2.5). The importance of improving cross border
cooperation is stated in CHAPTER V, which encourage Member States to establish mechanisms for better coordination, to enter into or maintain dialogue and implement existing conventions with neighbouring countries, including non-Member States in the same regional sea.
Since the publication of the Recommendation in 2002 the 8 ICZM principles have quickly become the standard against which progress in ICZM in Europe is measured (McKenna et al,
2008).
Despite the momentum generated by the EC Recommendation, a review principle on ICZM
implementation at the EU level completed in 2006 showed that there remains a high degree of
uncertainty among Member States about how to proceed in the implementation process, even
though a high degree of theoretical work, good practice guidance and practical knowledge of
ICZM was accumulated across Europe.
In 2010 the European Commission has launched a review of the EU ICZM Recommendation,
with a view to a follow-up proposal. In 2010 the EU coastal Member States were invited to
provide an update of the progress in implementing ICZM from 2006 up to 2010.
The national reports form an important basis for the assessment of progresses on EU ICZM
Recommendation and to inform the impact assessment process launched by the European
Commission 4 to explore the need and options for future EU action and to assess potential so-
4 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/iczm/ia_reports.htm
pag. 30/216
cial, economic and environmental consequences that new initiatives proposed by the European Commission may have.
In addition to the reports DG Environment has commissioned specific studies to inform the impact assessment for the follow-up to the EU ICZM Recommendation5: 1) A study to examine
the Member States reports on progress on ICZM up to 2010; 2) A study on Options for coastal
information systems; 3) A study to assess the impacts of the policy options; 4) A study to
model land-use changes in the European coasts. All the reports are available on the web site
of DG Environment.
As already mentioned for MSP, the Commission launched an on-line public consultation to
seek the views of stakeholders and all interested parties to inform the impact assessment. The
consultation report can be downloaded from http://ec.europa.eu/environment/iczm/ia.htm. Finally the European Commission launched the OURCOAST initiative which disseminates casestudies and practical examples of coastal management practice in Europe.
All these initiatives resulted in a proposal for a Directive establishing a framework for maritime
spatial planning and integrated coastal zone management (COM(2013)133), that is described
in paragraph 2.3.
2.1.3
The Biodiversity Policy (BP)
At the European level, biological diversity is under severe threat from habitat loss due to various causes, such as: overexploitation and/or unsustainable use of resources, transformation
of land use and its fragmentation, invasive “alien species”, pollution and climate change.
In 1998 the European Parliament adopted a Communication on a European Biodiversity Strategy (COM (1998) 42 final), aiming at “anticipate and prevent significant reduction in or loss of
biodiversity and to tackle its root causes”, and Biodiversity Action Plans (COM/2001/0162 final). The Strategy defined a precise framework for action, by setting out four major themes (1)
Conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity; (2) Sharing of benefits arising out of
the utilisation of genetic resources; (3) Research, identification, monitoring and exchange of
information; (4) Education, training and awareness. Moreover the Communication specified
sectoral and horizontal objectives to be achieved, focusing specifically on the integration of biodiversity concerns into relevant sectoral policies, in particular: conservation of natural resources, agriculture, fisheries, regional policies and spatial planning, forests, energy and
transport, tourism, development and economic co-operation.
In 2001, the European Union set the ambitious target of halting biodiversity loss by 2010 (European Communities, 2008). With this aim, the Commission addressed the Council and the European Parliament a Communication (COM(2001)0162) on Biodiversity Action Plans in the areas of conservation of natural resources, agriculture, fisheries, and development and economic co-operation, in order to define the main contents and procedures of the EU Biodiversity Action Plan.
In May 2006, the European Commission adopted a communication on "Halting Biodiversity
Loss by 2010 – and Beyond: Sustaining ecosystem services for human well-being"
(COM(2006)0216) which highlighted the importance of biodiversity’s protection as a prerequisite for sustainable development. A detailed EU Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) was also set
5 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/iczm/ia_studies.htm
pag. 31/216
out with 10 priority actions divided into 4 policy areas: (1) biodiversity in Europe; (2) the EU
and global biodiversity; (3) biodiversity and climate change; (4) to strengthen the knowledge
base for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity).
The BAP aimed at integrating biodiversity concerns into other policy sectors and outlines the
responsibility of community institutions and Member States in relation to each of the above
policy areas. It further identifies four main supporting measures (financing; decision-making;
building partnerships; public education, awareness and participation) and includes indicators
and a timetable to monitor progresses.
The limited outcome of four years of implementation (2006-2010) was due to a combination of
different factors, such as the insufficient protection of Natura 2000 sites, knowledge base and
establishment of linkages between biodiversity and climate change and emphasising cobenefits as a result of integrated approaches. More progress needs to be made on the integration of biodiversity considerations into other sectoral policies, making available the necessary
funding, filling existing policy gaps (COM(2010) 548 final).
In May 2011 the European Commission published a new Biodiversity Strategy to 2020
(COM(2011) 244 final). This strategy is aimed at reversing biodiversity loss and speeding up
the EU's transition towards a resource efficient and green economy. It is an integral part of the
Europe 2020 Strategy (COM(2010) 2020), and in particular the resource efficient Europe flagship initiative (COM(2011) 21).
The EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy responds to the EU and global mandates (Conference of
the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity). The first one endorsed the long-term vision and ambitious headline target proposed by the Commission in its Communication ‘Options for an EU vision and target for biodiversity beyond 2010 (COM(2010) 4 final); the second
one led to the adoption of a global Strategic Plan for biodiversity 2011-20207, the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising
from their Utilisation (ABS Protocol), and a strategy to mobilise resources for global biodiversity.
The strategy sets six main targets and 20 actions to help Europe reach its goal. Biodiversity
loss is an enormous challenge in the EU, with around one in four species currently threatened
with extinction and 88% of fish stocks over-exploited or significantly depleted. The six targets
cover (Annex 1):
1. Full implementation of EU nature legislation to protect biodiversity;
2. Better protection for ecosystems, and more use of green infrastructure;
3. More sustainable agriculture and forestry;
4. Better management of fish stocks;
5. Tighter controls on invasive alien species;
6. A bigger EU contribution to averting global biodiversity loss.
“The strategy will be subject to a mid-term review in early 2014, so that results can feed into
the preparation of the EU’s fifth National Report as required under the CBD. The targets and
measures will be reconsidered as new information becomes available and progress is made
on the objectives set in the strategy”.
pag. 32/216
Table 2-2 Biodiversity policy development.
Act
Major scope
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament,
the Council, the Economic and So-
COM(2011) 244 of
cial Committee and the Committee
3.5.2011
of the Regions.
Our life insurance, our natural capital: an EU Biodiversity Strategy to
2020
On May 3 2011, the European Commission adopted a new strategy to halt the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in
the EU by 2020, in line with two commitments made by EU leaders in March 2010 – halting the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020, and restoring them in so far as feasible, while stepping up the EU contribution to averting global biodiversity loss"- and a vision for 2050: "by 2050, European Union biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides – its natural capital – are protected, valued and appropriately restored for biodiversity's intrinsic value and for
their essential contribution to human wellbeing and economic prosperity, and so that catastrophic changes caused by the loss
of biodiversity are avoided". The strategy is also in line with the global commitments made in Nagoya in October 2010, in the
context of the Convention on Biological Diversity, where world leaders adopted of a package of measures to address global
biodiversity loss over the coming decade.
EUCO 7/10 of 26
European Council Conclusions 26
In its conclusions of 26 March, the European Council has committed to the EU post-2010 vision and target for biodiversity and
March 2010
March 2010
underscored the urgent need to reverse continuing trends of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation.
In its conclusions of 15 March, the Environment Council agreed a new long-term vision and mid-term headline target for biodiversity in the EU for the period beyond 2010, when the current target expires. The new target is::To halt the loss of biodiversity
Environment Council Conclusions
15 March 2010
EUCO 7/10 of 15
Conclusions on Biodiversity post-
March 2010
2010 - EU and global vision and
targets and international access
and burden sharing regime
and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020, restore them in so far as feasible, while stepping up the EU contribution to averting global biodiversity loss. This target will underpin the new EU biodiversity strategy to be developed this year.
The Council also further developed the EU position ahead of the international negotiations on biodiversity under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), building on earlier conclusions on this issue adopted on 22 December 2009.
These conclusions stress, inter alia, that the global post-2010 targets to be agreed at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the
CBD in Nagoya, Japan in October this year must be recognized and embraced by stakeholders in the key sectors concerned,
and that they should be endorsed at the highest political level. On Access to genetic resources and Benefit Sharing (ABS), the
conclusions for the first time explicitly call for the adoption of a Protocol to the CBD, with legally binding and non-binding provisions.
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament,
COM(2010) 4 of
19.1.2010
The Commission has set out possible future options for biodiversity policy in the EU for the period after 2010.
the Council, the Economic and So-
The Communication proposes a long-term (2050) vision for biodiversity, with four options for a mid-term (2020) target – an es-
cial Committee and the Committee
sential step along the way towards reaching the vision. In this vision, biodiversity and the ecosystem services we get for free
of the Regions.
from nature are preserved, valued and, insofar as possible, restored for their intrinsic value, enabling them to support economic
Options for an EU vision and target
prosperity and human well-being, and averting any catastrophic changes linked to biodiversity loss.
for biodiversity beyond 2010.
pag. 33/216
Act
Major scope
Halting the loss of Biodiversity by
COM/2006/0216
2010 - and beyond: Sustaining
of 22.5.2006
ecosystem
services
for
human
EU Heads of State and Government undertook in 2001 to halt the decline of biodiversity in the EU by 2010 and to restore habi-
well-being
tats and natural systems. In 2002, they also joined some 130 world leaders in agreeing to significantly reduce the rate of biodi-
Commission Staff Working Docu-
versity loss globally by 2010. In May 2006, the European Commission adopted a communication on "Halting Biodiversity Loss
ment Annexes to the Communica-
by 2010 – and Beyond: Sustaining ecosystem services for human well-being". The Communication underlined the importance
SEC(2006) 621 of
tion from the Commission Halting
of biodiversity protection as a pre-requisite for sustainable development, as well as setting out a detailed EU Biodiversity Action
22.5.2006
the Loss of Biodiversity by 2010 —
Plan to achieve this.
and beyond. Sustaining ecosystem
services for human well–being
EUCO 11412/09
of 25 June 2009
Environment Council Conclusions.
HIGHLIGHTS the important role of NATURA 2000 in the delivery of biodiversity policy in the EU, and URGES the Commission
A mid-term assessment of imple-
and the Member States to complete the terrestrial part of the NATURA 2000 network by 2010, to strengthen efforts to finalise
menting the EU Biodiversity Action
the network at sea by 2012, and to enhance coherence and connectivity of the network and thus resilience of species and of
Plan and Towards an EU Strategy
ecosystems; furthermore STRESSES the importance of effective management and, where appropriate, restoration of sites to
on Invasive Alien Species
reach a favourable conservation status of habitats and species of Community interest;
TAKES NOTE with great concern of the findings contained in the Commission Communication "A mid-term assessment of implementing the EC Biodiversity Action Plan" which stress that 50% of species and up to 80% of habitat types of European conservation interest have an unfavourable conservation status; while NOTING the Commission's assessment on progress made
in certain areas in implementing the Action Plan, in particular in completing the NATURA 2000 network, STRONGLY
UNDERLINES the urgency of significant additional efforts to reach the EU target of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010;
STRESSES: the intrinsic value of biodiversity, its importance in supporting the provision of vital ecosystem goods and services
EUCO 7065/09 3
March 2009
Environment Council Conclusions
on which human society, as well as the economy and a healthy environment, depend and the need to make a better case for
the value and economic importance of the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, as well as its potential to maintain
and create jobs, and to analyse the global benefits arising from biological diversity and the costs of insufficient action against its
loss; in this context . REITERATES the importance of raising awareness among stakeholders and the public at large on the
overarching value of biodiversity, and of the role of the business community; INVITES the Commission to provide an analysis of
the status and trends of biodiversity within the EU before the end of 2009 and UNDERLINES the need to establish, by mid2010 at the latest, a vision and targets beyond 2010 for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity within the EU,
building on and contributing to deliberations at global level on a vision for biodiversity beyond 2010;
pag. 34/216
Act
Major scope
This action plan builds on the objectives of the EC Biodiversity Strategy, and considers how they can be achieved in the context of the international development targets. Two development targets are of particular relevance: the development of national
strategies for sustainable development, so as to reverse the loss of environmental resources by 2015; and the reduction of
COM(2001)0162
of 27/03/2001
Communication from the Commis-
poverty by half by 2015. With the publication of the EC Biodiversity Strategy (1998), a set of objectives was determined for bio-
sion to the Council and the Euro-
diversity in economic and development co-operation. The overall aim of this BAP is to identify actions that address these objec-
pean Parliament - Biodiversity Ac-
tives. Each of the actions listed in italics is linked to a particular objective(s) [noted in square brackets]. All objectives are cross-
tion Plans in the areas of Conser-
referenced to actions in Annex 1. The structure of the BAP follows the Biodiversity Strategy's themes for action, and provides a
vation of Natural Resources, Agri-
rationale for each action in the context of economic and development co-operation activities. The three-fold aims of this Biodi-
culture, Fisheries, and Develop-
versity Action Plan are therefore: To identify priority actions that will address the objectives of the Biodiversity Strategy, incorpo-
ment and Economic Co-operation
rating actions already noted in the Biodiversity Strategy; To identify priority actions for integrating biodiversity into the policies,
programmes and projects being developed and funded through EC economic and development co-operation; To identify actions that help to build the European Commission's capacity to address biodiversity issues as part of economic and development co-operation.
Communication from the CommisCOM (1998)42 of
sion to the Council and the Euro-
4.2.1998
pean Parliament on a European
Community Biodiversity Strategy
Council Directive
Council Directive on the conserva-
92/43/EEC of 21
tion of natural habitats and of wild
May 1992
fauna and flora
This strategy aims to anticipate, prevent and attack the causes of significant reduction or loss of biodiversity at the source. This
will help both to reverse present trends in biodiversity reduction or losses and to place species and ecosystems, including agroecosystems, at a satisfactory conservation status, both within and beyond the territory of the European Union (EU).
The Habitats Directive (together with the Birds Directive) forms the cornerstone of Europe's nature conservation policy. It is built
around two pillars: the Natura 2000 network of protected sites and the strict system of species protection. All in all the directive
protects over 1.000 animals and plant species and over 200 so called "habitat types" (e.g. special types of forests, meadows,
wetlands, etc.), which are of European importance.
pag. 35/216
2.1.4
The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)
The Common Fisheries Policy was formally created in 1983, but its origins date back to the
early 1970s, when fisheries were originally part of the Common Agricultural Policy.
The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was reviewed in 2002. The new base regulation
(COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2371/2002) entered into force on 1 January 2003. Since its
adoption has provided the main legal basis for all subsequent fisheries legislation at EU level.
According to this text, agreed by the Fisheries Ministers of the 15 nations who were then
members of the EU, the aim of the CFP is to promote: Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture
in a healthy marine environment which can support an economically viable industry providing
employment and opportunities for coastal communities.
Consequently the most important areas of action of the Common Fisheries Policy are
(http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/index_en.htm):

laying down rules to ensure Europe's fisheries are sustainable and do not damage the
marine environment;

providing national authorities with the tools to enforce these rules and punish offenders;

monitoring the size of the European fishing fleet and preventing it from expanding further;

providing funding and technical support for initiatives that can make the industry more
sustainable;

negotiating on behalf of EU countries in international fisheries organisations and with
non-EU countries around the world;

helping producers, processors and distributors get a fair price for their produce and
ensuring consumers can trust the seafood they eat;

supporting the development of a dynamic EU aquaculture sector (fish, seafood and
algae farms);

funding scientific research and data collection, to ensure a sound basis for policy and
decision making.
As reported in a provision regarding the duty of the EC to report to the Council and the European Parliament on conservation and fishing capacity progresses, the EC has started to review the CFP by launching in 2009 a wide-ranging public debate on the way EU fisheries are
managed. Its Green paper on reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) outlined the challenges facing Europe's fisheries.
Input to the consultation and conclusions from several stakeholder events fed into the preparation of today's reform package, which consists of the following components:
1. A legislative proposal for a Basic Regulation (replacing Council Regulation (EC) No.
2371/2002);
2. A legislative proposal for a Market Policy (replacing Council Regulation (EC)
No.104/2000);
pag. 36/216
3. A Communication on the External Dimension of the CFP;
4. A Report on Council Regulation (EC) No. 2371/2002, regarding the chapters Conservation and Sustainability and Adjustment of Fishing Capacity, and on Article 17(2) on
fleet access restriction to 12 nautical miles.
This package was submitted to the European Parliament and Council for adoption under the
ordinary legislative procedure (co-decision).
A broader assessment of the impact of the reform was also completed, in accordance with the
Commission's impact assessment guidelines. Different scenarios were developed and analysed for future policy to evaluate the outcomes of different choices. The evaluation – which
focused on environmental, economic and social issues – was used to prepare legislative proposals for reform of the CFP.
On the 02 December 2011 the European Commission has proposed a new fund for the EU's
maritime and fisheries policies for the period 2014-2020: the European Maritime and Fisheries
Fund (EMFF) (COM(2011) 804 final, 2011/0380 (COD) of 2.12.2011).
The EMFF focuses on the long-term strategic objectives of the two policies: for the Common
Fisheries Policy, contributing to sustainable and competitive fisheries and aquaculture; for the
Integrated Maritime Policy, ensuring a consistent policy framework for the policy and contributing to a balanced and inclusive territorial development of fisheries areas. In line with the Europe 2020 strategy, these broad objectives for 2014-2020 are structured around four pillars in
the EMFF:




Smart, Green Fisheries to foster the transition to sustainable fishing, which is more selective, produces no discards, and does less damage to marine ecosystems. The
support will focus on innovation and added value that can make the fisheries sector
economically viable and resilient to external shocks and to competition from third
countries.
Smart, Green Aquaculture to make this industry economically viable, competitive,
green and able to face global competition, while providing EU consumers with healthy
and highly nutritional products.
Sustainable and Inclusive Territorial Development to reverse the decline of many
coastal and inland communities dependent on fishing, by adding more value to fishing-related activities, and by diversifying to other sectors of the maritime economy.
Integrated Maritime Policy to support priorities which generate savings and growth
and cut across sectors, such as marine knowledge, maritime spatial planning, integrated coastal zone management, integrated maritime surveillance, the protection of
the marine environment and of biodiversity, and the adaptation to the adverse effects
of climate change on coastal areas.
In addition to these four pillars, the EMFF will include accompanying measures for data collection and scientific advice, control, governance, fisheries markets (including in outermost regions), voluntary payments to Regional Fisheries Management Organisations and technical
assistance.
The Fund will help deliver the ambitious objectives of the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy and will help fishermen in the transition towards sustainable fishing, as well as coastal
communities in the diversification of their economies. The fund will finance projects that create
new jobs and improve quality of life along European coasts. The total budget will be allocated
pag. 37/216
to the Member States based on the importance of the fisheries sector in each country. Then
the principles of shared-management between the Commission and the Member States will
apply. Each Member State draws up an operational programme for the period, specifying how
they intend to spend the money allocated to them. Once the Commission approves this programme, it is up to the Member state to decide the actual projects to be financed. Both the eligibility of the actions to support and the implementation of the programme are monitored by
the Member States and the Commission.
On July 13th, 2011 the Commission adopted a package laying down the new CFP legislative
framework:

COM(2011) 417- Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament,
the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions; Reform of the common fisheries policy.

COM(2011) 425- Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
common fisheries policy.

COM(2011) 416- Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
common organisation of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products.

COM(2011) 424- Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament,
the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions on external dimension of the common fisheries policy.

COM(2011) 418- Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions;
On reporting obligations under Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under
the common fisheries policy.

Impact assessments: SEC(2011) 891, SEC(2011) 883.
The objectives of the reform (COM(2011) 417) concern the following issues:
1. More fish to fish sustainably;
2. A future for fisheries and aquaculture industry and jobs.
3. Thriving coastal communities
4. Satisfying the real needs of informed consumers
5. Better governance through regionalization
6. Smarter financing
7. Projecting the principles of the CFP internationally.
The overall objective of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
common fisheries policy proposal (COM(2011) 425 final) is “to ensure fishing and aquaculture
activities that provide long-term sustainable environmental conditions and contribute to the
availability of food supplies. The policy shall be aimed at exploitation of living marine biological
resources that restores and maintains fish resources at levels which can produce the maximum sustainable yield, not later than 2015. The CFP shall implement the precautionary and
ecosystem approaches to fisheries management”.
pag. 38/216
This proposal for a new basic regulation is justified because there is a need:

to better preserve marine biological resources, in particular for multi-annual plans for
fisheries management, and to end discards.

to contribute to ecosystem and environmental policies under the CFP.

to provide for regionalisation of measures on a sea-basin approach under the conservation pillar

to reinforce data collection and scientific advice for the knowledge base of the conservation policy.
In the art.2 (Objective) the proposal states that the Common Fisheries Policy shall ensure that
fishing and aquaculture activities provide long-term sustainable environmental, economic and
social conditions and contribute to the availability of food supplies.
The Common Fisheries Policy shall apply the precautionary approach to fisheries management, and shall aim to ensure, by 2015, that exploitation of living marine biological resources
restores and maintains populations of harvested species above levels which can produce the
maximum sustainable yield.
The Common Fisheries Policy shall implement the ecosystem-based approach to fisheries
management to ensure that the impacts of fishing activities on the marine ecosystem are limited.
The Common Fisheries Policy shall integrate the Union environmental legislation requirements.EU Legal instruments.
For the purpose of achieving the general objectives set out in Article 2, the Common Fisheries
Policy shall in particular (art.3):
(a) eliminate unwanted catches of commercial stocks and gradually ensure that all catches
of such stocks are landed;
(b) provide conditions for efficient fishing activities within an economically viable and competitive fishing industry;
(c) promote the development of Union aquaculture activities to contribute to food security
and employment in coastal and rural areas;
(d) contribute to a fair standard of living for those who depend on fishing activities;
(e) take into account the interests of consumers;
(f) ensure systematic and harmonised data collection and management.
In Part III of the regulation concerns measures for the conservation of marine biological resources (Title I), listing conservation and technical measures, Union Measures (Title II - Multiannual plans, Compliance with obligations under Union environmental legislation, Technical
measures frameworks), national measures (Title IV - applicable solely to fishing vessels flying
their flag and within the 12 nautical mile zone).
The regulation sets also provision concerning management of fishing capacity (Part V) and
science base approach for fisheries management (Part VI).
pag. 39/216
2.2
EU legal instruments
2.2.1
The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)
The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) (2008/56/EC) is the environmental pillar of
the IMP. It aims to protect more effectively the marine environment. Its objective is to achieve
Good Environmental Status (GES) of the EU's marine waters by 2020 and to protect the resource base upon which marine-related economic and social activities depend.
The MSFD from a normative perspective provides a solid legal basis for the application of an
ecosystems based approach to the management of human activities affecting the marine environment and ecological systems, all with a view to ensuring that they are not irreversibly damaged by the cumulative effects of natural and anthropogenic pressures (Long, 2011).
The MSFD is a clear articulation of the obligation enshrined in the art. 174 of Treaty on the
Functioning of the EU (preamble 44) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights that environmental protection requirements must be integrated into the definition and implementation of the
EU’s policies and activities with a view to promoting sustainable development (preamble 45).
The MSFD goes much further than simply requiring the integration of environmental principles
into EU policies in so far as “it establishes a science-driven and iterative process for environmental management which acknowledges that the status of marine ecosystems may evolve
over time with the different patterns of human activities and in response to different impacts
including those attributed to climate change”. For this reason, the normative framework established by the Directive is designed to take into account scientific and technological development, and remains flexible enough to respond to the various threats and pressures posed by
human activities to marine ecosystems in the future.”
The provisions of this legal binding instruments are organized into five chapters, the first of
which sets out the subject matter, scope, definitions, marine regions and sub-regions, marine
strategies, rules for coordination and cooperation between Member States and competent authorities. The second chapter deals with the preparation of marine strategies and has provisions on assessment, determination of good environmental status, establishment of environmental targets, monitoring programmes, notification and assessment. The third chapter deals
with programmes of measures, exceptions, recommendations for Community action, notification and Commission’s assessment. The fourth chapter addresses the important issues of updating, interim reports, public areas, Community financing and the future review of the Directive. The final chapter provides for technical adaptations, regulatory committee, transposition, entry into force and addressees. Throughout the text of the Directive, there are many references to the six technical Annexes which address the following issues: qualitative descriptors for determining good environmental status; competent authorities in the Member
States; indicative lists of characteristics, pressures and impacts; monitoring programmes and
programme of measures.
One of the most notable changes brought about by the MSFD to the regulation of the marine
environment is the introduction of the new concepts of “marine region” and “marine subregion” into EU law for the first time. European marine regions are identified on the basis of
geographical and environmental criteria (Art. 4). More specifically, the Directive requires
Member States to cooperate and coordinate their actions with other Member States in designing and implementing marine strategies within the following marine regions: the Baltic Sea, the
pag. 40/216
North-east Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea These regions are illustrated in Figure 2-6. Provision is also made for the establishment of sub-regions in the Northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea for the purpose of applying the Directive and with a
view to taking specific management actions in a particular area. In the case of the Mediterranean Sea, they are: (i) the Western Mediterranean Sea; (ii) the Adriatic Sea; (iii) the Ionian
Sea and the Central Mediterranean Sea; (iv) the Aegean-Levantine Sea.
Each Member State - cooperating with other Member States and non-EU countries within a
marine region – is required to develop strategies which must contain a detailed assessment of
the state of the environment, a definition of "Good Environmental Status6" at regional level and
the establishment of clear targets and monitoring programmes.
Figure 2-6 European Sea Basins, according to the European Atlas of the Sea subdivision
(source:
http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/atlas/maritime_atlas/#extent=22.9_15.7_74.3_74&theme=themeGeography.subthemeIMPSeaBasins, last visit on
24.06.2011 at 14.00).
In respect to these regions and sub-regions Member States are required to develop marine
strategies (art. 5), accordingly with a plan of action for which they are requested to follow a
common approach with important milestones (Figure 2-7):
a)
Preparatory phase (Chapter II):

By 15 July 2012: description of the current environmental status of the waters concerned and the environmental impact of human activities thereon; determination of
6 COMMISSION DECISION of 1 September 2010 on criteria and methodological standards on good environmental
status of marine waters (2010/477/EU).
pag. 41/216
good environmental status; and establishment of environmental targets and associated indicators;
b)

By 2013: report on progress in the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs)

By 15 July 2014: establishment and implementation of a monitoring programme for
on-going assessment and regular updating of targets.
Programme of measures (Chapter III):

By 2015: development of a programme of measures designed to achieve or maintain
good environmental status;

By 2016 at the latest: entry into operation of the program and full implementation to
achieve good environmental status by 2020.
Figure 2-7 Process of attaining GES under the MSFD (Long, 2011).
The goal of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive is in line with the objectives of the Water
Framework Directive which requires surface freshwater and ground water bodies - such as
lakes, streams, rivers, estuaries, and in particular coastal waters - to be ecologically sound by
2015.
In determining their good environmental status as requested by art. 9 of the Directive, Member
States shall determine a set of qualitative descriptors (Annex I of the Directive):

Descriptor 1: Biological diversity;

Descriptor 2: Non-indigenous species;
pag. 42/216

Descriptor 3: Population of commercial fish / shell fish;

Descriptor 4: Elements of marine food webs;

Descriptor 5: Eutrophication;

Descriptor 6: Sea floor integrity;

Descriptor 7: Alteration of hydrographical conditions;

Descriptor 8: Contaminants;

Descriptor 9: Contaminants in fish and seafood for human consumption;

Descriptor 10: Marine litter;

Descriptor 11: Introduction of energy, including underwater noise.
Member States shall take into account also an indicative list of elements concerning physical
and chemical features, habitat types, biological features and hydro-morphology, as well as
identify pressure and impacts of human activities (Annex III).
On the basis of the assessment Member States are required to establish environmental targets and associated indicators in order to guide progress toward the GES (art.10), as well as
design and implement coordinated monitoring programmes of the status of marine waters
(art.11).
For each descriptor the criteria and indicators for good environmental status of marine waters
are the object of a specific Commission Decision published in 2010 (2010/477/EU).
After the preparatory phase, a programme of measure shall be identified which need to be
taken into account to achieve and maintain the GES (art. 13), taking into account other relevant Directives, as well as international agreements.
Member States shall give due consideration to sustainable development and, in particular, to
the social and economic impacts of the measures envisaged. To assist the competent authority or authorities referred to in Article 7 to pursue their objectives in an integrated manner,
Member States may identify or establish administrative frameworks in order to benefit from
such interaction.
In drawing the programmes “Member States shall ensure that measures are cost-effective and
technically feasible, and shall carry out impact assessments, including cost-benefit analyses,
prior to the introduction of any new measure. Programmes of measures established pursuant
to this Article shall include spatial protection measures, contributing to coherent and representative networks of marine protected areas, adequately covering the diversity of the constituent ecosystems, such as special areas of conservation pursuant to the Habitats Directive,
special protection areas pursuant to the Birds Directive, and marine protected areas as agreed
by the Community or Member States concerned in the framework of international or regional
agreements to which they are parties”.
Every six years member states are obliged to review the process, in particular the initial assessment, the environmental targets, monitoring programmes and programmes of measures.
pag. 43/216
2.2.2
The Water Framework Directive (WFD)
The Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) establishes a framework for Community action
in the field of water policy, aiming to establish an integrated approach to the protection, improvement and sustainable use of water in Europe.
The Directive was proposed in 1997 (COM (97) 49) and developed out of a much earlier debate concerning the limitations of existing EC water legislation. The previous preceding body
of legislation was criticized for being too fragmented, concentrating on specific aspects of environmental quality or specific threats to that quality (Farmer, 2003). Beginning in the 1980s debates took place in various fora on the development of new EC water legislation (Stern, 1995).
This included some specific Directives in the early 1990s. In 1994 a proposed Directive on the
ecological quality of surface waters was proposed by the European Commission. However,
broad in scope as this was, it still did not prove a sufficiently comprehensive framework for the
Community. The Commission, therefore, developed a new proposal for publication in early
1997, which developed to become the Water Framework Directive.
The WFD rationalises and updates existing water legislation and introduces an integrated approach to water management based on the concept of river basin planning. Its provisions cover all inland surface waters, groundwater, transitional and coastal waters . The key objectives
of the WFD set out in Article 1 are to:

Prevent further deterioration and enhance the status of aquatic ecosystems and associated wetlands,

Promote sustainable use of water,

Enhance protection and improvement of the aquatic environment,

Reduce pollution of surface and groundwater, especially by ‘priority’ and ‘priority hazardous’ substances, and

Mitigate the effects of floods and droughts.
In addition, the WFD introduces economic analyses of water use (principle of recovery of
costs), provides the general public with rights of involvement and information over river basin
planning and establishes a detailed system of monitoring and reporting to the Commission.
The Directive (Bloch, 2000) requires that surface waters (rivers, lakes and coastal waters) and
ground waters are to be managed within the context of River Basin Management Plans. All
waters are to be characterized according to their biological, chemical and hydro morphological
characteristics. All waters are required to meet ‘good status’, except where specific derogations are applied. These together are to be compared with an assessment of waters unmodified by human activity and classified into different categories of ecological status.
Member States are required to establish a programme of measures in each river basin,
through which, the environmental objectives set by the WFD shall be met. In particular, the
good water status should be achieved within the basin. The Programme of Measures will be
made up of compulsory basic measures, which include the requirements of other relevant Directives.
pag. 44/216
The scope of the Directive is, therefore, extensive. In particular the following elements should
be stressed (Farmer, 2003):

all waters are covered (up to one nautical mile from the coast) and the primary objective are ecological objectives, supported by chemical and hydromorphological objectives;

there is a strong emphasis on developing controls on activities which impact on water
objectives;

detailed requirements on reporting, public participation, etc., are included.
The WFD has an ambitious
framework/info/timetable_en.htm).
timetable
(http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-
Following several years of preparatory work, the WFD River Basin Management Plans were
published in most Member States between end 2009 and mid 2010
(http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/transp_rep/scoreboard_en.htm).
These statutory plans set out the ‘programmes of measures’ which are required to achieve
good ecological and chemical status in water bodies ‘at risk’ of failing to meet these targets.
The measures required to achieve good status (or potential) must be in place by 2012 with the
intention of achieving the objectives by 2015. However, progress with WFD implementation is
to be reviewed on a six-yearly basis and there are two further WFD planning cycles – up to
2021 and 2027.
There are eleven Directives that include measures and provisions that should be included into
the Programme of Measures, which all Member States must produce for each River Basin District nine years after the date of entry into force of the WFD. The Directives address different
areas of legislation: some relate to the regulation of pressures on water, such as the Directives
marked with green in Figure 2-8.
Figure 2-8 Directives containing measures included in the Programme of Measures.
pag. 45/216
The Directives marked in with pink relate to the quality of water, while the directives marked
with orange relate to the protection of birds and biodiversity as such. Directives marked with
blue are more procedural legislation, on the requirements for issuing permits or improving
safety management in relation to dangerous substances.
The Urban Waste Water Directive (91/271/EEC)7 is a key element of EU water policy for
achieving the Water Framework Directive environmental objective of good status (as well as
the objectives of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive: see below). It requires that
wastewater generated by agglomerations is collected and made subject to secondary treatment before being discharged into the natural environment. More stringent treatment must be
applied when wastewater is discharged into so called sensitive areas.
The Nitrates Directive (96/676/EEC)8 is also an important instrument which deals with the relationship between agriculture and water quality. In order to reduce and prevent water pollution
caused by nitrate pollution originating from agricultural sources, Member States must monitor
waters, designate so called nitrate vulnerable zones and then adopt and implement action
programs and codes of good agricultural practices with the aim of improving fertilizer management and reducing nitrate leaching towards waters. Monitoring programs are required to
be set up to assess the efficiency of these action programs.
The Floods Directive (2007/60/EC)9 requires Member States to assess flood risks and to establish flood risk management plans by 2015, with the aim to reduce flood risk for human
health, economic activity, the environment and cultural heritage. The Directive requires Member States to first carry out a preliminary assessment by 2011 to identify the river basins and
associated coastal areas at risk of flooding. For such zones they would then need to draw up
flood risk maps by 2013 and establish flood risk management plans focused on prevention,
protection and preparedness by 2015. The Directive applies to inland waters as well as all
coastal waters across the whole territory of the EU. The Directive shall be carried out in coordination with the Water Framework Directive, notably by flood risk management plans and river basin management plans being coordinated, and through coordination of the public participation procedures in the preparation of these plans
The Drinking (98/83/EC)10 and Bathing Water (2006/7/EC)11 Directives require Member
States to meet binding quality standards to ensure safe drinkable water from the tap and clean
water for bathing, to monitor whether the standards are complied with and to inform consumers and the public accordingly.
The Plant Protection Products Directive (91/414/EEC)12 concerns the authorization, placing on
the market, use and control within the European Union of commercial plant protection products. Regarding groundwater, authorization is only granted if plant protection products have no
harmful effect on human health or on groundwater and that do not have undesirable effects on
the environment, particularly on the contamination of water, including drinking water and
groundwater.
7 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-urbanwaste/index_en.html
8 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-nitrates/index_en.html
9 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/flood_risk/index.htm
10 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-drink/index_en.html
11 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-bathing/index_en.html
12 http://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/protection/index_en.htm
pag. 46/216
2.2.3
The EU nature legislation
Biodiversity — the variety of ecosystems, species and genes — is essential to human wellbeing, delivering services that sustain our economies and societies (EEA, 2010).
The cooperation of European countries on nature conservation policies started in the 1970s,
especially aimed at species and habitats conservation and site designations within the frame
of global agreements such as the Ramsar Convention on wetlands (1971), the Bonn Convention on migratory species (1979), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES, 1973) and the more specific Bern Convention on the Conservation of European
Wildlife and Natural Habitats (1980).
To implement the Bern Convention two main pieces of legislation were adopted Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the Conservation of Wild Birds (the EC Birds Directive) in 1979, and
Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and
Flora (the EC Habitats Directive) in 1992.
The Birds Directive was adopted unanimously by the Members States in 1979 as a response
to increasing concern about the declines in Europe's wild bird populations resulting from pollution, loss of habitats as well as unsustainable use. It was also in recognition that wild birds,
many of which are migratory, are a shared heritage of the Member States and that their effective conservation required international co-operation. It has been substantially amended several
times; at present time the Directive 2009/147/EC is in force.
The directive recognizes that wild birds species declining represents a serious threat to the
conservation of natural environment. Consequently the preservation, maintenance or restoration of a sufficient diversity and area of habitats is essential to the conservation of all species
of birds. Member States shall take the requisite measures to maintain the population of the species
…… at a level which corresponds in particular to ecological, scientific and cultural requirements,
while taking account of economic and recreational requirements, or to adapt the population of these
species to that level (Article 2). Measures to reach the maintenance and reestablishment of biotopes and habitats include: (a) creation of protected areas; (b) upkeep and management in accordance with the ecological needs of habitats inside and outside the protected zones; (c) reestablishment of destroyed biotopes; (d) creation of biotopes.
Annex I of the Directive lists endangered as well as migratory species requiring conservation.
The Directive requires Member States to designate special protection areas for the conservation of these species in the geographical sea and land area where it applies (Article 4).
The Birds Directive bans activities that directly threaten birds, such as “the deliberate killing or
capture of birds, the destruction of their nests and taking of their eggs, and associated activities such as trading in live or dead birds” (Article 5), with a few exceptions (listed in Annex III III/1 allows taking in all Member States; III/2 allows taking in Member States in agreement with
European Commission). The Directive recognizes hunting as a legitimate activity and provides
a comprehensive system for the management of hunting (limited to species listed in Annex II II/1 allows hunting in all Member States; II/2 allows hunting in listed Member States ) to ensure
that this practice is sustainable (Article 7). This includes a requirement to ensure that birds are
not hunted during periods like the rearing season and reproduction. It requires Member States
to outlaw all forms of non-selective and large scale killing of birds, (especially the methods
listed in Annex IV). It promotes research to underpin the protection, management and use of
pag. 47/216
all species of birds covered by the Directive (Article 10). Particular attention shall be paid to research and work on the subjects listed in Annex V.
The Habitat Directive (HD) represents the second pillar of EU nature conservation policy. Proposed by the European Commission in the late 1980s, to respond to a continuing deterioration
of European natural habitats and an increasing number of seriously threatened wild species,
to date it still remains the single most important EU instrument for safeguarding biodiversity
across Member States. Article 2 sets the objective of the Directive in “contribute towards ensuring bio-diversity through the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora in
the European territory of the Member States to which the Treaty applies. Measures taken pursuant to this Directive shall be designed to maintain or restore, at favourable conservation status, natural habitats and species of wild fauna and flora of Community interest. Measures taken pursuant to this Directive shall take account of economic, social and cultural requirements
and regional and local characteristics.
The HD makes use of two main instruments (sometimes referred to as two pillars) to ensure
biodiversity in Europe: the first is the network of protected sites (Article 3) and second the provisions for species protection (Article 12).
The Habitats Directive requires Member States to propose Sites of Community Importance
(SCIs) for the conservation of natural habitat types, and once these areas have been formally
adopted by Commission Decision, to designate them as Special Areas of Conservation
(SACs) within 6 years. Together SPAs and SACs form the Natura 2000 network of protected
areas, which is the EU's most important instrument for conserving natural habitats and the animal and plant species they contain.
Under this directive, Habitat types of Community interest ((Article 1(c)) are listed in annex 1 of
the HD and are in danger of disappearing in their natural range, have a small natural range or
present outstanding examples of typical characteristics of the biogeographically region. Species of Community interest are listed in annex 2 of the HD and are endangered, vulnerable,
rare or endemic and requiring particular attention (Article 1(g)). Sites of Community importance contribute significantly to the maintenance or restoration of a favourable conservation
status of habitat types of community interest, of species of community interest, or sites that
contribute significantly to the coherence of the network or to the biodiversity of the biogeographic region (Article 1(k)).
The main requirement of the HD is to ensure a favourable conservation status of habitat types
and species. This must be done according to Article 6 and involves an active management.
The scope of Article 6 has been widely debated and as a result the Commission published a
guideline on how Article 6 should be interpreted (EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2007)13
It is not enough that the Member States stop further deterioration of the SACs, they must actively establish measures that conserve, improve or even restore a favourable conservation
status; the States are obliged to obtain a specific result. For habitats a favourable conservation
status is defined to occur when the area it covers is stable and increasing, the functions and
structure necessary for its long-term maintenance exit and will do so for a foreseeable future
and the conservation status for its typical species is favourable ((Article 1(e)). For species a
favourable conservation status occurs when the population data show that the species is
13 The document is downloadable at:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/legislation/habitatsdirective/index_en.htm
pag. 48/216
maintaining itself on a long-term basis, the natural range of the species is stable and that there
on a long-term basis will be a sufficiently large habitat to maintain the population ((Article 1(i)).
As for the ecological requirements, they can vary from habitat to habitat and from species to
species. In other words appropriate measures or management plans must be made for each
individual habitat and each individual species building on scientific knowledge. Article 6 furthermore obligates the Member States to prevent any deterioration of a designated site. This
applies permanently and concerns past, present and future activities that affect the SAC, i.e.
this can also be activities taking place outside of the SAC. Furthermore any plans or projects –
in- or outside of the designated area - which may have an effect on the SAC must undergo an
appropriate assessment, which may include obtaining a public opinion (Article6 (3)).
If, in spite of a negative assessment of the implications for the site and in the absence of alternative solutions, a plan or project must nevertheless be carried out for imperative reasons of
overriding public interest, including those of a social or economic nature, the Member State
shall take all compensatory measures necessary to ensure that the overall coherence of Natura 2000 is protected. It shall inform the Commission of the compensatory measures adopted
(Article 6(3)).
Article 12 to 16 regarding the protection of species under the HD has also been subject to debates concerning its interpretation and therefore a working group under the Commission has
produced guidelines addressing this (Habitats Committee 2005). The articles 12 to 16 are
considered the second pillar of the protection of the HD and deals with the direct influence on
species as such and apply to the whole of the territory to which the directive is binding and not
only the areas designated in the Natura 2000 network (European Commission 2006a). Article
12 (1) States: ”Member States shall take the requisite measures to establish a system of strict
protection for the animal species listed in Annex IV..” and article 13 is the counterpart of article
12 concerning plants.
2.2.4
The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directives
Environmental assessment is a procedure that ensures that the environmental implications of
decisions are taken into account before the decisions are made. Environmental assessment
can be undertaken for individual projects, such as a dam, motorway, airport or factory, on the
basis of Directive 2011/92/EU (known as 'Environmental Impact Assessment' – EIA Directive)
or for public plans or programmes on the basis of Directive 2001/42/EC (known as 'Strategic
Environmental Assessment' – SEA Directive). The common principle of both Directives is to
ensure that plans, programmes and projects likely to have significant effects on the environment are made subject to an environmental assessment, prior to their approval or authorization. Consultation with the public is a key feature of environmental assessment procedures
(http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eia/home.htm).
The Directives on Environmental Assessment aim to provide a high level of protection of the
environment and to contribute to the integration of environmental considerations into the preparation of projects, plans and programmes reducing their environmental impact. Public participation in decision-making is ensured.
pag. 49/216
The EIA Directive (2011/92/EU), repealed Council Directive 85/337/EEC which was in force
since 1985; it “shall apply to the assessment of the environmental effects of those public and
private projects which are likely to have significant effects on the environment” (article 1).
As stated in Article 3 The environmental impact assessment shall identify, describe and assess in an appropriate manner, in the light of each individual case and in accordance with Articles 4 to 12, the direct and indirect effects of a project on the following factors: a) human beings, fauna and flora; b) soil, water, air, climate and the landscape; c) material assets and the
cultural heritage; d) the interaction between the factors referred to in points a), b) and c).
It applies to a wide range of defined public and private projects, listed Annexes I and II:

Mandatory EIA: all projects listed in Annex I are considered as having significant effects on the environment and require an EIA (e.g. crude-oil refineries, Thermal power
stations and other combustion installations with a heat output of 300 megawatts or
more, Nuclear power stations and other nuclear reactors…., Installations for the reprocessing of irradiated nuclear fuel, Integrated chemical installations, Construction of
lines for long-distance railway traffic and of airports with a basic runway length of 2
100 m or more, Construction of motorways and express roads, ….).

Discretion of Member States: for projects listed in Annex II, the national authorities
have to decide whether an EIA is needed. This is done by the "screening procedure",
which determines the effects of projects on the basis of thresholds/criteria or a case
by case examination. However, the national authorities must take into account the criteria laid down in Annex III. The projects listed in Annex II are in general those not included in Annex I (railways, roads waste disposal installations, waste water treatment
plants), but also other types such as urban development projects, flood-relief works,
changes of Annex I and II existing projects…).
The EIA procedure can be summarized as follows: the developer may request the competent
authority to say what should be covered by the EIA information to be provided by the developer (scoping stage); the developer must provide information on the environmental impact (EIA
report – Annex IV); the environmental authorities and the public (and affected Member States)
must be informed and consulted; the competent authority decides, taken into consideration the
results of consultations. The public is informed of the decision afterwards and can challenge
the decision before the courts (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eia/home.htm).
The SEA Directives’ objective is to provide for a high level of protection of the environment
and to contribute to the integration of environmental considerations into the preparation and
adoption of plans and programmes14 with a view to promoting sustainable development, by
ensuring that, in accordance with this Directive, an environmental assessment is carried out of
certain plans and programmes which are likely to have significant effects on the environment
(Article 1).
Plans and programmes in the sense of the SEA Directive must be prepared or adopted by an
authority (at national, regional or local level) and be required by legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions.
The SEA Directive does not have a list of plans/programmes similar to the EIA.
14 ‘plans and programmes’ shall mean plans and programmes, including those co-financed by the European Community (Article 2)
pag. 50/216
An SEA is mandatory for plans/programmes which are (Article 3):

are prepared for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy, industry, transport, waste/ water management, telecommunications, tourism, town & country planning or land use
and which set the framework for future development consent of projects listed in the
EIA Directive or

have been determined to require an assessment under the Habitats Directive.
Member States shall determine whether plans and programmes, other than those referred to
in paragraph 2, which set the framework for future development consent of projects, are likely
to have significant environmental effects. (Article 3 (4)):
Member States shall determine whether plans or programmes referred to in paragraphs 3 and
4 are likely to have significant environmental effects either through case-by case examination
or by specifying types of plans and programmes or by combining both approaches. For this
purpose Member States shall in all cases take into account relevant criteria set out in Annex II,
in order to ensure that plans and programmes with likely significant effects on the environment
are covered by this Directive (Article 3 (5)).
The SEA procedure can be summarized as follows: an environmental report is prepared in
which the likely significant effects on the environment and the reasonable alternatives of the
proposed plan or programme are identified. The public and the environmental authorities are
informed and consulted on the draft plan or programme and the environmental report prepared. As regards plans and programmes which are likely to have significant effects on the
environment in another Member State, the Member State in whose territory the plan or programme is being prepared must consult the other Member State(s). On this issue the SEA Directive follows the general approach taken by the SEA Protocol to the UN ECE Convention on
Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context. The environmental report and
the results of the consultations are taken into account before adoption. Once the plan or programme is adopted, the environmental authorities and the public are informed and relevant
information is made available to them. In order to identify unforeseen adverse effects at an
early stage, significant environmental effects of the plan or programme are to be monitored.
(http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eia/sea-legalcontext.htm).
2.2.5
Integrated Coastal Zone Management Recommendation
As already stated in paragraph 2.1.2, in 1996 the European Commission launched the
Demonstration Programme on ICZM, following concern over loss of marine habitats and conflict over the utilisation of coastal resources. One of the outcomes of this programme was a set
of recommendations on a European Strategy for ICZM (Recommendation of the European
Parliament and Council concerning the implementation of ICZM in Europe; 2002/413/ EC).
The eight Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) principles (see the box below) are an
important element of the European approach to ICZM. These principles of good practice were
also endorsed by the European Commission in its Communication on ICZM (COM(2007) 308
final). These include the need to base planning on sound and shared knowledge, the need to
take a long-term and cross-sector perspective, to pro-actively involve stakeholders and the
need to take into account both the terrestrial and the marine components of the coastal zone.
Member states were requested to conduct or update an overall stocktaking to analyse which
major actors, laws and institutions influence the management of their coastal zone. On the ba-
pag. 51/216
sis of the stock take each Member State concerned, in partnership with the regional authorities
and inter-regional organizations, as appropriate, should develop a national strategy or, where
appropriate, several strategies, to implement the principles for integrated management of the
coastal zone.
The recommendation set the general aim and content of these strategies and asked to member states to report to the Commission on the experience in implementation of this Recommendation 45 months after its adoption.
The reviewing process of the Recommendation, implanted in strict connection to the MSP policy process, led to a proposal for a Directive establishing a framework for maritime spatial
planning and integrated coastal zone management (COM(2013)133), that is described in paragraph 2.3.
Integrated Coastal Zone Management principles
2002/413/EC – CHAPTER II
Principle 1: A broad overall perspective (thematic and geographic) which will take into account the interdependence and disparity of natural systems and human activities
with an impact on coastal areas.
Principle 2: A long-term perspective which will take into account the precautionary principle
and the needs of present and future generations.
Principle 3: Adaptive management during a gradual process which will facilitate adjustment as
problems and knowledge develop. This implies the need for a sound scientific
basis concerning the evolution of the coastal zone.
Principle 4: Local specificity and the great diversity of European coastal zones, which will
make it possible to respond to their practical needs with specific solutions and
flexible measures.
Principle 5: Working with natural processes and respecting the carrying capacity of ecosystems, which will make human activities more environmentally friendly, socially responsible and economically sound in the long run.
Principle 6: Involving all the parties concerned (economic and social partners, the organisations representing coastal zone residents, non-governmental organisations and
the business sector) in the management process, for example by means of
agreements and based on shared responsibility.
Principle 7: Support and involvement of relevant administrative bodies at national, regional
and local level between which appropriate links should be established or maintained with the aim of improved coordination of the various existing policies. Partnership with and between regional and local authorities should apply when appropriate.
Principle 8: Use of a combination of instruments designed to facilitate coherence between sectoral policy objectives and coherence between planning and management.
pag. 52/216
2.2.6
The Marine Strategy Framework Directive links with other European
Environmental Directives
The European legislative framework concerning marine environment sustainable development
relies on the above described directives which are strictly interconnected, both from the thematic point of view and the geographic one.
The MSFD is the environmental pillar of the European Integrated Maritime Policy, which is
aiming to develop the sustainable use of the seas. The directive links to a number of EU legislation and regional agreements concerning the marine environment.
First and foremost, the MSFD is firmly linked to the European Habitats and Birds Directives
which provide a legal basis for the designation of protected areas in sea areas under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the Member States.
In fact, there are a number of common issues running through these Directives, like the monitoring programmes for the on-going assessment of the environmental status of marine waters
pursuant to the MSFD must be compatible with the relevant provisions for assessment and
monitoring set down by the Habitats and Birds Directives (Art 11(1) of Directive 2008/56/EC).
Member States programme of measure (Chapter III Art.13) shall include spatial protection
measures, contributing to coherent and representative networks of marine protected areas,
adequately covering the diversity of the constituent ecosystems, such as special areas of conservation pursuant to the Habitats Directive, special protection areas pursuant to the Birds Directive, and marine protected areas as agreed by the Community or Member States concerned in the framework of international or regional agreements to which they are parties.
Moreover, the MSFD sets down a specific obligation on the Commission to report to the European Parliament and Council on the progress made by Member States in establishing marine
protected areas having regard to the obligations that arise under EU and international law (Art
21(4) of Directive 2008/56/EC).
A stated in the preamble (18) the directive intends to make a significant contribution towards
discharging the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development goal of establishing a global
network of marine protected areas by 2012. This approach is also fully consistent with the
programme of work on halting the loss of marine and coastal biodiversity adopted by the Seventh Conference of the Parties to the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity.
Based on the evidence related to the fact that one of the primary sources of marine pollution is
land-based, the regulatory structure established by the MSFD is closely linked also with the
Water Framework Directive (WFD) which requires Member States to achieve good ecological
and chemical status in their terrestrial and coastal water bodies by 2015. The methodology
and the criteria set down in the MSFD for the attainment of GES builds upon existing obligations that arise under the Water Framework Directive. For instance, the initial assessment of
the environmental status of marine waters under the MSFD must take into account the results
of the assessment of coastal and transitional waters under the Water Framework Directive
(Chapter II - Art 8). Similarly, Member States shall integrate the programme of measures taking into account relevant measures that have already been adopted under the Water Framework Directive (Chapter III Art.13).
MSFD links indirectly also with some of the key policy objectives of other, regulatory instruments, such as the Nitrates Directive, the Bathing Water Directive and the Urban Waste Water
pag. 53/216
Directive (Chapter III Art.13), that are predominantly focused on preventing specific types of
land-based pollution of the aquatic environment making an important contribution towards the
attainment of its objectives.
The greatest controversy on common aim and obligations can be observed between the
MSFD and the European Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The latter policy provides for the
adoption of a broad range of EU legal measures concerning, inter alia: the management of living aquatic resources; technical restrictions on the environmental impact of fishing; conditions
of access to waters and resources for fishing vessels; a structural policy for the management
of the fishing fleet in the Member States; as well as enforcement measures applicable to the
fisheries sector. Moreover, the scope of the policy extends to aquaculture, the common organization of the market in fishery products, bilateral relations between the EU and third countries,
as well as general international relations on fisheries matters.
In the preamble of the Directive it is stated that measures regulating fisheries management
can be taken in the context of the Common Fisheries Policy, as set out in Council Regulation
(EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of
fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy, based on scientific advice with a view
to supporting the achievement of the objectives addressed by this Directive, including the full
closure to fisheries of certain areas, to enable the integrity, structure and functioning of ecosystems to be maintained or restored and, where appropriate, in order to safeguard, inter alia,
spawning, nursery and feeding grounds.
Moreover one of the qualitative criteria for determining GES under the MSFD is focused on
ensuring that the populations of all commercially exploited fish and shellfish are within safe biological limits and exhibit characteristics that are consistent with healthy stocks.
On the broader picture of international law, the MSFD is aimed at fulfilling a number of obligations that arise under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (preamble
art.17). The 1982 UNCLOS obliges all states parties, including the EU which is party to the
treaty in its own right, to protect and preserve the marine environment. The MSFD is therefore
directly relevant to fulfilling the general duty that arises for all parties to the 1982 UNCLOS, to
take all measures that are necessary to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine
environment, as well as the more specific obligations not to transfer damage or hazards from
one area to another, or transform one type of pollution into another.
In line with the 1982 UNCLOS, the MSFD aims to protect and preserve rare or fragile ecosystems as well as the habitat of depleted, threatened or endangered species and other forms of
marine life.
On a regional basis, the MSFD will assist Member States in meeting their obligations under
several regional treaties applicable to the marine environment including the Convention for the
Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean; the Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution from Land-Based Sources
(preamble art.17).
pag. 54/216
2.3
Proposal for a Directive on ICZM and MSP
Recognising the complementarity and the need to achieve coherence between the two policies, in March 2013 the European Commission launched a proposal for a Directive establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning and integrated coastal zone management
(COM(2013)133 final). The Commission proposal will be considered by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament. Once adopted, the new initiative will become EU
law and will have a binding role for EU Member States.
In accordance with the Commission procedure, before the launch of the proposal an impact
assessment was elaborated, aiming to evaluate economic, social and environmental effects of
the new policy. As part of the impact assessment, in 2010 the European Commission
launched a review of the EU ICZM Recommendation, with a view to a follow-up proposal. In
2010 the EU coastal Member States were invited to provide an update of the progress in implementing ICZM from 2006 up to 2010. The national reports form an important basis for the
assessment of progresses on EU ICZM Recommendation and to inform the impact assessment process launched by the European Commission to explore the need and options for future EU action and to assess potential social, economic and environmental consequences that
new initiatives proposed by the European Commission may have. In addition to the reports DG
Environment has commissioned specific studies to inform the impact assessment for the follow-up to the EU ICZM Recommendation15: 1) A study to examine the Member States reports
on progress on ICZM up to 2010; 2) A study on Options for coastal information systems; 3) A
study to assess the impacts of the policy options; 4) A study to model land-use changes in the
European coasts. All the reports are available on the web site of DG Environment. Moreover,
the new proposal was also based on the results of on-line public consultation aiming to seek
the views of stakeholders and all interested parties on ICZM and MPS.
The proposed Directive establish a framework for maritime spatial planning and integrated
coastal zone management aiming to promote the sustainable growth of maritime and coastal
economies and the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources (art. 1). According to art.
4 Member States shall establish and implement maritime spatial plan or plans and an integrated coastal management strategy or strategies. ICZM strategies will have to be built on the
principles and elements set out in the 2002 ICZM Recommendation (cfr. par. 2.2.5) and in the
ICZM Protocol to the Barcelona Conventions that entered into force in March 2011 (cfr. par.
2.4.3.3), thus defining a common legal framework for ICZM in the Mediterranean Sea. Maritime spatial plans will have to be developed considering common principles set at the EU level
by 2008 and 2010 EC communications (cfr. par. 2.1.1).
In the following articles, the proposed Directive identifies:

Objectives of maritime spatial plans and integrate coastal zone management strategies (art. 5);

Common minimum requirements for maritime spatial plans and integrated coastal
zone management strategies (art. 6);

Specific minimum requirements for maritime spatial plans (art. 7);
15 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/iczm/ia_studies.htm
pag. 55/216

Specific minimum requirements for integrated coastal zone management strategies
(art. 8);
In line with previous policy documents on MSP and ICZM, the proposed strategies give particular importance to public participation in the development of maritime spatial plans and integrate coastal zone management strategies (art. 9), as well as to information sharing (art. 10).
Finally, chapter III defines the specific steps to be implemented by each Member State, in particular:

Designation for each coastal zone and marine region or sub-region concerned of the
authority or authorities competent for the implementation of the Directive;

Reporting to the Commission on the implementation of the Directive.
2.4
The Mediterranean sea: international conventions and
regional initiatives
On the global level there are several International Maritime Organization (IMO)16 Conventions
dealing with prevention, response and liability for marine pollution: International Convention for
the Prevention of Pollution from Ships - MARPOL 1973/78; Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage - CLC 1969/92; International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage - Fund
1971/92; International Convention Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil
Pollution Casualties - Intervention 1969/73; Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation - OPRC 1990; Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments.
However the most important normative framework is the 1982 United Nations Convention of
the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) considered the “umbrella treaty”; even though it has been described as an abstract norm, which gives nothing specific as to the enforcement of that general obligation of the States, it represents the rule of international law and the States’ attitude
towards the marine environment is no longer a matter of their discretion and good will, but
their legal duty.
Under this paragraph a description of major convention and regional initiative is reported;
sources of information are the official documents and websites of the respective initiatives.
2.4.1
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), was adopted in 1982 as the
outcome of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III).
UNCLOS entered into force in 1994. The Convention is the most comprehensive international
treaty ever concluded. It is based on the four Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea
adopted in 1958: the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone; the Convention on the High Seas; the Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources of
the High Seas; and the Convention on the Continental Shelf. These treaties codified the – unwritten – customary law which had previously applied. The aim of these international agree-
16 IMO is the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the
prevention of marine pollution by ships
pag. 56/216
ments was to prevent the sea from being divided up, once and for all, between various countries. However, this aim was not achieved in full.
Today, UNCLOS draws together the four Geneva Conventions – the “old” law of the sea – in a
single unified treaty. In substantive terms, however, it actually goes further than the four. For
example, under the “new” law of the sea, the rights of the coastal states are expanded, in
some cases substantially, in both qualitative and quantitative terms. For example, each
coastal state has exclusive rights to exploit the fish stocks in the Exclusive Economic Zone
(EEZ) which extends to a distance of 200 nautical miles out from the coastal baseline. Under
the Geneva Conventions, the EEZ did not exist. UNCLOS also provides the legal basis for the
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), which commenced its work in Hamburg
in 1996. However, the Tribunal is not the only judicial institution responsible for safeguarding
compliance with UNCLOS. The states parties to UNCLOS are free to choose whether they
wish to submit disputes concerning the interpretation and application of UNCLOS to ITLOS, or
whether they prefer to apply to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague or another
international arbitral tribunal.
As of July 2009, 157 states had acceded to the Convention. Countries which have not acceded to UNCLOS are still bound by the provisions of the 1958 Geneva Conventions and the
norms of customary international law.
The international law of the sea establishes a framework for conduct, especially in relation to
economic interests, with which compliance is mandatory. It regulates fishing and navigation
and the extraction of oil and gas at sea. Also the exploitation of other resources of the deep
seabed and the protection of the marine environment are regulated. The Convention comprises 320 articles and nine annexes, governing all aspects of ocean space, such as delimitation,
environmental control, marine scientific research, economic and commercial activities, transfer
of technology and the settlement of disputes relating to ocean matters.
The law divides the seas into various legal zones. It defines the legal status and extent of
these zones and establishes norms governing the rights and jurisdictions of the coastal and
flag states in respect of these zones. A state’s jurisdiction decreases as the distance from the
coast increases. Jurisdiction ranges from full territorial sovereignty (in internal waters) to limited “aquitorial” sovereignty (in the territorial sea) and limited jurisdiction (in the EEZ and continental shelf).
The reference for the calculation of the various maritime zones is known as the baseline. The
normal baseline is the mean low-water line along the coast as marked on charts officially recognized by the coastal state. Waters on the landward side of the baseline belong to the state’s
internal waters. They form part of the national territory of the coastal state, which has complete
jurisdiction over them.
The territorial sea extends seawards of the baseline to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles.
It is here that international law begins to restrict the sovereignty of the coastal state: ships of
all states enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea. The coastal state may
not make passage through the territorial sea subject to permission or similar restrictions.
Adjacent to the territorial sea is the contiguous zone, which extends up to 24 nautical miles
seawards from the baseline. In this area, which partly overlaps with the territorial sea, the
coastal state may merely exercise rights of control.
pag. 57/216
Further out to sea, there is the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which stretches to 200 nautical miles seawards of the baseline. Unlike the internal waters and the territorial sea, the EEZ
does not form part of the national territory. Here, the coastal state merely has specific limited
rights which apply not to the maritime area itself but only to the resources existing within it. As
the term “Exclusive Economic Zone” implies, only the coastal state may erect and utilize structures such as oil platforms and wind turbines here, or engage in fishing: third countries are excluded from such activities. This is highly significant from an economic perspective: for example, around 90% of all commercially relevant fish species occur in the coastal states’ EEZs.
UNCLOS also contains specific provisions relating to the continental shelf, of which parts may
lie well beneath the EEZ. The continental shelf of a coastal State comprises the seabed and
subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural
prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of
200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured
where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance. Like the
EEZ, this is an area of jurisdiction where only the coastal state has the right to explore and exploit natural resources.
The outer limits of the Exclusive Economic Zone mark the start of international waters (the
high seas). This term applies to the water column beyond the EEZ rather than to the seabed.
The high seas are open to all states. No state may subject any part of the high seas to its sovereignty.
pag. 58/216
UNCLOS legal zones
Term
Text of the Convention
Ref.
Internal waters
Except as provided in Part IV, waters on the landward side of the baseline of the territorial sea form part of the internal waters of the State.
Part II Section 2 article 8
Normal Baseline
Except where otherwise provided in this Convention, the normal baseline for measuring the breadth of the territorial sea is the low-water line along the
coast as marked on large-scale charts officially recognized by the coastal State.
Part II Section 2 article 5
Territorial sea:
Every State has the right to establish the breadth of its territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles, measured from baselines determined in accordance with this Convention.
Part II Section 2 article 3
The outer limit of the territorial sea is the line every point of which is at a distance from the nearest point of the baseline equal to the breadth of the territorial sea.
Part II Section 2 article 4
Where the coasts of two States are opposite or adjacent to each other, neither of the two States is entitled, failing agreement between them to the
contrary, to extend its territorial sea beyond the median line every point of which is equidistant from the nearest points on the baselines from which the
breadth of the territorial seas of each of the two States is measured.
Part II Section 2 article 15
Contiguous zone
The contiguous zone may not extend beyond 24 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. The
coastal State may exercise the control necessary to: (a) prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within
its territory or territorial sea; (b) punish infringement of the above laws and regulations committed within its territory or territorial sea.
Part II Section 4 article 33
Exclusive Economic Zone
It is an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea, subject to the specific legal regime established in this Part, under which the rights and jurisdiction of the coastal State and the rights and freedoms of other States are governed by the relevant provisions of this Convention.
Part V article 55
The exclusive economic zone shall not extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured…..
Part V article 57
The delimitation of the exclusive economic zone between States with opposite or adjacent coasts shall be effected by agreement on the basis of international law, as referred to in Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, in order to achieve an equitable solution. 2. If no agreement can be reached within a reasonable period of time, the States concerned shall resort to the procedures provided for in Part XV. 3. Pending
agreement as provided for in paragraph 1, the States concerned, in a spirit of understanding and cooperation, shall make every effort to enter into
provisional arrangements of a practical nature and, during this transitional period, not to jeopardize or hamper the reaching of the final agreement.
Such arrangements shall be without prejudice to the final delimitation. 4. Where there is an agreement in force between the States concerned, questions relating to the delimitation of the exclusive economic zone shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of that agreement.
Part V article 74
comprises the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory
to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is
measured where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance. ….the outer limit of the continental shelf shall not exceed 350 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.
Part VI article 76
The delimitation of the continental shelf between States with opposite or adjacent coasts shall be effected by agreement on the basis of international
law, as referred to in Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, in order to achieve an equitable solution. 2. If no agreement can be
reached within a reasonable period of time, the States concerned shall resort to the procedures provided for in Part XV. 3. Pending agreement as provided for in paragraph 1, the States concerned, in a spirit of understanding and cooperation, shall make every effort to enter into provisional arrangements of a practical nature and, during this transitional period, not to jeopardize or hamper the reaching of the final agreement. Such arrangements
shall be without prejudice to the final delimitation. 4. Where there is an agreement in force between the States concerned, questions relating to the delimitation of the continental shelf shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of that agreement.
Part VI article 83
All parts of the sea that are not included in the exclusive economic zone, in the territorial sea or in the internal waters of a State, or in the archipelagic
waters of an archipelagic State.
Part VII article 86
Continental shelf
High Sea
pag. 59/216
2.4.1.1
The legal status of Mediterranean waters
Coastal states of the Mediterranean Sea have shown restraint in exercising the right to extend
their national jurisdiction outside their territorial waters. Few have claimed an economic exclusive zone or a fishing zone extending beyond these waters. This causes a large area to be
considered as “high sea” (waters outside of national jurisdiction) making the cooperation between the states essential for the sustainable utilization of the resources.
As regards the territorial seas, most Mediterranean states have established a 12-mile limit.
Due to political and geographical reasons, some state refute the application of such provision
(Greece, Turkey, the Syrian Arab Republic) or have jet to determine the extent of their territorial Sea (Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia). Bilateral agreements-treaties for the delimitation of the territorial sea have been signed by France and Italy (1986 - Strait of Bonifacio between Corsica and Sardinia); between Italy and Yugoslavia (1975 - Gulf of Trieste), and more
recently between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1999.
The Law of the Sea Convention allows each coastal nation to establish an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) adjacent to its territorial sea, extending a maximum of 200 miles seaward from
the baseline. Within its EEZ, the coastal nation has sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, conserving, and managing living and non-living resources, whether found in
ocean waters, the seabed, or subsoil. It also has jurisdiction over artificial islands or other
structures with economic purposes. For political and geophysical reasons (the Mediterranean
Sea is relatively narrow) only a few states (Morocco, Egypt, Spain and France) have declared
Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) beyond their territorial seas. The Maritime Code of Croatia,
adopted on 27 January 1994, contains several provisions on the EEZ. However, application of
these provisions is conditional to the decision by the Croatian Parliament to proclaim such a
zone or a zone of different nature.
With regard to the fishing zones, four countries in the Mediterranean have claimed fishing
zones extending beyond their territorial waters using different criteria (Algeria, Malta, Tunisia,
and Spain). The European Union in the Community Action Plan for the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources in the Mediterranean (2002) advocated the declaration of fisheries protection zones, of up to 200 nautical miles, to improve fisheries management in the Mediterranean.
A common approach should first be agreed upon by Community Member States and, subsequently, by all the countries in the region, achieving a consensus of all the involved countries.
Recently, France indicated that it adhered to this approach and that the legislation to declare a
50-mile fisheries protection zone off its Mediterranean coast was in the process of being drafted. The declaration of fisheries protection zones is limited to the exploration, exploitation,
management and conservation of fisheries resources and does not affect jurisdiction over
mineral or fossil resources, navigation or any other rights in this area.
In the Mediterranean there are several complex delimitation issues about the continental
shelves. The settlement of the maritime boundaries can be difficult to achieve, due to factors
such as the presence of islands or the configuration of the coasts. The main disputes in the
Mediterranean are between Greece and Turkey, Spain and Morocco, France and Italy.
The bilateral agreements on delimitation of the continental shelf are so far in force between
the following states: Italy and Yugoslavia (Rome, 8 January 1968); Italy and Tunisia (Tunis, 20
pag. 60/216
August 1971); Italy and Spain (Madrid, 19 February 1974); Greece and Italy (Athens, 24 May
1977); France and Monaco (Paris, 16 February 1984); Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Malta (Valletta, 10 November 1986); and Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Tunisia (Benghazi, 8 August
1988). The two latter agreements implement the judgments rendered by the International
Court of Justice on 3 June 1985 and 24 February 1982, respectively. Another agreement was
signed on 18 December 1982 by Albania and Italy but has not yet entered into force.
Table 2-3 summarizes the information on the extent of States’ Territorial seas, Economic
Zones, Fishing Zones and Continental Shelves.
The major conventions and agreements dealing with the law of the sea and fisheries in the
states bordering the Mediterranean basin are the LOSC, the Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December
1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement) and the Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the
High Seas (1993 Compliance Agreement).
Table 2-4 specifies the legislation establishing the various maritime zones in the Mediterranean bordering countries.
pag. 61/216
Table 2-3 Claims to maritime jurisdiction by states bordering the Mediterranean Sea.
State
LOSC ratification,
accession
Territorial
sea width
(n. miles)
Albania
23 June 2003
12
Algeria
11 June 1996
12
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
12 January
1994
(*)
Croatia
05-apr-95
12
del
Cyprus
12 December
1988
12
depth of exploitability
Egypt
26 August
1983
12
Limit not specified
n/a
11-apr-96
12
200 (not applicable in the
Mediterranean)
depth 200 m or
exploitability
21 July 1995
6
France
1
Greece
Israel
EEZ, width
(n. miles)
Fishing zone,
width (n.
miles)
Continental
shelf:
Outer limit
n/a
32 or 52
del
n/a
depth 200 m or
exploitability
2
12
depth of exploitability
Italy
13 January
1995
12
depth 200 m or
exploitability
Lebanon
5 January
1995
12
n/a
Libyan A. J.
Signatory
12
n/a
Malta
20 May 1993
12
Monaco
20 March
1996
12
Morocco
Signatory
12
Serbia and
Montenegro
12 March
2001
12
Slovenia
16 June 1995
Spain
15 January
1997
Syrian A. R.
Tunisia
Turkey
25
n/a
limit not specified in the
Mediterranean
depth 200 m or
exploitability
del
n/a
12
200 (not applicable in
Mediterranean)
49 (applicable
only in Mediterranean)
Up to 50-m isobath off the Gulf
of Gabès
12
6 in Aegean
Sea
n/a
depth 200 m or
exploitability
35
24-apr-85
depth 200 m or
exploitability
200 (in Black Sea)
n/a
n/a
(*) A treaty on the maritime borders between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina was signed in 1999; however not
ratified (Policy Research corporation, 2011); No information available (N/A); up to delimitation with neighbouring
States (DEL); [1] France has made its intention publicly known to declare a Fishery Protection Area in the Mediterranean. [2] The extent of the territorial sea is fixed at 10 nautical miles for the purpose of regulating civil aviation (see
Decree No. 6 of 18 September 1931).
pag. 62/216
Table 2-4 National legislation establishing maritime zones in the Mediterranean
(http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/y5880e/y5880e09.htm#fn54, accessed on 27 November
2011).
State
Territorial sea
EEZ
Fishing
zone
Continental
shelf
Decree No. 4650 of 9 March 1970
as amended by
Albania
Decree No. 7366 of 9 March 1990
Algeria
Decree No. 63-403
Legislative Decree No.
of 12 October 1963
94-13 of 28 May 1994
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
Art. 43 MariMaritime Code
Croatia
of 27 January 1994
time code of
(2)
27 January
1994
Law No. 8 of
Law No. 45 of 1964
Cyprus
Egypt
5 April 1974
Decree of
Declaration on
15 January 1958
26 August 1983
Presidential
Decision No.
1051 of 1958
Law No. 71-1060
France
of 1971
Decree-Law
Law No. 230 of
Greece
No. 142/1969
17 September 1936
of 1969
Law No. 5717-1956 of
Israel
1956 as amended by Law No.
Law of 10 Feb-
5750-1990 of
ruary 1953
5 February 1990
Navigation Code of 1942 as modi-
Act No. 613 of
fied by Law No. 359 of 14 August
Italy
1967
1974
Lebanon
Libyan A. J.
Legislative Decree No. 138 of 7
September 1983
Law No. 2 of
18 February 1959
Act No. XXXII of 10
Act No. XXXII of 10 December
Malta
December 1971 as
1971 as modified
modified by Act No.
XXIV of 21 July 1978
Continental
Shelf Act of 29
July 1966
Sovereign Ordinance No. 5094 of
Monaco
14 February 1973
1
Morocco
Serbia and
Montenegro
Law No. 1-73-211 of 1973
Act of 23 July 1987
Law No. 1-81 of
8 April 1981
Act of 23 July
1987
Slovenia
pag. 63/216
State
Territorial sea
EEZ
Fishing
zone
Continental
shelf
Royal Decree No.
Law No. 10/1977 of
Spain
4 January 1977
1315/1997 of 1 August
as modified by Royal
Decree No. 431/2000
of 31 March 2000
Legislative
Legislative Decree No. 304 of 28
Syrian A. R.
Decree No.
December 1963 as amended by
304 of
Law No. 37 of 16 August 1981
28 December
1963
Decree of 26 July
Tunisia
Law No. 73-49 of
2 August 1973
1951 as modified by
Law No. 63-49 of
30 December 1963
Turkey
Act No. 2674 of
20 May 1982
[1] Article 10 of the Law No. 1-81 of 8 April 1981 establishing a 200-mile exclusive economic zone off Moroccan
coasts asserts that provisions of the Law No. 1-58-227 of 21 July 1958 (Code regulating research and exploitation of
fossil resources) are applicable for the exploration and exploitation of resources located on the seabed of the EEZ or
subsoil thereof. The outer limit of the continental shelf may be found in this piece of legislation.
(2) Declared in October 2003 an “Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone”. In June 2004 Croatia decided to delay
the implementation of that Zone for the European Union (EU) Member States
2.4.2
The Convention of Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo)
The Convention of Environmental Impact Assessment in a Trans-boundary Context (Espoo)
sets out the obligations of Parties to assess the environmental impact of certain activities at an
early stage of planning. It also lays down the general obligation of States to notify and consult
each other on all major projects under consideration that are likely to have a significant adverse environmental impact across boundaries.
The Convention was adopted in 1991 and entered into force on 10 September 1997.
The fifth session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention took place in Geneva in June
2011.
In 1995, the third ‘Environment for Europe’ Ministerial Conference, held in Sofia (Bulgaria),
welcomed the Sofia Initiative on Application of Environmental Impact Assessment (Sofia EIA
Initiative). Following up on the Sofia EIA Initiative, recommendations were made by Croatia
and the Regional Environmental Center for Central for Central and Eastern Europe (RECCEE) to the fourth ‘Environment for Europe’ Ministerial Conference, held in Aarhus (Denmark)
in 1998, on the use of SEA in Central and Eastern Europe and in Newly Independent States.
The Conference invited countries to introduce or carry out SEAs. (The Convention on Access
to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental
Matters was also adopted at the Aarhus Conference, and is generally referred to as the Aarhus Convention.)
In 2000, a background paper on options for developing a legally binding UNECE instrument on
SEA was discussed at sessions of the Committee on Environmental Policy (Seventh Session),
pag. 64/216
the Meeting of the Signatories to the Aarhus Convention and the Espoo Convention’s Working
Group on EIA (CEP/WG.5/2000/9, MP.EIA/WG.1/2000/16). The Working Group on EIA decided in principle to proceed with negotiation of a Protocol on SEA.
This decision was supported in 2001 when the Meeting of the Parties to the Espoo Convention
decided to start negotiations on a protocol to the Convention addressing SEA (decision II/9).
The UNECE Member States, with the exception of Canada and the United States of America,
then negotiated a draft Protocol on SEA at a series of eight meetings, beginning in May 2001
and lasting until January 2003. The provisions of the Espoo and Aarhus Conventions and the
European Community (now Union) Directives on EIA and SEA influenced those negotiations.
Negotiation of the Protocol began just as the European Parliament and Council of the European Union (EU) adopted the SEA Directive (European Union Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment) in May and
June 2001. The SEA Directive greatly influenced the negotiation of the Protocol. However,
there are a number of important differences between the two legal instruments, including the
geographical scope and the consideration and integration of environmental concerns in the
preparation of policies and legislation.
The Protocol negotiations concluded in January 2003 and an extraordinary meeting of the Parties to the Espoo Convention adopted the Protocol on 21 May 2003, in Kyiv (Ukraine), during
the ‘Environment for Europe’ Ministerial Conference. Thirty-six States and the European
Community (now Union) signed the Protocol (Montenegro later succeeded to signature). The
Protocol entered into force on 10 July 2010 (latest status).
2.4.3
The UN Environmental Regional Seas Programme
The Regional Seas Programme, launched in 1974 in the wake of the 1972 United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm, is one of UNEP’s most significant
achievements in the past 35 years.
The Regional Seas Programme aims to address the accelerating degradation of the world’s
oceans and coastal areas through the sustainable management and use of the marine and
coastal environment, by engaging neighbouring countries in comprehensive and specific actions to protect their shared marine environment. It has accomplished this by stimulating the
creation of Regional Seas programmes prescriptions for sound environmental management to
be coordinated and implemented by countries sharing a common body of water.
Today, more than 143 countries participate in 13 Regional Seas programmes established under the auspices of UNEP: Black Sea, Wider Caribbean, East Asian Seas, Eastern Africa,
South Asian Seas, ROPME Sea Area, Mediterranean, North-East Pacific, Northwest Pacific,
Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, South-East Pacific, Pacific, and Western Africa. Six of these programmes, are directly administered by UNEP.
The Regional Seas programmes function through an Action Plan. In most cases the Action
Plan is underpinned with a strong legal framework in the form of a regional Convention and
associated Protocols on specific problems.
pag. 65/216
2.4.3.1
The Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP)
The Mediterranean Action Plan was adopted by 16 Mediterranean countries and the European
Community during the conference organized by the United Nation Environment Program
(UNEP), which took place in Barcelona in 1975. It demanded from the governments of the
Mediterranean coastal states to create and adopt a series of international agreements concerning the marine environment. The MAP was the first-ever plan adopted as a Regional Seas
Programme under UNEP's umbrella.
The main objectives of the MAP were to assist the Mediterranean countries to assess and
control marine pollution, to formulate their national environment policies, to improve the ability
of governments to identify better options for alternative patterns of development, and to optimize the choices for allocation of resources.
Although the initial focus of the MAP was on marine pollution control, experience confirmed
that socio-economic trends, combined with inadequate development planning and management are the root of most environmental problems. Consequently, the focus of MAP gradually
shifted to include integrated coastal zone planning and management as the key tool through
which solutions are being sought.
Twenty years later, the Action Plan for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Sustainable Development of the Coastal Areas of the Mediterranean (MAP Phase II) was designed, taking into account the achievements and shortcomings of the MAP in the context of
recent developments.
Today MAP involves 21 countries bordering the Mediterranean as well as the European
Community. Together, they are determined to meet the challenges of environmental degradation in the sea, coastal areas and inland, and to link sustainable resource management with
development, in order to protect the Mediterranean region and contribute to an improved
Mediterranean quality of life.
2.4.3.2
The Barcelona Convention
A cornerstone of efforts to protect the Mediterranean environment is the Convention for the
Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean.
It is a regional framework treaty, signed during the second intergovernmental conference held
in Barcelona in 1976, by the 21 Mediterranean coastal states (all except the Palestinian Authority) and the European Community, under the auspices of the United Nations Environment
Programme.
The Convention's main objectives are:

To assess and control marine pollution;

To ensure sustainable management of natural marine and coastal resources;

To integrate the environment in social and economic development;

To protect the marine environment and coastal zones through prevention and reduction of pollution, and – as far as possible – elimination of pollution, whether land or
sea-based;

To protect the natural and cultural heritage;
pag. 66/216

To strengthen solidarity among Mediterranean Coastal States;

To contribute to the improvement of the quality of life.
The Contracting Parties pledge to take appropriate measures to pursue the protection of the
marine environment and the natural resources of the Mediterranean Sea area, with due respect for principles such as polluter pays and precaution, and using instruments including Environmental Impact Assessment, co-operation between neighbouring countries and integrated
coastal zone management.
Six specific protocols cover subjects such as land based sources of pollution, biodiversity and
marine emergencies. The Convention and its protocols are implemented through the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) based in Athens, and several thematic Regional Activities Centres
located throughout the region. The European Union promotes the full implementation of the
Barcelona Convention by all Parties in the region. The Convention was strengthened and
broadened in the mid-1990s to reflect the emergence of sustainable development policies.
The MAP system now includes the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development
(MCSD), which has recently elaborated a new Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD). The Strategy was approved by the Conference of the Parties in Slovenia in
November 2005.
2.4.3.3
ICZM Protocol for Mediterranean
The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the
Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention) entered into force 12 February 1978. It can be regarded as a corner stone for the promotion of environmental protection and integration in the Mediterranean. The European Community and all the EU Mediterranean Member States are contracting parties to the Convention.
Article 4.3(e) of the Barcelona Convention, requests the Contracting Parties to promote the
integrated management of the coastal zones, taking into account the protection of areas of
ecological and landscape interest and the rational use of natural resources. A Protocol was
developed to provide a common framework for the Contracting Parties to promote and implement ICZM.
On 13 September 2010, the Council adopted the decision to ratify the ICZM Protocol to the
Barcelona Convention. In his statement welcoming the Council decision, European Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said that the adoption of the Council's decision will mean
that problems of coastal degradation in the Mediterranean can now be tackled more effectively. He stressed that the EU ratification decision "sends a strong signal of commitment from the
EU to the protection and sustainable management of the Mediterranean coast."
Having been ratified by six contracting parties, the Protocol entered into force the 24th of
March 2011. The ratification, or conclusion, of the Protocol means that the Protocol now becomes part of EU law and has binding effects. The EU conclusion decision follows the signature of the Protocol, as a first step, adopted by the Council on 4 December 2008
(2009/89/EC).
pag. 67/216
The objectives of integrated coastal zone management are to:
(a) facilitate, through the rational planning of activities, the sustainable development of
coastal zones by ensuring that the environment and landscapes are taken into account in
harmony with economic, social and cultural development;
(b) preserve coastal zones for the benefit of current and future generations;
(c) ensure the sustainable use of natural resources, particularly with regard to water use;
(d) ensure preservation of the integrity of coastal ecosystems, landscapes and geomorphology;
(e) prevent and/or reduce the effects of natural hazards and in particular of climate change,
which can be induced by natural or human activities;
(f) achieve coherence between public and private initiatives and between all decisions by
the public authorities, at the national, regional and local levels, which affect the use of the
coastal zone.
In implementing the Protocol, the Parties shall be guided by general principles of integrated
coastal zone management, which lay on the application of an ecosystem approach, of a broad
overall perspective (thematic and geographic) which takes into account local specificity, on the
enhancement of vertical and horizontal coordination among institutions, on the promotion of
public participation in a transparent decision making process.
Moreover the Protocol states that the Parties shall endeavour to ensure the sustainable use
and management of coastal zones in order to preserve the coastal natural habitats, landscapes, natural resources and ecosystems, in compliance with international and regional legal
instruments. The Parties shall also endeavour to ensure that their national legal instruments
include criteria for sustainable use of the coastal zone.
In respect to economic activities the Parties shall: (a) accord specific attention to economic activities that require immediate proximity to the sea; (b) ensure that the various economic activities minimize the use of natural resources and take into account the needs of future generations; (c) ensure respect for integrated water resources management and environmentally
sound waste management; (d) ensure that the coastal and maritime economy is adapted to
the fragile nature of coastal zones and that resources of the sea are protected from pollution;
(e) define indicators of the development of economic activities to ensure sustainable use of
coastal zones and reduce pressures that exceed their carrying capacity; (f) promote codes of
good practice among public authorities, economic actors and non-governmental organizations.
Specific coastal ecosystems such as wetlands and estuaries should be protected not only by
means of the creation of protected areas, but also taking into account the environmental, economic and social function of these habitats in national coastal strategies and coastal plans and
programmes and when issuing authorizations; parties shall take the necessary measures to
regulate or, if necessary, prohibit activities that may have adverse effects on wetlands and estuaries; finally they should undertake, to the extent possible, the restoration of degraded
coastal wetlands with a view to reactivating their positive role in coastal environmental processes. For marine habitats parties shall adopt measures to ensure protection and conservation, and undertake action to promote regional and international cooperation for the implementation of common programmes on the protection of marine habitats.
pag. 68/216
The protocol identifies the following instruments for ICZM implementation in the Mediterranean:

Monitoring and observation mechanism and networks;

Mediterranean strategy for integrated coastal zone;

Management;

National coastal strategies, plans and programmes;

Environmental assessment;

Land policy;

Economic, financial and fiscal instruments.
2.4.3.4
The Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD)
The 21 Mediterranean countries and the European Community decided, at the 12th Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention (Monaco, November 2001), in
line with the WSSD process, to prepare a “Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development” (MSSD). They requested the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development
(MCSD) of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) to develop a draft of the Strategy.
The 2nd Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on the Environment (Athens, July 2002)
endorsed this initiative.
Despite the progress made, there is a latent but growing awareness throughout the Mediterranean that current development trends are unsustainable. Mediterranean people are becoming
increasingly aware that it is just not possible to keep using resources, building up coastal areas and developing industries, especially tourism, without an adequate integrated planning
framework, a reduction of North-South disparities and the necessary policy reforms. The Mediterranean partners have already made much progress in this respect through the Barcelona
Convention and the MCSD. The Strategy offers an excellent opportunity for these partners to
make substantial advances towards sustainable development, based on genuine partnership
and co-development.
The Mediterranean Strategy is a framework strategy. Its purpose is to adapt international
commitments to regional conditions, to guide national sustainable development strategies and
to initiate a dynamic partnership between countries at different levels of development. By making a public and high profile commitment to sustainable development and to reporting on the
progress achieved, countries as well as donors and the other partners concerned will help to
produce and sustain a common dynamic in which much greater attention is paid to achieving
harmonious growth throughout the region.
The Strategy calls for action to pursue sustainable development goals with a view to strengthening peace, stability and prosperity, taking into account the threats and weaknesses in the
region as well as its strengths and opportunities. It also takes into consideration the need to
reduce the gap between developed and developing countries in the region.
The MSSD is based on the Vision and Framework Orientations, which have already been endorsed by the MCSD and the Contracting Parties. In the development of the Strategy, valuable
inputs were provided by the assessment and prospective documents prepared by various
pag. 69/216
MAP components, as well as by other Mediterranean cooperation networks. The Strategy took
into account developments in regional cooperation, with particular reference to the Mediterranean Action Plan and the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the Arab Initiative for Sustainable
Development and the EU Sustainable Development Strategy.
The EU Strategy directly concerns Mediterranean EU Member States and countries likely to
become EU members. It also indirectly affects the EU’s Mediterranean neighbours in setting
the requirement that all Community policies must place sustainable development as their priority. The Strategy therefore focuses mainly on the integration of environmental concerns into
key economic development sectors, while giving due consideration to social and cultural dimensions
As a basis for building up a dynamic regional process of sustainable development, the Strategy outlines the main needs and challenges in the region, before going on to identify four major
objectives and sets of actions to be carried out in seven basic priority fields of action. A set of
indicators, annexed to this report, will contribute to the follow-up of the implementation of the
MSSD.
The following four objectives are established with the aim of promoting progress towards sustainability in the economic, social and environmental areas and in the field of governance. contribute to economic development by enhancing Mediterranean assets
1. reduce social disparities by implementing the millennium development goals and
strengthen cultural identities;
2. change unsustainable production and consumption patterns and ensure the sustainable management of natural resources;
3. improve governance at the local, national and regional levels.
Seven interdependent priority fields of action and synergy were identified below in which it is
essential to make real progress:

better management of water resources and demand;

improved rational use of energy, increased renewable energy use and mitigation of
and adaptation to climate change.

sustainable mobility through appropriate transport management;

sustainable tourism as a leading economic sector;

sustainable agriculture and rural development;

sustainable urban development; and

sustainable management of the sea, coastal areas and marine resources.
2.4.4
The EU Environmental Strategy for the Mediterranean
In September 2006 the European Commission adopted a Communication (COM(2006)475)
establishing an Environment Strategy for the Mediterranean. The environmental needs of the
Mediterranean far outweigh the means currently available to deal with them. Consequently international organisations, the donor community and above all the countries around the sea will
need to make significant additional and coordinated efforts if a cleaner Mediterranean is to be
achieved. The Commission intends to concentrate its own efforts and limited resources in are-
pag. 70/216
as where it can bring clear added value and the strategy outlines the structure of this approach.
The strategy's key aims are to:

Reduce pollution levels across the region

Promote sustainable use of the sea and its coastline

Encourage neighbouring countries to cooperate on environmental issues

Assist partner countries in developing effective institutions and policies to protect the
environment

Involve NGOs and the public in environmental decisions affecting them
In line with the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Euro - Mediterranean Partnership,
these aims will be achieved through four means: financial assistance from existing and already
planned EU aid programmes; strengthened dialogue with the region's representatives; improved coordination with other organisations and partners; and sharing of EU experience in
dealing with the problems of the Mediterranean and other regions. The strategy supports the
broader EU Maritime Policy (and its environmental pillar the EU Marine Strategy) that is being
developed.
2.4.5
Maritime Spatial Planning in the Mediterranean Sea
As stated in the above paragraphs Maritime Spatial Planning is a tool for improved decisionmaking. It provides a framework for arbitrating between competing human activities and managing their impact on the marine environment. Its objective is to balance economic interests
and achieve sustainable use of the marine environment in line with the EU Sustainable Development Strategy. MSP is commonly defined as a process of analysing and allocating the spatial and temporal distribution of human activities in marine areas to achieve ecological, economic and social objectives. The process consists of data collection, stakeholder consultation
and the participatory development of a plan, and the subsequent stages of implementation,
enforcement, evaluation and revision (Roadmap).
Besides the development of ten key principles for Maritime Spatial Planning and a series of
dedicated workshops, the Commission also initiated a number of specific studies.
The study on ‘Exploring the potential for Maritime Spatial Planning in the Mediterranean Sea’
was launched in October 2009 carried out by Policy Research Corporation, provides information on the potential for applying MSP in the Mediterranean Sea as a whole and in subareas in the Mediterranean where MSP currently has the most potential. To start, an overview
is provided of the current situation in the Mediterranean with regard to MSP. In this respect, a
review was made of cross-border/international initiatives, EU level initiatives and country initiatives. Then, a methodology was elaborated to identify areas that currently have more potential
for the application of MSP. This methodology builds further upon the ten key principles of MSP
and focuses on the purpose of MSP in the area, the feasibility of MSP in that area and the
conditions for cross-border / international cooperation. This methodology was then applied to
eight areas in the Mediterranean, resulting in four areas that qualified for further analysis to
explore the potential of MSP: the Adriatic Sea (see the paragraph below), the Alboran Sea, the
area surrounding Malta, and the Western Mediterranean.
pag. 71/216
Some actions were recommended to facilitate the further implementation of MSP in the Mediterranean, also on the basis of the observed differences among Mediterranean countries/regions in respect to stakeholder involvement, a well-functioning institutional and legal
framework, cross border/ international cooperation, the presence of a strong data and
knowledge base, coherence of MSP with terrestrial spatial planning and sound management
and control of the seas.
a) In some Mediterranean countries, the involvement of public stakeholders is incorporated in laws, but in practice this does not occur often. The involvement of stakeholders needs to be further promoted via transparent, open and inclusive information sharing and involvement in the decision-making process. This process should involve interested public and private parties from all maritime sectors and can be set up using
lessons learned from a number of best practices identified in this study. With regard to
the institutional and legal framework, most countries in the Mediterranean have not yet
developed legislation that accommodates MSP. Also, most countries have not (yet)
established Exclusive Economic Zones, which would enable them to manage the associated sea space under national jurisdiction. Moreover, introducing uniform solutions for MSP policy making and coordination is difficult because of significant differences in government structures and the application of sectoral approaches.
b) In the Mediterranean Sea several cross-border initiatives exist in the forms of platforms, international research projects and management projects. Currently, most
cross-border initiatives that may provide a platform for MSP have been set up for the
protection of the marine environment, which may be challenging when sector-neutral
decisions need to be taken. Nonetheless, such initiatives – and in particular the Barcelona Convention – may provide a useful starting point for MSP.
c) With regard to data collection, knowledge creation and evaluation, many Mediterranean countries have research institutes that focus on fisheries, while some have a wider
maritime scope. In general, most knowledge is available on the sea near the coastlines, whereas information on areas further offshore is very limited. In order to further
improve the knowledge on the sea as a basis for MSP, actions are required to develop
more uniform research methodologies, further develop networks of knowledge institutes, set international instead of national or local research agendas, further develop
knowledge in the framework of EU-initiatives, set up multi-disciplinary working groups
and pay more attention to dissemination and interaction with the qualified authorities.
d) Although a number of countries have started to develop Integrated Coastal Zone
Management (ICZM), coherence between MSP and terrestrial spatial planning is not
yet being achieved in the Mediterranean. In the future, such coherence could be established by formal mandates or via a more informal collaborative process. In this respect, ICZM remains an important step towards setting up MSP and it is recommended to implement MSP in parallel with ICZM.
e) In the Mediterranean, management and control problems currently exist not only in the
areas far offshore, but also in the territorial seas. The establishment of maritime zones
(in particular EEZs) could contribute to solve problems on the high seas, although
countries are currently often hesitant to do this.
pag. 72/216
2.5
The Adriatic sea: agreements and strategy
Outside the framework of the Barcelona Convention, agreements and initiatives are currently
going on.
2.5.1
Trilateral Commission for the protection of the Adriatic
The Trilateral Commission for the protection of the Adriatic originates from the bilateral commission between Italy and Yugoslavia (1974), which was re-launched in 1992, including Italy,
Croatia and Slovenia. Montenegro has recently become a member of the initiative. Even
though the other Adriatic countries – Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina – do not form part
of the Trilateral Commission, their interest in activities conducted by the Trilateral Commission
was expressed. They were invited for – and attended – the last meetings of the Trilateral
Commission. The main goal of the Trilateral Commission is the protection of the Adriatic Sea
and coastal areas against pollution. Therefore, the Commission: (i) studies all problems related to the pollution of the Adriatic Sea waters and coastal areas; (ii) does propositions and recommendations to the government related to the research needed; (iii) is engaged in introducing measures required to eliminate the current pollution and prevent new causes of pollution.
The Trilateral Commission presents the adequate institutional framework for the cooperation
of the Adriatic states in the field of marine environmental protection. Moreover, the work of the
Trilateral Commission has proved to be an efficient model, housing different aspects of marine
environmental issues and providing for appropriate response to new challenges. Consequently, the Trilateral Commission is believed to be the instrument to come to a common vision – a
long-term Maritime Spatial Planning strategy – with regard to cross-border/international Maritime Spatial Planning in the (Northern) Adriatic.
Main topics approached by the Commission are:

Ballast water management in the Adriatic Sea;

Implementation of the Sub-Regional Intervention Plan for Cases of Sudden Adriatic
Sea Pollution;

EU Marine Strategy Directive;

The integrated management of coastal areas and safe harbours.

The members emphasised the importance of coordination and synergy of all activities
in the Adriatic for the purpose of its efficient protection and sustainable development.
The Trilateral Commission is mentioned and partially described again in the following paragraphs within the participating countries section.
2.5.2
The Adriatic Ionian Initiative
The Adriatic-Ionian Initiative was established at the Conference on the Development and Security in the Adriatic and the Ionian Sea in Ancona on 19 - 20 May 2000, at which the Ancona
Declaration was adopted by which member countries committed to co-operate in order to
strengthen peace and security in this part of Europe, good neighbourly relations, economic
development, land transport connections, eliminate all forms of crime, technical assistance,
pag. 73/216
environmental protection, health and cultural co-operation, tourism development and maritime
co-operation.
The Adriatic-Ionian Council was established at the ministerial level, and it decides on all basic
and specific issues, including the areas and forms of co-operation between the Initiative member states, co-operation with other international organizations and initiatives, as well as political issues in the region.
This platform for cross-border/international cooperation includes representatives of Albania,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.
The Initiative's work is carried out through round tables which are divided in four thematic
units: Round Table for Environment and Fire Protection, Round Table for Tourism, Culture and
Interuniversity Co-operation, Round Table for Small- and Middle-Sized Entrepreneurship and
Round Table for Transport and Maritime Affairs.
The Adriatic-Ionian Initiative dealt and deals with among others:

The Adriatic Action Plan, adopted in 2003;

Contingency plan for the Adriatic, including a Sub-regional Contingency Plan for the
Northern Adriatic (Slovenia, Italy and Croatia), to be coordinated by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) issued in 2005;

Proposal for the designation of the Adriatic Sea as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area
(PSSA);

Strategic Environmental Assessment of Maritime Activities including Ballast Water Issue.
The third stakeholder on Maritime Affairs in the Adriatic Ionian Macro-Region was held in Portorož (Slovenia) on 17 September 2012. The Adriatic Ionian Initiative is mentioned and partially described again in the following paragraphs within the participating countries section.
2.5.3
The Forum of Adriatic and Ionian Cities
On the initiative of the Municipality of Ancona and ANCI (Italian National Association of the
Municipalities) and with the approval of the “Charter of Ancona “ on 30th of April 1999 was
born in Ancona the Forum of Adriatic and Ionian Cities. This association brings together the
coastal cities of the 7 countries of the Adriatic-Ionian Basin: Italy (28 cities), Slovenia (2 cities),
Croatia (9 cities), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1 city), Montenegro (3 cities), Albania (5 cities)
and Greece (5 cities). The Forum aims to build and develop the economic, social, environmental and cultural heritage of the Adriatic and Ionian coastal cities and to collaborate on European integration and enlargement. It pursues this goal by promoting innovative forms of decentralized cooperation and partnerships between local authorities of the member countries. The
Forum of Adriatic and Ionian Cities convene at the 13th Plenary Session of held in Ancona on
the 16 December 2011 to discuss on "The Role and Contribution of Local Bodies and Networks in the path of construction of the Adriatic-Ionian Macroregion". In the final declaration of
the meeting participants agreed on the following:

the commitment to develop reasons and initiatives to a positive and expeditious process of recognition of the Adriatic – Ionian Macroregion by the European Union, in ap-
pag. 74/216
propriate places and seats, at the local, interregional and international level, among
the social and productive forces, in the realities of associations, among citizens,
among the numerous networks acting in the territory (Chambers of Commerce, Universities, the Adriatic Euroregion, the cultural networks among museums, theatres,
music, cinema, education, training); 

the will to play an active and proactive role in the process of construction and recognition of the Adriatic-Ionian Macroregion, by supporting the initiatives taken to achieve
this goal and the creation of supranational systems of partnership, by contributing to
the construction of dialogue and collaboration systems among local, regional and central national and European governments;

the commitment to develop and implement network experiences and potential which
are present in local communities and in the associative, productive, cultural and recreational fabric, as key strategic resources in the awareness of a broad and shared
territorial governance, in a European and Mediterranean dimension;

our will to promote large and shared project initiatives in the areas that are close to the
institutional tasks of local authorities, in order to support: (i) the strengthening and
streamlining of the overall infrastructure road system in the whole maritime area; (ii)
the development of economic and social activities across integrated and complementary geographical areas; (iii) sustainable urban development, respectful of landscape,
of architectural and historical traditions, of tourism and production vocations of the territories; (iv) technological innovation;(v) protection of environment and bio-diversity,
together with the prevention and / or mitigation of the risks caused by climate change;
(vi) mobility, free circulation of people, goods and services; (vii) culture, the system of
education, training and knowledge;(viii) the harmonization of welfare policies, for welcoming and inclusive communities; (ix) the promotion of local actions like “people-topeople” want to connect peoples, to stabilize international relations in a dimension of
solidarity and peace.
The Forum of Adriatic and Ionian Cities is mentioned and partially described again in the following paragraphs within the participating countries sections.
2.5.4
The Adriatic Euroregion Initiative
The Adriatic Euroregion (AE) was founded on June 30, 2006 in Pula, Region of Istria, Croatia
for transnational and interregional cooperation between regions of the Adriatic coastline
(Figure 2-9). The Adriatic Euroregion is the institutional framework for jointly defining and solving important issues in the Adriatic area. It consists of 26 members - regional and local governments from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia. The aims of the AE are the following:

Forming an area of peace, stability and co-operation;

Protection of the cultural heritage; 

Protection of the environment; 

Sustainable economic development in particular of tourism, fishery and agriculture; 

Solution of transport and other infrastructure issues. The Adriatic Euroregion is divided in 6 technical Commissions, namely for: 
pag. 75/216

Tourism and culture; 

Fisheries; 

Transport and infrastructure; 

Environment; 

Economic affairs; 

Welfare.
Figure 2-9 Adriatic Euroregion.
The Commission for Environment is led by the Emilia-Romagna region and aims to identify
common policies and joint projects to promote the sustainable development of the Adriatic area. In 2008 the Commission adopted an Integrated Strategy for the environmental protection
of the Adriatic Region where Coastal Zone Management and Maritime Spatial Planning are
defined as strategic objectives.
The following reasons for the need of ICZM and MSP in the Adriatic region have been expressed by the AE: 
1. Coasts and sea are strategic for the well-being and prosperity of the Adriatic Countries;

Human activities tend to develop in coastal and marine areas competing with each
other and with protection needs of habitats and landscapes; 
pag. 76/216
Many issues transcend national borders; sharing a common approach to the management of
marine space in the same sea basin will make it easier to meet global challenges. The Trilateral Commission and the Adriatic Ionian initiative – given the good relationships between the
different member and non-member countries and their fields of action/expertise – could be
deemed important drivers for the establishment of cross-border/international MSP in the Adriatic region.
The Adriatic Euroregion also seems to be a qualified initiative through which MSP could be
applied to the Adriatic Sea. This initiative is sector-neutral and includes both environmental
and economic objectives. MSP initiatives should be neutral, meaning that the initiative should
not only target at environmental protection or the development of one or more particular economic activities. Instead, it should have a holistic ecosystem-based approach that aims at sustainable development of maritime activities.
In that respect, the Trilateral Commission is primarily focused on protection of the marine environment and therefore seems less qualified. A disadvantage of AE is that only coastal regions
are members; there are no participants from national authorities. Since national authorities are
also responsible for maritime affairs, they need to be involved in cross-border/international initiatives for the application of MSP.
2.5.5
Maritime Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Seas
In November 2012, the European Commission issued a communication providing a framework
to move towards a coherent maritime strategy and corresponding Action Plan in the Adriatic
and Ionian area by 2013 (COM(2012)713). The framework aims to adapt the Integrated Maritime Policy to the needs and the potential of the natural resources and socio-economic activities of the Adriatic and Ionian marine and coastal areas. The proposed strategy is developed
on 4 pillars.
“Pillar 1 – Maximising the potential of blue economy” focuses on economic growth from the
sea and stress the importance that countries put in place conditions for innovation and competitiveness. Examples of priority areas are:

Enhancement of administration cooperation to simplify and harmonise formalities for
shipping;

Creation of maritime clusters and research networks;

Increase of the mobility of the workforce;

Development of MSP and ICZM at both at national and cross-border level.
The same Pillar identifies the following relevant marine and maritime sectors for the Adriatic
and Ionian Seas: (i) maritime transport, (ii) coastal and marine tourism, (iii) aquaculture.
“Pillar 2 – Healthier marine environment” deals the protection of the Adriatic and Ionian coastal
and marine environment, identifying examples of priorities areas:

Ensuring good environmental and ecological status of the marine and costal environment by 2020 in line with the relevant EU acquis (MSFD in particular);

Preserving biodiversity, ecosystems and their service, in particular by implementing
the Natura 2000 network;
pag. 77/216

Reducing marine litter;

Continuing improving sub-regional cooperation and monitoring the existing mechanism dealing with the protection of the marine and coastal environment.
The other two pillars approaches the objective of “a safer and more secure maritime space”
(Pillar 3) and more “sustainable and responsible fishing activities” (Pillar 4).
The above framework for a maritime strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Seas will be articulated in an action Plan due by the second half of 2013. The Plan will include priority areas and
action recommended to the identified challenges. The Plan will also set clear targets. Finally,
as expressed in the communication, the Commission support the idea of an effective and flexible governance mechanism to accompany the Strategy and the Action Plan and put actions in
practice.
2.5.6
Main cooperation programmes
Some of the most important cross-border/international cooperation projects are being proposed in the framework of the IPA (Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance) Adriatic Crossborder Cooperation Programme.
The Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) is the financial instrument established by the European Union (EC Regulation n. 1085/2006) to assist Candidate Countries and Potential Candidate
Countries (beneficiary Countries) in their progressive alignment with the standards and policies of the European Union, including where appropriate the "acquis communautaire”, with a
view to membership.
The IPA Adriatic Cross-border Cooperation Programme (hereinafter called Programme) is the
result of joint programming work carried out by the relevant participating countries and is part
of the cooperation process in the Adriatic area. The Programme draws its strength and incisiveness from the wide experience, gained during the previous Programme period producing
concrete results from the studies and analysis financed in the past. Many factors make cooperation in the Adriatic area important today, particularly from a political and economic point of
view:
1.
Factors connected to the political stability of the area. Following ten years of conflict,
the area is now moving towards progressive integration both “vertical” (within European and International institutions) and “horizontal” through the creation of a free
trade area;
2.
Factors connected to geographic and cultural proximity which make possible the intensification of multilateral relationships among Adriatic coastal regions to support
local processes of harmonious growth, sustainable development and unity among
peoples.
Strategic projects financed within this Programme shall aim at producing a wide impact and
optimising the effects of the Programme on the Adriatic basin. They must demonstrate their
strategic dimension by presenting high standards regarding these important features:

Compliance with European, national and regional policies: strategic relevance;

Significant and long-lasting impact on the cooperation area;

Tangible and visible results;
pag. 78/216

Strong and coherent partnership;

Sustainability of results.
Operative programme Italy-Slovenia
On 20 December 2007 the European Commission approved a Cross-border Cooperation Operational Programme between Italy and Slovenia for the period 2007-2013 (Figure 2-10). The
Programme involves Community support through the European Regional Development Fund
(ERDF) for specific Italian and Slovenian regions. The Programme area, that extends for
30.740 km2 and has a population of more than 5.5 million inhabitants includes, on the Slovenian territory, Goriška, Gorenjska, Obalno-kraška and the flexibility areas of Osrednjeslovenska and Notranjsko-kraška; on the Italian territory, the Provinces of Udine, Gorizia, Trieste,
Venezia, Padova, Rovigo, Ferrara e Ravenna and the flexibility areas of Pordenone and Treviso.
The Operational Programme falls under the "European territorial cooperation”.
The general objective of the O.P. Italy-Slovenia 2007-2013 is to: “Enhance the attractiveness
and competitiveness of the Programme-area”.
The general objective will be implemented through the following specific objectives:

Ensure sustainable territorial integration;

Increase competitiveness and development of a knowledge-based society;

Improve communication, social and cultural cooperation, also in order to remove persisting barriers;

Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Programme.
Figure 2-10 Regions and countries involved in the Operative Programme Italy-Slovenia.
pag. 79/216
3
Analysis at the national – regional level
This chapter is focused on the analysis of IMP, MSP and MSFD and on concrete steps towards their implementation as well as connected initiatives (studies, projects, cross-border experiences, etc.), legislative instruments and planning tools.
The analysis also describes how other concretely implemented legislative and planning tools related to the issues highlighted in chapter 2 (CFP, WFD, Habitat and Bird Directive, ICZM also including the Mediterranean Protocol, SEA/IEA) – can support IMP, MSP and MSFD. In this
perspective each Shape partner highlighted those aspects that are concretely supporting or
can potentially support the successful implementation process of IMP-MSP-MSFD in its area
of competence. Each partner of this task has also described how international (multi and bilateral) agreements related to the management of the marine space are implemented in their
country and/or region. The agreement to be considered include in particular UNCLOS and the
initiatives described in chapter 2.4 on the Adriatic, as well as any other relative initiative (including for example bilateral specific agreement) that can be used the define an overall picture
at the Adriatic scale. Concerning this specific topic, in case of no specific initiatives to mention,
the text does not include the related paragraph.
Results of the analysis are described in specific sub-sections of the following paragraphs:

Implementation level of IMP and MSP (national and regional level);

Implementation level of MSFD (only for the national level);

Other legislative and planning tools (national and regional level);

International agreements (national and, if possible, regional level).
The paragraphs below have been written with the specific contribution of the following partners:

Veneto Region (par. 3.2.1)

Emilia Romagna Region (par. 3.2.2);

Abruzzo Region (par. 0);

Puglia Region (par. 0);

Institute for Physical Planning Region of Istria, for Croatia (par. 0);

Regional Development Centre Koper, for Slovenia (par. 3.4);

Montenegro (par. 3.5);

ECAT Tirana - Environmental Center for Administration and Technology, for Albania
(par. 3.6).
The paragraphs of Bosnia & Herzegovina (par. 3.7) has been written summarizing the information referred to public documents available on line. The main information sources were:

Country Report "Bosnia - Herzegovina" (Policy Research Corporation, 2011);

"National Report on Current Policy , Procedures, Legal Basis and Practice of Marine
Spatial Planning in Bosnia and Herzegovina (PAP/RAC, Mostar 2007).
pag. 80/216
3.1
Italy – National level
3.1.1
Implementation level of IMP and MSP
Italy has not implemented yet an Integrated Maritime Policy and/or a Maritime Spatial Planning
process. Sea uses are managed in a fragmented manner both vertically and horizontally by
different administration levels and through sectoral policies (see Figure 3-1 and Figure 3-2).
International Conventions
Regional Conventions
EC Directives
National Law
National regulatory standards
(Ministerial decree)
Regional Law
Local regulatory standards
(Capitanerie di Porto)
Figure 3-1 Legislative framework for coastal and sea management.
Coastal areas
Hydrographic basin
Continental Shelf
300 m [30 m] MLT 200 m 300m 3km 3 n.m. 6 n.m. 12 m.n. 24 m.n. Regions
Water Basin Authority
Regions
Coast
State/Regions/Port Authority
State/Regions
State property
Water Quality
State/Provinces
State/Regions
Fisheries
Yachting
State
Territorial sea
State
Archeological sites
State
Oil and gas
Figure 3-2 Administrative competences on coast and sea activities in Italy.
pag. 81/216
3.1.2
Implementation level of MSFD
The Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 17 June 2008 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of marine environmental policy (Framework Directive on the Strategy for the Marine Environment) was transposed into Italian legislation on the 13 October 2010, with the legislative decree n. 190. The decree establishes a
framework to develop strategies directed to the marine environment and the adoption of
measures necessary to achieve and maintain good environmental status by 2020 (Art. 1).
The MSFD identify four marine regions: the Baltic Sea, the North-east Atlantic Ocean, the
Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. The Mediterranean Sea is sub-divided in for marine
sub-regions, as the North-east Atlantic Ocean. Italy, for its geographical position, assumes a
relevant role in the implementation of the MSFD in the Mediterranean Sea; actually three subregions are relevant for Italy: the Western Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic Sea, the Ionian Sea
and the Central Mediterranean Sea.
The Ministry of the Environment, Land and Sea (MATTM) is the Reference/Competent Authority in Italy for the coordination of activities under the decree. For a coordination purpose
MATTM appointed a Technical Committee, established within the Ministry itself by a special
decree (Article 4). The Committee is composed of (Art. 5):

Three representatives of the Ministry of the Environment, one of whom shall be the
appointed chairman;

Two representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry;

One representative from each of the following Ministries: Ministry of Infrastructure and
Transport, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry
of Education, University and Research, Ministry of National Heritage and Culture, Ministry of Economic Development and the Department for Regional Affairs;

One representative from each region and autonomous province;

One member representing the Union of Italian provinces;

A representative of the National Association of Italian Municipalities.
The Technical Committee concurs with the definition of acts pertaining to the Marine Strategy,
identified by article 7. With the purposes of carrying out scientific and technical duties the
Committee may consult experts appointed by members of the Committee. Representatives of
research institutions, environmental associations and other associations can be invited to participate to the Technical Committee meetings.
The Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA - Istituto Superiore
per la Protezione dell’Ambiente) provide its scientific-technical support to MATTM coordination activities.
In accordance with MSFD art. 5, art. 7 of the Italian decree identifies actions to be implemented:

The initial assessment of the current environmental status of marine waters;

Determination of characteristics of good environmental status of waters;

Establishment of environmental targets;
pag. 82/216

Definition of a monitoring programme;

Definition of a programme of measures designed to achieve or maintain a good environmental status of marine waters.
The Ministry of Environment promotes and coordinates the initial assessment of the current
environmental status and the impact of human activities on the marine environment, based on
existing data and information, including those arising from the implementation of part three of
the legislative decree of 3 April 2006, no. 152 as amended, that transpose the WFD. All national administrations, public and private bodies that produce or hold data and information relevant to the assessment shall, at the request of the Ministry of Environment, make them available.
Following the approval of the Decree, Directorate for Nature Protection and Sea (DPNM), the
competent direction of MATTM, with note no. DPN-2010-27030 of 16.12.2010, entrusted
ISPRA to elaborate a feasibility study for the initial assessment of the current environmental
status of Italian marine waters, in accordance with art. 8 of D.Lgs. 190/2010. Main goals of the
document were: survey of relevant data and information (according to tables 1 and 2 of MSFD
Annex III), analysis of data quality, identification of main gaps, identification of main data
sources and related responsible bodies. Moreover, a matrix identifying the correspondence
between Annex III tables and Qualitative descriptors for determining good environmental status (MSFD Annex I) was elaborated.
Following the above preparatory work, MATTM and ISPRA elaborated an articulated document responding to the first three actions defined by the MSFD and included in the Italian
transposing decree (art. 7), i.e.: initial assessment of the current environmental status of marine waters, determination of good environmental status, establishment of environmental targets. The report is structured in reporting sheets, according to the list and the template provided by the European Commission; major themes (each theme can be divided in several subthemes according to specific requirements) are:

Geographic areas;

Analysis of characteristics included in Annex III – Table 1 of MSFD;

Analysis of pressures and impacts according to Annex III – Table 2 of MSFD;

Analysis of socio-economic aspects;

Determination of good environmental status;

Establishment of environmental targets
The initial assessment was produced at the sub-regional level (Western Mediterranean Sea,
Adriatic Sea, Ionian Sea and Central Mediterranean Sea), while good environmental status
and environmental targets were defined referring to the whole Mediterranean Region. The
document was elaborated by ISPRA and shared and agreed with the competent Ministries and
regional and local authorities within the Technical Committee established according to art. 5 of
D.Lgs. 190/2010.
In compliance with art. 16 of D.Lgs. 190/2010 (and art. 19 of EC MSFD), MATTM and ISPRA
have activated a series of initiative aiming to provide opportunities for public information and
consultation. All information on the MSFD implementation process in Italy is available at the
http://www.strategiamarina.isprambiente.it/ web-site. Moreover, the public consultation included an on-line questionnaire on the initial assessment, determination of the good environmental
pag. 83/216
status and establishment of environmental targets; to this regards the above described document elaborated by ISPRA was made available on the web-site, where it can be still consulted. After the consultation and before the 15.10.2012 deadline, MSFD reporting sheets were
notified to the European Commission, as requested. The Italian institutions involved in MSFD
implementation are continuing their work on the environmental assessment, GES determination and targets identification, thus refining the work done until now and providing full support
to the whole process; e.g. MATTM, ISPRA and Italian Regions are focusing on information
gaps identified by the initial assessment.
3.1.3
Other legislative and planning tools
The main European directives governing the various aspects related to the maritime spatial
planning and ICZM issues have been implemented at national level through a large number of
laws and legislative decrees. The main legislative references are certainly the laws transposing the European directives which are complemented with numerous and equally important
sector regulations that help in defining specific aspects of each topic.
Concerning the protection of the sea the regulatory framework includes aspects related to the
ratification of international conventions on the sea use (UNCLOS) and to environmental aspects.
For what concern the first aspect it should be mentioned the Law December 2, 1994, no. 689,
Concerning the Ratification and implementation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS - Montego Bay). The importance of this convention for the purposes of maritime
spatial planning stands in the definition of rights and responsibilities of States in the use of
seas and oceans, establishing guidelines governing the negotiations, the environment and
natural resources management.
Equally important for the Maritime Spatial Planning and the Integrated Maritime Policies are
laws that deal with preserving and protecting the marine environment. In this sense the recent
Legislative Decree 190/2010 represents the Italian transposition of the Directive 2008/56/EC.
The decree establishes a framework to develop strategies directed to the marine environment
and the adoption of measures necessary to achieve and maintain good environmental status
by 2020 (par. 3.1.1 for a detailed description). Law 8 February 2006, n. 61, that concern the
creation of “Ecological Protection Zone (EPZ)” beyond the outer limits of the territorial sea,
contributes to preserve and protect the sea biodiversity, while the part III of the Legislative Decree 152/2006 and its amendments focus on water resource preservation (considering all kind
of waters: still waters, underground waters, marine waters, etc.).
The environmental aspect related to the discharge in the sea of marine sediment dredging are
referred to the Decree of The Ministry of Environment 24 January 1996: “Discharge in the sea
or in areas contiguous to it of materials from dredging and other earthworks - The granting of
authorizations under Article 11 of Law 10 May 1976, n. 319”. The Decree provides a series of
preliminary activities necessary to get such permission, with the aim to protect marine resources from uncontrolled discharges.
For what concern the aspects of Biodiversity protection the most important legislative decrees
include the Italian transposition of the EU Directive on habitats (92/43/CEE) and “birds”
(79/409/CEE). The Habitats Directive requires Member States to propose Sites of Community
Importance (SCIs) for the conservation of natural habitat types, and once these areas have
pag. 84/216
been formally adopted by Commission Decision, to designate them as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) within 6 years. The Birds Directive requires Member States to designate
special protection areas (SPA) for the conservation of species listed in Annex I (endangered
as well as migratory species requiring conservation).
Together SPAs and SACs form the Natura 2000 network of protected areas. The Italian transposition of these two Directives is:

National Law No. 157 of 11 February 1992 as supplemented by Act Oct. 3, 2002 n.
221 (implementation of the Birds Directive);

The Presidential Decree 8 September 1997 n. 357 as amended by Presidential Decree 120 of 12 March 2003implements Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of
natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. This decree gives to the Regions the responsibility of the identification of Natura 2000 sites.
Furthermore the Ministry Decree 25/03/2005 assigns to the Regions also the task of identify
management and conservation measures for Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and the Community Importance Sites (SCI).
Several other legislative actions concerning the biodiversity protection are referred to the Regions, such as: the approval of technical procedures for the implementation of the Management Plans, the adoption of specific measures for the safeguard and the protection of beaches
and maritime-coastal habitats; the use of new criteria to regulate dredging activities in ports;
the interventions for promoting the protection and the development of the coastal area and the
creation of wildlife protection areas.
Other form of biodiversity preservation include the already mentioned “Ecological Protection
Zone (EPZ)” beyond the outer limit of the territorial sea (Law no. 61/2006) and the marine protected areas (instituted with law n. 979 of 1982 and Law n. 394 of 1991).The marine protected
areas include a marine environment characterized by relevant interest from a natural, geomorphological, physical, biochemical point of view, with particular regard to coastal and marine
flora and fauna. Up today in the Adriatic Sea, along the Italian coast, there are 3 Marine Protected Areas: the Natural marine reserve of Miramare (Friuli Venezia Giulia), the Tremiti Islands (Puglia) and the Torre Guaceto area (Puglia).
Always concerning the definition of protected areas in the sea, the Decree of Ministry of Environment, 17 October 2007, as amended (Ministerial Decree of 22 January 2009 (10 February
2009)) sets the minimum uniform criteria for the definition of conservation measures relating to
"Special Areas of Conservation (SAC)" and "Special Protection Areas (SPA).
At national level particularly relevant is the National Strategy for Biodiversity which aims at
protecting and preserving the marine and coastal environment against degradation and loss of
biodiversity; furthermore the Strategy ensures the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources through the application of an ecosystem approach to the long term coastal management.
Based on the EU directive (92/43/CEE), Italy is carrying out the implementation of marine
Natura 2000 network. For this purpose MATTM (Ministry of the Environment, Land and Sea)
and SIBM (Marine Biology Italian Society) are collaborating to the scientific review of habitat
and species concerning Habitat Directive. Moreover MATTM started a reference work with the
Italian regions to clarify the responsibilities of marine Natura 2000 network management.
pag. 85/216
Some Italian regions proposed a motion for the extension of existing marine SCI areas or for
the identification of new ones. In the following paragraphs each region will summarize its own
proposals.
In Italy an ICZM National Strategy is under development. There is not a specific National Policy regarding ICZM coupled with that of special "ad hoc" planning and programming tools.
Nevertheless it has to be highlighted that at regional level there are several relevant initiatives
highly correlated with ICZM policies. In many Italian regions in fact the definition of ICZM instruments is going on (for the Adriatic area: Abruzzi and Marche regions), while other Regions
are modifying/updating their ICZM plans (e.g. expanding it to the marine field in the Emilia
Romagna Region) by using the ICZM recommendation as reference. At National level, Ministry for Environment and Land and Sea protection (MELS) is defining the roadmap working plan
(topics, timelines and actors), in agreement with the Regions, the Local authorities and competent Central administrative offices, to elaborate the Italian “National Strategy for Integrated
Coastal Zone Management” as decided in the October 10th, 2007 Unified Conference in the
technical department; additionally, a permanent Technical team pertaining to ICZM is going to
be established. At national level, legal instruments were adopted to update current sectoral
policies, in order to transpose EU directives. No legal instrument is specifically concerning
ICZM, but most of them have important implications on the implementation of the ICZM process.
The Water Framework Directive (2000/60/CE) adopted with the Legislative Decree 152/2006
addresses the protection of waters within the "catchment area"; the territorial unit of reference
for the management is the "river basin", consisting of areas of both land and sea, with one or
more neighbouring river basins and their coastal waters and groundwater. In this sense Italy
as a member state has proceeded with the identification of catchment areas and has prepared
the related Management Plans. For what concern the coastal Adriatic areas the plans of interest are:

Rivers Basin Management Plan of Eastern Alps (Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto regions);

Rivers Basin Management Plan of Padano area (Regione Emilia Romagna and Veneto);

Rivers Basin Management Plan of Northern Apennines (Emilia Romagna and
Marche);

Rivers Basin Management Plan of Central Apennines (Emilia Romagna, Abruzzo,
Marche and Molise);

Rivers Basin Management Plan of Southern Apennines (Puglia, Abruzzo e Molise).
The adoption of management plans is entrusted to the Institutional Committees of the Basin
Authority of national relevance, represented by the members of the regions whose territory lies
in the district to which the plan refers. For what concern the IMP/MSP themes the following elements should be stressed:

all waters are covered (up to one nautical mile from the coast) and the primary objective are ecological objectives, supported by chemical and hydromorphological objectives;
pag. 86/216

there is a strong emphasis on developing controls on activities which impact on water
objectives;

detailed requirements on reporting, public participation, etc., are included.
After several years of preparatory work, the WFD River Basin Management Plans have been
published in Italy (http://www.direttivaacque.minambiente.it/distretti_idrografici.html) setting out
the ‘programmes of measures’ which are required to achieve good ecological and chemical
status in water bodies ‘at risk’ of failing to meet these targets. The measures required to
achieve good status (or potential) must be in place by 2012 with the intention of achieving the
objectives by 2015.
The fisheries sector is managed by several laws and Legislative Decrees related to the modernization of fisheries and aquaculture sectors, to manage programs for fisheries and aquaculture in marine waters and to biological resources preservation.
At Italian level the governance of fishing policy is particularly complex and, to date, has not yet
defined and effectively accomplished. The sector is managed by the Ministry of Agriculture
and Forestry that was created in 1999 with the Legislative Decree 30 July 1999, n. 300,
amended by the law 18 May 2006, n. 181. The main regulatory instrument is the European
Regulation that does not require transposition into national law as directly applicable. With the
constitutional law of 18 October 2001 n. 3 (Official Gazette 248/2001), the Italian Parliament
has attributed to the Regions further legislative and administrative powers. This Law, therefore, represented a decisive change in the policy for the division of legislative powers between
State and Regions.
The Regional legislation on sea fisheries shows a high level of diversification, but outside of
the sectoral rules, all the regions are involved in a common set of activities, including: (i) the
preparation of their own programs of development and research; (ii) the promotion of marine
local products; (iii) the support to activities of marine biodiversity protection; (iv) the contribution to the definition of national management plans to be implemented locally; (v) the adoption
of local Management Plans and the establishment of rules for the creation of Fishing Districts.
The Creation of the Fishing Districts has been defined with the legislative decree 226/2001
(art. 4). The Fishing District is proposed by the Regions and then are identified and defined by
National Legislative Decrees.
The Northern Adriatic Fishing District has been identified with Decree of Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, 23 February 2010 and with Decree of Ministry of Agriculture, Food
and Forestry, February 27, 2012: "Amendments to the Decree of 23 February 2010 on the establishment of the District of fishing for Northern Adriatic. This district includes marine areas of
Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Emilia Romagna regions.
The port authorities (Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport) are responsible for control on
marine fisheries. Collaboration between regions and port authorities is therefore essential for
effective management of issues related to fishing activities.
Specific agreements in order to promote marine and coastal protection action plans and to
stimulate activities in the aquatic ecosystem fields using eco-sustainable technologies can be
draw up from the Agricultural and Forest policies Minister with national category association or
consortium (Law 24 March 2012, n. 27 which converts into law, with amendments, the law 24
January 2012, n. 1).
pag. 87/216
The three-year National Programme for fisheries and aquaculture, already envisaged by Legislative Decree 154/04, is currently governed by the law 26/2/2011 n. 10 which. The Article 5
provides that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, adopts the National Programme with
specification of what are the interventions of exclusive national competence directed to the
protection of the marine ecosystem.
A brief mention also to the legislative framework on transport sector. This sector is of interest
for what concern ship safety and pollution prevention. In particular two legislative references
rule these issues:

the Decree of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport “Amendments to the Ministerial of 13 October 2003, n. 305, containing the Regulation implementing Directive
2001/106/EC of the European Parliament and Council of 19 December 2001, as
amended by Directives 98/25/EC, 98/42/EC and 99/97/CE”

the Legislative Decree of 24 May 2011, n. 53 Implementation of Directive 2009/16/EC
establishing international standards for ship safety, pollution prevention and living and
working conditions on board of ships calling at Community ports and sailing in waters
under the jurisdiction of Member States.
Concerning the environmental permitting the reference is the Legislative decree 152/2006
whose scope can be linked with ICZM/MSP themes in particular for sea defence works (also
against coastal erosion) and maritime ports including fishing ports. The same decree is relevant for the definition of the 8 National hydrographical districts out of which 2 are international
sharing water courses with France to the west, Switzerland and Austria to the north and Slovenia to the east.
Regarding port and sediment dredging Italy has recently implemented a strategy for infrastructure development and competitiveness increase. Law 24 March 2012, n. 27 which converts
into law, with amendments, law 24 January 2012, n. 1, has in particular managed the aspects
related to dredging issues. In particular it has been stated that inside National Important Sites
(SIN) dredging can be made contextually with reclamation projects arrangement. Dredging
projects, based on specific methods in order to avoid material out flow, must be forwarded to
the competent Port Authority or, where not instituted, to a qualified body. Concerning dredged
materials their reuse depends on relative physical-chemical characteristics; reference values
to be respected are those provided by legislative decree 152/2006;
Concerning aspects on port reception facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues,
reference law is Decree of the Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea 1 July 2009. The decree
transposes Directive 2007/71/CE (amendment of Annex II of Directive 2000/59/CE) and substitutes Annex III of the previous legislative decree 182/2003 which amended Directive
2000/59/CE. In particular before getting in the harbour ships have to fill in a specific document
inserting details on material transported, cruise, types and quantities of wastes to be offloaded. Marine Spatial Planning also involves port activities; for these aspects the reference is law
84/94 on the reorganization of the port sector, which regulates also port operations and maritime interventions, defining roles and responsibilities.
3.1.4
International agreements
Italy is involved in all the above mentioned Adriatic initiatives (cfr. Par. 2.5): the Adriatic- Ionian
initiative, the trilateral commission, the Adriatic Euroregion (see par. 2.5). The Trilateral Com-
pag. 88/216
mission for the protection of the Adriatic sea originates from the bilateral commission between
Italy and Yugoslavia (1974), which was re-launched in 1992, including Italy, Croatia and Slovenia. The Commission studies all problems related to the pollution of the Adriatic Sea waters
and coastal areas; − Does propositions and recommendations to the government related to
the research needed; − Is engaged in introducing measures required to eliminate the current
pollution and prevent new causes of pollution. The Trilateral Commission presents the adequate institutional framework for the cooperation of the Adriatic states in the field of marine
environmental protection.
The Adriatic-Ionian Initiative was established at the Conference on the Development and Security in the Adriatic and the Ionian Sea in Ancona on 19 - 20 May 2000, at which the Ancona
Declaration was adopted by which member countries committed to co-operate in order to
strengthen peace and security in this part of Europe, good neighbourly relations, economic
development, land transport connections, eliminate all forms of crime, technical assistance,
environmental protection, health and cultural co-operation, tourism development and maritime
co-operation. This platform for cross-border/international cooperation includes representatives
of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.
On the initiative of the Municipality of Ancona and ANCI (Italian National Association of the
Municipalities) and with the approval of the “Charter of Ancona “on 30th of April 1999 was born
in Ancona the Forum of Adriatic and Ionian Cities. This association brings together the coastal
cities of the 7 countries of the Adriatic-Ionian Basin: Italy (28 cities), Slovenia (2 cities), Croatia
(9 cities), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1 city), Montenegro (3 cities), Albania (5 cities) and
Greece (5 cities). The Forum aims to build and develop the economic, social, environmental
and cultural heritage of the Adriatic and Ionian coastal cities and to collaborate on European
integration and enlargement. It pursues this goal by promoting innovative forms of decentralized cooperation and partnerships between local authorities of the member countries.
The Adriatic Euroregion (AE) was founded on June 30, 2006 in Pula, Region of Istria, Croatia
for transnational and interregional cooperation between regions of the Adriatic coastline. The
Adriatic Euroregion is the institutional framework for jointly defining and solving important issues in the Adriatic area. It consists of 26 members - regional and local governments from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia.
Over the last few years, Italy participated to several projects, in the research field (FP6 and
FP7), in the cooperation field (INTERREG) or as pilot projects and studies. The themes developed are related to ICZM and MSP in the Adriatic sea. Some of the most important ones are:
Coastance (Italy, Croatia, and others), ECASA (Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, and others), MedPAN
(Italy, Croatia, and others), PEGASO (Italy, Croatia, and others), PlanCoast (Albania, Bosnia
& Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro), SECURSEA (Italy, Croatia).
An important Italian Project, recently approved, is the RITMARE programme, focused on the
maritime and marine policy managed. The programme involves several public partners coordinated by the Italian National Research Centre (CNR) and the Maritime National Technological Platform (coordinated by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructures). The programme is
open to the Italian Regions and summarizes the interests of several Ministries: research, environment, agricultural policies, etc. The main project areas are: I. safety, security, survivability;
II. environmental sustainability; III. comfort; IV. efficiency; V. materials, processes and innovative components.
pag. 89/216
3.2
Italy – Regional level
3.2.1
Veneto Region
3.2.1.1
Implementation level of IMP and MSP
As highlighted at national level, also at regional level there is not at the moment an implementation of the Integrated Maritime Policy. Sea uses are managed in a fragmented manner
through sectoral policies.
Preserving biodiversity at sea and along the coast
In particular for what concern the biodiversity protection and valorisation the Regional Law No.
15 of 12.07.2007: "Interventions for promoting the protection and development of the coastal
area of the Veneto and the creation of wildlife protection areas". aims to protect and
repopulate areas of marine and fishery resources of the sea. This goal is reached through the
establishment of protected areas at sea (Areas of Biological Protection) for the biodiversity
conservation without neglecting the importance of the marine tourism development. These
areas called "tegnùe" are rocky outcrops which rise from the seabed; they are extremely
important ecological niches, with many rocky recesses, inhabited by algae, molluscs and other
species of animals and plants. The tegnùe areas are oases of natural fish repopulation (for
example bream, seabass and octopus), the marine biodiversity of these areas has become a
shelter, while for other species, such as squid and cuttlefish, this is the ideal habitat to lay
eggs. According to their location, in the "tegnùe", there are different environmental conditions
that are influenced by the prevailing environmental factors, such as the lighting, the
hydrodynamic currents, and the quality of the water body and of the substrate, and also the
richness of freshwater rivers that flow into the coastlines Veneto and Friuli. The different
combination of these elements leads to a remarkable variety of fish species. See Figure 3-4
for their location at the sea.
Along the coast the regional law August 16, 1984, No.40 "Rules for the establishment of
regional parks and reserves", aims to protect and enhance the natural environment in areas of
particular interest. The Region establishes regional parks and reserves, financing them; it also
encourages the establishment, by Provinces, Municipalities, Mountain Communities and their
Associations, of regional parks and natural reserves of local interest.
Other forms of biodiversity protection include the creation and subsequent management of
natural protected areas (parks and reserves) and areas included in the European ecological
network Natura 2000. This network consists of territorial areas designated as Sites of
Community Importance (SCI) and Special Protection Areas (SPA) in relation to the presence
of habitats, animal and plant species listed in Annexes I and II to Directive 92/43 "Habitat" and
species listed in Annex I to Directive 79/409/EEC "Birds" and other migratory species that
regularly return to Italy. 17 of these sites including both SCI and SPAs are along the Veneto
coast. Recently (Giunta Regionale Resolution No. 220 01/03/2011) two new marine SCI have
been definied in two areas in front of the Veneto coast: SCI IT 3250047 „Tegnùe di
Chioggia“ and the SCI IT 3250048 “Tegnùe di Porto Falconera“ (see Figure 3-3 and Figure 3-4
and Figure 3-5).
pag. 90/216
Figure 3-3 SCI and SPA areas along the Veneto coast.
pag. 91/216
Figure 3-4 Tegnùe and SCI areas at sea off the Veneto coast.
pag. 92/216
Figure 3-5 Regional reserves and regional parks along the Veneto coast.
pag. 93/216
Fishing at the sea
Since 1979, sea fishing of bivalve molluscs, carried out through towed fishing gear (hydraulic
dredge), has been regulated at the national level by limiting the number of licenses issued and
by introducing daily allowances of production.
Since 1995, the Ministry of Agriculture has defined a criteria for the management and
rationalization of the amount of production; the management is a responsability of Co.Ge.Vo.
Venice and Chioggia (Consortium for Management and Promotion of bivalve molluscs). For
several years this management has been done by mutual agreement of the two Consortiums.
The Consortiums not only controls the maximum quantities caught by each vessel, but also
defines the fishing days and times. The regime of the transitional derogations (laid down by
Article 14 of the EC Regulation n.1967/2006) from the bans on trawl fishing within three miles
from the coast and from the mandatory use of large mesh sizes, ended on 31 May 2010.
This has created a socio – economic emergency for small fishing companies that work mostly
within three miles from the coast, especially in the northern Adriatic Sea where this traditional
activity contributes to employment.
To cope with this emergency, the Veneto Region has established the Crisis Unit (Giunta
Regionale resolution No. 1589 of 08.06.2010) for identifying solutions that can combine
environmental protection and the right to employment; in a manner consistent with the
principle of the environmental and economic sustainability. One of the solutions include the
creation of the “Upper Adriatic Fish district” for the sustainable development of the fishing
sector. The district includes Emilia Romagna, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Slovenia and
Croatia (see Figure 3-14).
The Veneto Region (article n.100, paragraph 2 of the Regional Act 2001 "Assignment of
functions and administrative tasks to local governments for the implementation of the Decree.
N.112/1998"), relies on the "Genio Civile" (in particular the units of Venice and Rovigo) to
evaluate the requests to use areas of the State maritime property for fisheries and
aquaculture.
In 2006 the Veneto Region (Department of budget policies of development and fisheries)
through Agriteco has prepared the “Integrated coastal zone managment plan” with focus on
fishing activities. The document identifies the species that it is possible to catch in the Adriatic
waters along the Veneto coast: Chamelea gallina, Ensis minor, Solen marginatus,
Acanthocardia sp. Pl and Callista chione. Both C. gallina, E. minor and S. marginatus can be
captured along all the Veneto coast at depth between 3 and 10 meters, but the fishing periods
allowed for E. minor e S. marginatus is limited to may-june and November-december within 3
meters of depth. The fishing of C. chione, activity of relevant economic interest, is allowed only
in areas located at about 8-10 miles from the coast at depth of about 20 m (see figure below).
pag. 94/216
Figure 3-6 Fishing areas for Calista chione (Veneto Region, 2006).
Aquaculture in the sea
From a legislative point of view two regional laws should be mentioned:

Regional Law n. 19 of 29 April 1998 "Rules for the Protection of hydrobiological
resources and for the regulation of the fishing activities in inland waters and marine
inland waters of the Veneto Region" and subsequent changes. With this law the Region safeguards and manages the fish fauna, the fishing and aquaculture activities in
marine waters, surface waters and lagoons, in accordance with the Italian Republic
President Decree - 2 October 1968 n.1639. The Region holds the function of coordination and guidance on fisheries and aquaculture activities; the administrative functions related to the drafting of fishing charts are instead delegated to the provinces.
The provinces have therefore acquired, over the years, a fundamental role in planning
and managing the fishing activities.
The key points in this law are:
‐
definition of various types of fishing (professional, recreational, scientific, aquaculture and fish farming);
‐
the fishing chart, which must be developed by each province, showing the areas
where fishing is allowed, prohibited, and the "no kill zone";
‐
fishing regulations (fishing gear, allowed baits, bans for the fishing);
‐
improvement plans for the fish stocks (temporary fishing bans, introduction of fish
species);
‐
fishing permits;
pag. 95/216

‐
minimum length restrictions on the caught fish;
‐
ban periods of fishing.
Regional Law 13 March 2009, n.4 - Amendments to the regional law 28 April 1998, n.
19. This law simply updates some articles of the previous Regional law, particularly on
professional and amateur fishing licenses and minimum length of fish caught; it also
allows the provinces to decide in terms of temporary derogations linked to exceptional
needs.
As it is possible to see in following figures, off the Veneto coast there many off shore mariculture areas (mainly of mussels). Only for the Rovigo province, the areal extension of these
grants is about 22 million sqm.
Figure 3-7 Mariculture areas along the Venice province (Upper Adriatic Socio economic
Office for fishing activities).
pag. 96/216
Figure 3-8 Mariculture areas along the Rovigo province (Genio Civile of Rovigo
Province).
pag. 97/216
Fishing and aquaculture in the Venice lagoon
The guidelines for fishing activities in the Venice lagoon are formalized by a series of local
plans, including:

"Plan for the management of fishery resources in the province of Venice lagoons"
approved by the Province of Venice in 2009;

"Plan for the management of the fishery resources of the Province of Padua lagoon
and valley area", approved in 2005;

the "Regulations for fishing in inland waters of the Province of Padua" (updated 2009)
limited to the section of the lagoon under the control of the province of Padua (about
1,600 hectares involving substantially Valle Millecampi, Valle Morosina and Valle
Ghebo Storto).
Each province establishes its own fishing map, which shows the boundaries of watersheds
and of the homogeneous areas, in order to quantify the fish stock and the waters potential
productivity, and to establish rules for the fish breeding and cultivation.
The fishing map specifies the fish species needed for repopulation of the waters, the areas of
biological recovery with a prohibition of fishing, the boundaries of water areas or stretches of
rivers that may be reserved for particular types of fishing, and indicates also the guidelines of
environmental improvement plans.
The updated version of the "Plan for the management of the fishery resources of the lagoons
of Venice and Caorle" (Province of Venice, 2009), highlightes the necessity to move from free
fishing of clams to clam farming. This latter is considered the only way to exploit this natural
resource in a sustainable manner, ensuring adequate and sustainable production, reducing
the negative impacts of clam fishing on the ecosystem of the lagoon, thereby protecting
consumers through complete control of the production chain.
The Plan also requires that marine fisheries resource management must take actions to
protect typical habitats of the lagoon (in primis the habitat of the marine phanerogams).
Fishing activities in the lagoon of Venice and Caorle are regulated by the fishing license
(professional or amateur) that is issued by the Province of Venice.
Furthermore the "Plan for the management of fishery resources in waters subject to the
exclusive rights of fishing of the town of Caorle" in force in the Caorle lagoon, defines the rules
and the fees for commercial fishing, aquaculture and recreational fishing.
The areas for aquaculture and fish farming in the Venice lagoon, are defined by the Province
of Venice, with the approval of the Venice Water Authority (Figure 3-9). The areas are
identified on the basis of the following criteria: distance from the channels, absence of
seagrasses, depth and grain size of the sand.
The areas are managed by the company GRAL "Management of the fishery resources of the
lagoon".
pag. 98/216
Figure 3-9 Areas (2010 updating) for clam fishing and clam farming in the Venice
lagoon.
The professional fishing activity in the lagoon of Venice (static nets, "chebe da go’", drift nets,
"reoni", etc..), must comply with many regulations structured on different levels (code of
navigation, fishing licenses, fishing gear, etc..) issued by the following Agencies: Water
Authority, Veneto Region, Province of Venice, Province of Padua, Municipality of Venice,
Municipality of Chioggia, and the Port Authority (Venice and Chioggia).
pag. 99/216
Fishing and aquaculture in the Polesine lagoon
The Rovigo province area, also called "Polesine", is a flat area of about 1800 km2. The inland
waters are one of the major economic resources, very suitable for fishing activities, which are
deeply connected to local culture and traditions.
The Rovigo provincial Authority drafted its Fishing Chart (Rovigo Province, 2010) to plan and
manage fishing activities within the province, according to the existing regional laws (particularly with reference to the Regional Law No. 19/1998 - "Rules for the protection of hydro biological and fishing resources and for the fishing activities management in inland waters of the
Veneto Region"). The Fishing Chart highlights the areas of major naturalistic importance and
the most valuable aquatic environments, thus defining an integrated plan for the management
of the fish species in the provincial waters. Main guidelines for fisheries management and for
the preservation of fish-faunistic resources are given as well. The need for an adequate management planning of the fish stocks is the result of the awareness of the causes that reduced
the quality of aquatic ecosystems and consequently the amount and quality of fish populations: pollution from sewage, nutrient loads, hydroelectric, irrigation and drinking water withdrawals, embankments, morphological changes of river beds and banks.
Between 2008 and 2011, many monitoring activities were carried out to assess the fish species distribution. The semi-quantitative monitoring campaigns aimed to update the knowledge
about the fish species distribution, while the quantitative monitoring aimed to describe the demographic trends of the main fish species.
The main legislative reference about this topic refers to the "Provincial Fishing Regulation" in
force since June 16, 2000, which indicates the rules for fishing activities. It gives a classification of waters (main, secondary and inland marine waters) and the regulations for fishing activities in each specific area (measure of net mesh, fishing prohibited areas, bait’s use, total allowed catching quantity, use of fishing gear, etc.).
The Regulation sets also the standards for the protection and preservation of the fish population, defines the minimum length of the catches, the areas of fish re-population and the periods in which fishing activity is forbidden. Finally it defines the requirements for aquaculture
and fish farming activities and the types of licenses (commercial or recreational).
The following maps (Figure 3-10 and Figure 3-11) shows the areas, within the Polesine lagoon, for fishing and clam farming activities.
pag. 100/216
Figure 3-10 Areas for fishing and clam farming in the Polesine lagoon.
pag. 101/216
Figure 3-11 Areas for fishing and clam farming in the Polesine lagoon.
Off shore relevant activities
An important activity to be mentioned is the Adriatic LNG Terminal, the first ever offshore
Gravity Based Structure (GBS) for unloading, storing and regasifying Liquefied Natural Gas
(LNG).
The facility is located offshore of Porto Levante (see Figure 3-8), in the northern Adriatic Sea,
about 15 kilometres off the Veneto coastline, where it is set on the sea floor. It is connected to
the national network of gas distribution by a new pipeline. Overall, the offshore Terminal is designed around a large concrete structure, which houses two LNG tanks, and includes a regasification plant and facilities for mooring and unloading LNG vessels. It is overall 375 m long,
115 m wide and the main deck is 18 m above sea level, with the top of the flare tower rising 87
m above sea level.
The Adriatic LNG has a regasification capacity of 8 billion cubic meters per year (775 million
cubic feet per day), or approximately 10 per cent of Italy’s current natural gas requirements.
The project has been developed in accordance with all Italian regulations and all relevant authorities are closely consulted and involved to ensure understanding of the companies high
pag. 102/216
standards and to promote alignment of mutual objectives. The terminal has been designed to
safely operate under a wide range of environmental conditions to ensure its integrity in any
situation. Overall the project has completed four Environmental Impact Assessments. This has
resulted in adopting more than 100 specified environmental protection measures and implementing an extensive monitoring program.
In January 2009 the Terminal obtained the IPPC authorization (Integrated Pollution Prevention
and Control), achieving the permission to operate.
Mining and extractive activities at sea
The Veneto Region in 2007 has begun the search for offshore sand mining sites for beach
nourishment (between -11m and -39m below sea level), on the basis of the work already
carried out by Consorzio Venezia Nuova on behalf of the Water Authority of Venice.
The first phase of the activity, carried out by the CNR Bologna on behalf of the Veneto Region,
mapped potential marine aggregate extraction sites, to be used for the nourishment of the
coastlines, intersecting these areas with areas of environmental value ("tegnue") to exclude
the danger of damaging these marine environment. The search for quarries was carried out
offshore, for the presence of commercial fish species in the nearshore, and for the difficulty of
imposing limitations on fishing areas due to commercial interests. The project is now focusing
on issues related to mapping of compatibility with the coastal environment preservation.
Figure 3-12 Extractive areas at sea (from “Project characterization of submerged sand
deposits located in the northern Adriatic potentially exploitable as sand quarries for the
nourishment of Veneto coasts”. In yellow the investigated areas, in violet the areas already used
(http://www.regione.veneto.it/Ambiente+e+Territorio/Ambiente/Acqua+e+difesa+del+suolo/Dif
esa+del+suolo/Studi+e+Pubblicazioni.htm)
pag. 103/216
With regard to the handling of material from offshore sand mining in marine or brackish-water
and emerged land, within the territorial waters (12 miles) it is mandatory to comply with
regional regulations, especially the Resolution of the Veneto Giunta Regionale No. 4170/2005;
beyond territorial waters it is necessary to refer to international agreements.
The authorization procedure requires the application of the "Technical Guidelines for the
characterization and assessment of compatibility of sand for beach nourishment for the coasts
of the Veneto Region" (Resolution n. 4170 of 30 December 2005 of the Giunta Regionale of
the Veneto Region). The aforementioned guidelines (recently updated resolution n. 1019
march 23rd 2010) define at the regional level the proper procedure to obtain the authorization
for the beach nourishment in the Veneto Region (Article 21 of the Law 179, 31 July 2002 gives
this competence to the Regions).
The Veneto Region, in March 2011, has presented the preliminary document "Integrated
management of the coastal zone of Veneto - Guidelines for countermeasures against the
coastal erosion" (Decree n. 54, March 21, 2011).
The project implementation will be carried out by the Directorate of Soil Conservation of the
Veneto Region, also by drafting specific memorandum of understanding with other relevant
stakeholders in the coastal area management.
The purpose of the activity is the preparation of guidelines and of effective counter-measures
against erosion in the Veneto coastal zone, taking into account the management of the coast
for the purpose of flood control, while ensuring the protection of areas of ecological interest
and the rational use of natural resources, while respecting the themes of spatial planning.
Another goal is to define the criteria for choosing offshore sand mining sites for beach
nourishment, and to define the beach nourishment criteria. It is also important to define the
management criteria, the general method of dredging that has to be followed for the river
mouths, and the guidelines for areas of high environmental value; all these actions must be
accomplished while limiting the construction of fixed structures in the sea.
The coastline examined goes from the mouth of the Tagliamento (north) to the mouth of the
Po (south): Bibione, Caorle, Porto Santa Margherita, Duna Verde, Eraclea, Jesolo, Cavallino –
Treporti, Lido di Venezia, Pellestrina, Sottomarina, Isola Verde, Rosolina mare, Isola di
Albarella, Porto Levante, Porto Tolle.
The Guidelines will span ten years (2011 - 2020), and will formalize which projects need to be
developed, while studying what has already been done. The sand mining sites and the
maintenance program 2011 – 2020 will be outlined, taking into account the interference with
the fishing activities. Lastly, the critical features and priorities for the the flood control of the
coast will be highlighted.
3.2.1.2
Other legislative and planning tools
Other relevant legislative and planning tools to be mentioned concern the Regional Landscape
Plan currently in preparation, the Municipal Territorial Plan and the Shoreline management
plans.
The Municipal Territorial Plans (PAT), set the targets and conditions for sustainability of
interventions and changes and are drawn from municipalities. In particular, the plans identify
the geographical area with the corresponding objectives of protection, rehabilitation and
pag. 104/216
enhancement, identify the sites affected by natural habitats of Community interest and define
the appropriate measures to avoid or reduce adverse effects on habitats and species of flora
and fauna. They identifiy as well areas for parks and nature reserves of municipal interest and
they determine the maximum quantities of agricultural area convertible into zones with
destination different than agricultural..
The Shoreline management plans, as foreseen by the Regional Law 33/2002 "Consolidated
Regional Laws on Tourism", are adopted to provide large scale assessments and long-term
policy frameworks associated with reducing the risk of the effects of coastal processes on both
the natural and developed environment.

Area Plans such as Palav, the Palalvo, and the “Delta Po Area Plan” represent specific
planning instruments that appear to be particularly relevant for the management of
complex coastal areas.

The “Territorial Plan of Lagoon and Venetian Area (PALAV)” defines the planning
rules for a wide territory which includes 17 municipalities distributed around the
Venice lagoon. The Plan identifies and describes the features, among others, of
coastlines and environmental systems within the Venice lagoon: artificial reefs,
sandy beaches, lagoon water environments, typical habitats (sandbanks, mudflats,
etc. ), lagoon islands, reclaimed areas, marshes, fish farms, and for all these
habitats the Plan describes " the framework of public and private actions in a field of
utilization of available resources, with the purpose of their preservation”;


The “Territorial Plan of the Lagoons and Coastal Area of Eastern Veneto (Palalvo)”
is related to the territory of the eastern Veneto region, in particular it refers to the
municipalities of Caorle, Concordia Sagittaria, Portogruaro, S. Stino Livenza, S.
Michele al Tagliamento. The Plan is divided in several systems: system of areas of
natural and environmental interest, system of historical-cultural heritage and water
governance, new urban identity, urban open spaces, historical and natural
conservation areas, lagoon and coastal restoration measures. The plan has been
adopted in 1998 but never approved;
The “Delta Po Area Plan” refers to the municipalities of Rosolina, Porto Viro, Taglio
di Po, Porto Tolle, Corbola, Ariano del Polesine and small portion of the
municipalities of Loreo and Papozze. As previously highlighted the contents are
articulated in several systems: lagoon and coastal environmental system,
environmental and landscape system, tourism development, etc.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 3-13 The three mentioned Area Plans: Palav (a), Palalvo (b) and Delta Po Area
Plan (c).
pag. 105/216
3.2.1.3
International agreements
A recent collaboration between ARPAV (Veneto Region Environmental Protection Agency)
and the Development Agency of Slavonia-Baranja (Croatia) started with the signature of a
Joint protocol for Territorial Cross- Border Co-operation. The aim is to develop a shared cooperation and to increase knowledge and well established best practices exchange concerning regional policies in the environment, balanced and sustainable economic development
through the creation of active public-private partnerships and through the mutual availability of
know-how, specific professional technical and scientific skills and, if needed, specific training.
Another Joint Protocol for International Cooperation involves ARPAV (Veneto Region Environmental Protection Agency) and the Albanian Environmental Centre for Administration and
technology (ECAT). The collaboration started in 2008 and concerns the promotion of sustainable development and of environmental protection.
Other international agreements involve the Northern Adriatic Sea Regional Observatory
instituted in 2003 by the Veneto Region (DDG n. 603 of 28/07/2003); the regional structure is
a result of the EU program Interreg IIIA / Phare CBC Italy-Slovenia 2000-2006. It carries out
actions to protect and monitor the state of the sea, integrated management of coastal marine
environment, tourism, oceanography, marine protected areas. The observatory acts through
the collaboration of Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Slovenia and Croatia.
The Social-Economic Observatory of Fisheries in the Northern Adriatic Sea (see figure below)
is another example of international agreement; the observatory is the result of the EU Project
(ERDF) AdriFish (Promotion of a sustainable fishery in the northern adriatic sea) for the
sustainable development of the fishing sector. The observatory includes Emilia Romagna,
Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Slovenia and Croatia and started its activities in may 2004. The
Veneto Region, in its capacity as lead partner of the Adri. Fish project, is in charge of the
management activities of the Social-Economic Observatory of Fisheries in the Northern
Adriatic Sea, through the regional company named Veneto Agricoltura.
Figure 3-14 Social-Economic Observatory of Fisheries in the Northern Adriatic Sea.
pag. 106/216
3.2.2
Emilia Romagna Region
3.2.2.1
Implementation level of IMP and MSP
MSP is not very advanced in legislation and governance in Italy: there is no integrated comprehensive
framework for MSP sectoral policies and legislation is in place for different marine sectors and activities
(e.g. fishing, energy production, ports & harbours).
Responsibilities for maritime affairs are divided between the national and regional level. Important national responsibilities include for example energy policies, while regional responsibilities included fishing,
tourism and coastal defence. K. Raffaelli
17
As it happen at national level, Emilia Romagna Region has not developed integrated tools for
marine space yet, in regional system exist several sectoral tools for different sectors of human
activities and for different aspects of environment protection.
3.2.2.2
Other legislative and planning tools
The main Emilia-Romagna regional planning tools concern shoreline planning, coastal defence and territorial water use management:
1. The Regional Territorial Plan, approved by legislative assembly decision n.276,
3/2/2010, among several issues, takes in account the management of urban growth in
coastal areas in relation whit tourism development and the physical defence of coast
from erosion;
2. the Landscape Regional Plan (1993) takes in account the landscape, the historical
and cultural aspects of territory, especially concerning:
17

Art. 12 Coastal zone system;

Art. 13 Redevelopment areas of coast and shoreline;

Art. 15 Conservation zone of coast and shoreline;

Art. 16 Marine Holiday camp.
Emilia Romagna Region Referent for SHAPE Ipa Programme. This interview report is used for the study on the im-
pacts of the Maritime Spatial Planning policy options in the EU by Policy Research for the European Commission. The
focus in the study will be on the (objective and where possible measurable) impacts of the options, the (personal)
preference of interviewees for specific policy options – while important for us to understand the impacts – is not the
main scope of the study. This interview report should not be considered to replace or substitute the public stakeholder
consultation of the European Commission for their Impact Assessment.
pag. 107/216
Preserving biodiversity at sea and along the coast
Protected areas and the Natura 2000 network (Sites of Community Importance (SCI) and
Special Protection Areas (SPA)) represent for Emilia-Romagna Region a useful system of protection of the natural resources and conservation of habitats and biodiversity. The Regional
Service for the Park and Forest Resources manages the regional system of protected areas
and of Natura 2000 network by issuing roles, planning and allocating financial resources in accordance to the Regional Law n 6/2005 and the Regional Law n 24/2011.
Figure 3-15 Sites of Community Importance (SCI) and Special Protection Areas (SPA) of
Emilia Romagna Region.
In the sea space, Emilia-Romagna Region has instituted the SCI “Paguro” with DGR ER
242/10 cod IT4070026 (Figure 3-16). In 1988 the Regional Law n. 27 instituted the Po river
delta Park and in 2011 with regional law n 24/11 it was instituted the managing subject. The
Park is regulated by the Master Plan of the coast of regional park of Po river delta, document
elaborated in cooperation whit the province of Ferrara and Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna Region
and EU. The Master plan is a local managing tool. It is strongly experimental and innovative
but is not prescriptive. The master plan has three main objectives: to enhance knowledge, to
regulate and to set up strategies.
The most important legislative tools for this topic are listed below:

Emilia-Romagna Regional Law n.6, 17/2/2005 “Roles to manage the regional protected areas and network Natura 2000”.

Emilia-Romagna Regional Law n.27, 2/7/1988, n. 27 “Institution of regional park of Po
river delta”.

Emilia-Romagna Regional Law n. 24, 23/12/2011, Institution of managing subject for
parks and Biodiversity of Po river Delta.

Regional Administration Directive n.1191 of 30/07/07 for the monitoring and managing
of SCI and SPA and Guidelines.
pag. 108/216
Figure 3-16 SCI “Paguro in front of Emilia Romagna coast.
Figure 3-17 Po river Delta Park.
pag. 109/216
Professional Fishing and Aquaculture in the sea
The Emilia-Romagna Region has competence for the fishing activities in internal water since
ever. In open sea water the Region has competence only in territorial water as established by
title V of the Constitution. In particular the Emilia-Romagna Region has the competence on:

Planning the improvement of the sector;

Promotion of scientific research;

Define law and roles of reference;

Makes annual planning of structural works concerning sea water fishing;

Makes management plans at local level to control the fishing effort;

Has administrative functions for the fishing use of territorial sea and state properties;

Locate and manage the areas of biologic conservation;

Locate the areas to give rights to private stakeholders.
The most important legislative tools for this topic are listed below:

Law n. 963, 14/7/1965 “Marine water fishing”;

Decree of President n. 616, 24/7/1977, art.59 “Give to the Regions the administrative
competences”;

Legislative decree n. 112, 3173/1998;

Emilia-Romagna Regional Law n. 3, 21/4/1999, art. 79 and following “Regional competences on maritime fishing and aquaculture”;

Emilia-Romagna Regional Law n.9, 31/05/2002;

Emilia-Romagna Regional Resolution n.2510, 9/12/03 “Roles for administrative functions about state property and territorial sea water”.
Figure 3-18 Public property areas granted to private stakeholders Aquaculture in Goro.
pag. 110/216
Coastal defence
Emilia-Romagna Region has more than 30 years of experience in coastal defence. The first
regional law is the n. 7 of 1979; in 1983 the Region approved the first Coast Plan which envisaged using the Beach nourishment as a soft system of erosion contrast. In 2001 the competence on coast defence was transferred to the Regions.
In 2005 the Emilia-Romagna Region approved the guideline for the Integrated coastal zone
management (GIZC in Italian) Regional Council Resolution n. 645, 20/1/2005. Beside
coastal defence the ICZM provide to give the address to several sectoral policy and plans taking in account issues as environmental protection and the improving of fishing, tourism, infrastructure and ports.
The article 21 of national law 179/2002 gives to the Region the competence to authorize the
dumping of gravel and sand for beach nourishment. Dumping activity are limited from seashore line up to max 3 nautical miles as regulated by Ministerial Decree of 26 January 1996
and Legislative decree 152/2006 art. 109.
The most important legislative tools for this topic are listed below:

Emilia-Romagna Regional Law n.7,13/3/1979 “Work of Emilia-Romagna Region for
coastal defence in order to protect civil and industrial buildings to save environment
and tourism”.

Regional Council Resolution n. 645, 20/1/2005 Guide line for the Integrated coastal
zone management (GIZC in Italian).
Figure 3-19 Left figure: critical stretches without hard defences, indication of recharge
zones. - Right figure: critical stretches with hard defences, indication of recharge
zones.
pag. 111/216
Figure 3-20 ICZM Guide Lines – natural environment coastal network.
Water protection
As expected by the legislative decree 152/99 the Emilia-Romagna Region has edited the Water Protection Plan and enhanced it whit Resolution of legislative assembly n.40,
21/12/2005. The plan envisages the monitoring and classification of sea water to build programmes and actions aimed to reach a good status of the environment and waters.
The Water protection plan has been designed in order to reach the objectives of environmental quality for internal and coastal water in Emilia-Romagna region and to assure the sustainable managing of regional water according to the legislative decree 152/99 and the Directive
2000/60/CE.
pag. 112/216
The most important legislative tools for this topic are listed below:

Directive 2000/60/CE adopted whit D.Lgs.152/99.

Legislative Decree 152/99 gives to the Region the competence about the monitoring
of the quality of water for mussels farm.
Figure 3-21 Monitoring network of ARPA Emilia-Romagna Region (Legislative decree
152/99).
pag. 113/216
Figure 3-22 Water for mussels aquaculture.
pag. 114/216
Figure 3-23 Classification of water for aquaculture.
pag. 115/216
Mining, dumping and extractive activities at sea
Also if several analysis and project as The Coastal Plan and the ICZM guide lines have identified several suitable areas for sand and gravel extraction in Adriatic sea territory, EmiliaRomagna Region has not competence on extraction activities of sand and gravel for beach
nourishment. Actually there is a prescriptive gap in attributing competences: the only legislative tool indeed is the legislative decree 152/2006. The decree with the att. IV second part,
point 7 letter n, provide for the screening and the environmental impact assessment for all
works that involve changes in coastal zone.
Whit the law decree n 5 of 9 February 2012 The Region has competence on dumping of waste
and fogs dredged in port basins.
The most important legislative tool for this topic is the Decree n.5 of 9 February 2012 “Special
disposition about simplification and development” transformed in Law by art.1 and art. 24 of
Law n. 35 of 4 April 2012.
Figure 3-24 Undersea sand deposits (Emilia Romagna Region).
pag. 116/216
Ports
Emilia-Romagna Region has general competences on the planning of infrastructures and
transportation. The Region gives co-financial resources to Port Authority of Ravenna, Regional
Law 9/1995, in order to make dredging interventions.
The most important legislative tools for this topic are listed below:

Italy National Law n. 84, 28/1/1994.

Emilia-Romagna Regional Law n.9, 24/02/1995.

Resolution of Emilia-Romagna Region n. 2860, 19/11/1996.

Resolution of Emilia-Romagna Region n. 1111, 12/06/2001.

Resolution of Emilia-Romagna Region n. 2395, 29/11/2004.
Figure 3-25 Port and harbours (Emilia Romagna Region).
pag. 117/216
Harbours
Emilia-Romagna Region created a planning tool for the integrated management of transports:
The integrated Regional plan of transports (Emilia-Romagna Region Council Resolution N°
1322, 22/12/1999). The plan takes into account the harbours of Cattolica, Cesenatico, Goro,
Porto Garibaldi, Rimini, Bellaria, Cervia, Gorino and Riccione, as well as the harbour for internal navigation.
To ensure a good functionality of harbours the Region allocates financial resources for extraordinary repairs, wok of maintenance or new constructions.
The most important legislative tools for this topic are listed below:

Emilia-Romagna Regional law n.11, 9/3/1983.

Resolution of Emilia-Romagna Region n. 2203, 27/12/2011.

Emilia-Romagna Regional law n.19, 27/4/1976 ” Regional Port, programme of intervention 2011 and financial resources al location”.
State property and Bathing
The Region has the competence in planning touristic and leisure activities on the state property, on the shoreline and on the territorial water.
Emilia-Romagna Regional law n 9/2002 give to the Region the competence in administrative
functions connected to the management of the state property, the shoreline and the territorial
water.
Emilia Romagna Region has competence in:

Planning the lining for the management of touristic and leisure activities on the state
property, the shoreline and the territorial water;

Eligibility of Shoreline Plans;

Permissions of use of free space in public property whit touristic finalities;

Permissions of public property for public use.
Municipality has administrative functions about rights and licences on the seashore line and
whit Regional law 9/2002 has competence for the Seashore Plan.
As expected by the Regional Council Deliberation n. 468/2003, by adopting the seashore
plans, the municipalities regulate the bathing activities, the use of maritime public property and
of territorial sea:
Especially whit the seashore plans, municipality mainly have to:

individuate areas for new licences;

individuate free beaches, define planning rules and approach for future project;

Define service, toilets and facilities and determinate the contents;

Take care of road (cycling and promenade) and accessibility whit special care to the
fee use, the architectural barriers and landscape and natural environment;

individuate and regulate marginal areas, promoting the environment requalification;

Defining multifunctional areas;
pag. 118/216

defining type and quantity of moorings;

Identifying areas of special ecological value to be protected (as SCI or SPZ);

Regulate the access of motors and cars.
The most important legislative tools for this topic are listed below:

Emilia-Romagna Regional Law n.9, 31/5/2002 “Administrative functions on the state
property, the shoreline and the territorial water”.

Ordinance 1/2012 that regulate the bathing use of the Emilia-Romagna sea water.
Figure 3-26 Seashore plan of Ravenna Municipality approved whit deliberation of municipality council N. 123211/202 of 21/12/2009.
pag. 119/216
Other Managing tools
Already since 2000, the Region of Emilia-Romagna, has developed its own Information System of the Sea and Coast, aimed at supporting the Integrated Coastal Zone Management process, as well as providing a complete framework of knowledge that is effective for management of coastal risks.
Figure 3-27 interactive mapping web interface.
Considering that coastal defence also involve the preservation of the marine environment, and
on the sustainable exploitation of fishery resources and, more generally, upon the renewable
resources stored therein, the SGSS decided to extend the knowledge by including within information system data concerning the marine area between the shoreline and the limit of continental platform (which coincides with the Italy-Croatia delimitation line), situated at a distance
of about 65 km from the coast. Besides the physical, bathymetric, geological, sedimentological
and hydrometeorological data, further information were acquired on available resources (exploration and exploitation of the seabed) and the human activities which unfold in front of the
Emilia-Romagna coast (fishing, mussel farming, navigation, etc.).
The development of the Information System was made possible thanks to the collaboration of
many Institutions to share information and data. These include the Italian Hydrographic Institute of the Navy (IIM), ENI S.p.a. E&P div. and ISMAR-CNR (Institute of Marine Science).
The Sea and Coast Information System was initially developed by using as a reference the
guidelines for "the implementation of local information systems for the management of coastal
erosion", issued by the Directorate General for the Environment of the European Commission
within Eurosion programme (European Commission, 2004); these guidelines establish the development of nine thematic groups, some of which refer to the physical characteristics of the
marine area:

Administrative boundaries (terrestrial and maritime);

Topography (DTM seabed, bathymetry, shorelines, etc.);
pag. 120/216

Geology, geomorphology and sedimentology (including the marine area);

Hydrodynamics (winds, waves and prevailing currents);

Land use (land use classification of the coastline and land use change);

Demography (resident population and tourist influx);

Heritage (SIC-ZPS areas; protected marine areas);

Economic assets (tourism, aquaculture, mussel farming and fishing infrastructures);

Coastal defences (defence works).
This information constitutes a crucial asset for the analysis of coastal risks and represents the
starting point to develop more specific database applications, such as:

Monitoring;

Coastal risks;

Sea storms;

Beach nourishments;

Management of undersea sand deposits;

Use of the sea (undersea installations for the exploitation of hydrocarbons, undersea
sands deposits, fishing, defence, ports & navigation restrictions) (fig. 5, 10, 14);

Subsidence.
A portion of this data is already available to the public through an interactive mapping web interface, at the address: http://ambiente.regione.emilia-romagna.it/geologia/cartografia/webgisbanchedati/sistema-informativo-mare-costa
The data that are still being processed or the ‘sensitive’ ones are accessible only to the regional technicians.
The data are geo-referenced in geographic reference system adopted by the RER (UTMED50-Zone 32*) and in the national systems (Gauss-Boaga and UTM-ED50). In order to be
aligned with the European INSPIRE Directive (2007/2/EC ratified by Legislative Decree n°
32/2010) all newly acquired data are to be produced directly in the WGS84 system (or
ETRS89) and subsequently converted into the regional system. We are also providing the
adjustment of the dataset to the new national geodetic reference system (Dec. P.C.M. of 10th
November 2011 – Adoption of the National Geodetic Reference System, published in the
Official Gazette n° 48 of 27/02/2012).
Furthermore, as established by the INSPIRE Directive, each mapping is accompanied by the
relative metadata, which contain the information needed to describe the identity information,
such as: type of data, origin, property, quality, elaboration processes, etc.
Further details are available on the
romagna.it/ambiente/geologia/temi/costa.
SGSS
web-site
http://cm.regione.emilia-
pag. 121/216
Figure 3-28 Undersea installations for the exploitation of hydrocarbons.
3.2.2.3
Cooperation projects
Some of the most important international projects involving Emilia Romagna Region are listed
below.
The project ADri.EuR.O.P. aims to offer operational support (in technical-administrative terms)
to the political process for the establishment of an institutional body of the Adriatic Euroregion
(AE), created in order to promote development to be coordinated and integrated in territories
in the Adriatic regions.
The project ADri.EuR.O.P. aims to realize the activities necessary for the start-up of the Adriatic Euroregion in the short term. The main activities, which will be integrated and shall be implemented by all partners, can be outlined as follows:
1. Support to work coordination between the cross-border bodies involved in the AE project;
2. Relationships with international European bodies and institutions;
3. Establishment of technical-administrative service structures;
4. Start-up of AE organization structural processes in the phase of being established;
5. Assessment of the “on progress” situation regarding the AE sectors of interest;
6. Strategic and Governance design on which to realize the EA structure;
7. Communications and information strategies.
pag. 122/216
ADri.EuR.O.P. is an integrated project financed by the Adriatic New Neighbourhood Programme INTERREG/CARDS-PHARE 2000-2006 under Priority 3 (Action of Strengthening of
Cooperation), Measure 3.2 (“Cooperation and Strengthening in Communications, Research
and Systems Harmonization between Institutions” ) for the creation of service structures in order to promote activities between Adriatic partners of the AE and encourage the relationships
between the latter and the European Union and establish a network of local bodies (municipalities, Chambers of Commerce, local bodies., universities, research centres, etc.).
The project involves 9 partners: the 7 Adriatic Italian Regions, the Istria Region and the Municipality of Kotor.
The indirect beneficiaries of the project are all the local bodies and the organizations presents
in all the territories of the AE which can benefit of the project’s results.
Adri.Eur.O.P. arise from the collaboration between all seven Italian Adriatic regions, the Istria
County and the municipality of Kotor.
ADri.EuR.O.P. Partners are: Lead Partner The Region of Molise, The Region of Friuli Venezia
Giulia, The Region of Veneto, The Region of Emilia Romagna, The Region of Marche, The
Region of Abruzzo, The Region of Puglia, Croatian partner The Istria County, Montenegro
partner, The Municipality of Kotor. The project is organised with 9 Work packages (WPs) intended to carry on specific work and produce tangible results. Each WP is coordinated by one
partner therefore all partners are involved in achieving the objectives of the project.
The ADRI.BLU18 project aims to stimulate a cross-border process of sustainable socioeconomic development for the Upper Adriatic fisheries sector, following on from specific planning and co-ordination measures taken to promote certification of the Upper Adriatic enterprise
initiatives in the general context of providing a real increase in the sustainability of fishing activities.
The project provides for a series of measures to encourage the creation of a favourable context for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the fisheries sector, by
means of cross-border integration and harmonisation of fishing policies, co-ordinating the sector management, increasing the fisheries resources available to small and medium-sized enterprises, creating opportunities for innovation and diversification in traditional activities, with
meetings and exchanges of ideas between these enterprises, together with certifying the sector operators. One example of the project’s activities is the creation of the “Tavolo Blu Adriatico”, an institutional work group set up to address the problem of the lack of co-ordination in
fisheries management policy for the Upper Adriatic. This work group has:

Developed the Upper Adriatic District model for the sector management and the promotion of the sustainable fisheries economy;

Drawn up draft legal framework for the fisheries sector, organised at inter-regional
level.
The “Adriatic Blue table” is made up of technical and legal representatives from the institutions
involved in the partnership, representatives of fisheries trade associations, academics studying the sector and legal experts specialising in maritime law. One study sets out the guide
lines for classifying the water used by small and medium-sized enterprises involved in fishing
18
http://www.altoadriatico.com/doc.php?iddoc=9&idarea=4
pag. 123/216
and aqua-culture and establishes the technical standards required to manage sustainable exploitation of fishing and aqua-culture by these enterprises and of the natural and biological resources of the sea. Other activities, aimed at increasing the bio-diversity of the waters include
the placing of concrete and/or steel structures in areas where fishing is banned and the construction of artificial “nurseries” to encourage egg-laying by fish and molluscs. The ADRI.BLU
project is applying the principles established by the new Common Fishing Policy (Reg. EC
2371/02 and amendments) aimed at protecting the marine environment, using an innovative
approach consistent with increasing the fish resources and bio-diversity, promoting diversification of fishing activities and the sustainable management of the sector and the territory in
which fishing activities are practised, all these applied according to the principles of Integrated
Zone Management.
ADRI.BLU Partners are: Emilia Romagna Region, Veneto Region, Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Istarska Upanija/Istria Region.
Figure 3-29 On left Adri.Blu undersea barriers. On right SFOP undersea barriers.
The MAREMED project is part of a global strategy for the development of an integrated maritime policy in the Mediterranean and operational cooperation of the maritime Regions between
each other and the other levels of governance.
The general goals of the project are:

strengthening maritime policies and making them coherent in their economic, environmental, sustainable development and governance aspects by the partner Regions;

adding value to the results obtained from the other European maritime Regions using
the CPMR's skills and network,
pag. 124/216

widely disseminating the results to the other local actors of maritime and coastal policies: infra-regional institutions, professionals, research bodies, etc.;

allowing the supra-regional institutions to benefit from regional experience: States, the
European Commission and international bodies, in particular those of the Barcelona
agreement;

setting the project, through the CPMR's action, within a more global dimension, both
geographically, in the Mediterranean and the other European seaboards and in terms
of time, by creating an approach and project tools that can be used beyond their expiry date.
The specific objectives will be organised into 6 parts regarding governance, the management
of the coastal areas, the maritime data and indicators, adapting to climate change, pollution
and fisheries in an integrated approach, each section being cross-referenced with the others.
Each section will be entrusted to one of the partners according to its competencies and its experience, but all the partners will contribute to all of the themes.
For each section, the goal is to produce working tools to facilitate governance and the implementation and evaluation of maritime policies. The concomitance of these results should allow
for the construction of an integrated view of the issue.
With 14 Regions from 5 States, the MAREMED partnership constitutes a significant sample,
representative of the Mediterranean issues and in particular covers:

4 maritime sub-basins: the north-west, Adriatic, Aegean Sea and eastern basin;

3 large deltas: the Rhone, the Po and the Ebro;

3 islands: Corsica, Crete and Cyprus.
MAREMED "Pilot actions, strategies and prospects" are:

PHASE 1 Pilot actions-strategies-training (Murcia coordination):
Valorisation of the "Inventories" component's results. Organisation of training – information on the key parts of the maritime policy; INSPIRE-EMODNET; REACH. "Antipoll" Training-Exercise and incubation of an ENPI project. Carrying out cartographic
interoperability tests (risks atlas, ICZM) and networking of GIS. Tests of common databases between the partners and the Commission (ICZM, Adapting to climate
change, fisheries).
Creation of common management guides (ICZM; fisheries); Case study of crossborder management areas (ICZM-fisheries); diversification of fishing into tourist activities.

PHASE 2: Creation of an Integrated Strategy (coord PACA + CPMR all the others)
Key phase of MAREMED, the synoptic study of the results of the diagnosis component and phase 1 of component 3 will enable the drawing-up of proposals for integrated governance.
Technical, strategic, legal and financial proposals will be made using the synergy created between the partners and with the European and Mediterranean bodies. These
results will be proposed for validation by the Inter-Mediterranean Commission.
pag. 125/216
The Social-Economic Observatory of Fisheries in the Northern Adriatic Sea is another example of international agreement; the observatory is the result of the EU Project (ERDF) AdriFish
(Promotion of a sustainable fishery in the northern Adriatic sea) for the sustainable development of the fishing sector. The observatory includes Emilia Romagna, Veneto, Friuli Venezia
Giulia, Slovenia and Croatia and started its activities in May 2004. The Veneto Region, in its
capacity as lead partner of the AdriFish project, is in charge of the management activities of
the Social-Economic Observatory of Fisheries in the Northern Adriatic Sea, through the regional company named Veneto Agricoltura.
pag. 126/216
3.2.3
Abruzzo region
3.2.3.1
Implementation level of IMP and MSP
In Italy the legislation and the governance in MSP is not very advanced: there isn’t an integrated and comprehensive framework for sectorial policies and the current legislation concerns different marine sectors and activities (fishing, energy, production, port, marine parks,
marine bioenvironmental, etc.).
Marine Affairs are managed at both national and regional level. National responsibilities include energy policies and national port, while regional responsibilities include fishing, tourism
and coastal defence.
In the Abruzzo Region, the IMP-MSP process has not been implemented yet. There are only
some regional laws on related issues, as well as some networks and management plans.
The Natura 2000 network and management plan is well developed in the Abruzzo Region; in
fact, the regional implementation of the Directive 92/43/EEC has allowed the identification of
n.53 Sites of Community Importance (SCI) and 134 ZPS sites. Moreover, in Abruzzo, there
are three national parks and a mountain regional park: Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo, Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso, Parco Nazionale della Maiella e Parco Regionale Velino-Sirente.
There are also some areas, such as the Area Marina Protetta Torre del Cerrano and Parco
Nazionale della Costa chietina that concern the marine and marine-terrestrial areas.
The figure below represents the network of natural reserves in the Region (green points = regional reserves; yellow point = regional parks). Some of these regional reserves are also SCI,
while other SCI and all the SPA areas are included within the National or regional Parks.
Figure 3-30 Network of Natural Reserves of Abruzzo Region.
Six SCI are in marine areas: Marina di Vasto, Punta Aderci, Lecceta di Torino di Sangro, Grotta delle Farfalle, Punta Acquabella, Ripari di Giobbe. Moreover, there are 27 regional reserves, of which seven terrestrial and marine surfaces.
pag. 127/216
The full list of SCI is reported in the Italian Ministry of Environment law dated 3 July 2008.
The National Ministerial Law “Establishment of biological protection zones in the marine waters (ZTBs)” has identified one area for the protection of fishery resources in the offshore marine waters of the Abruzzo Region: Fossa di Pomo. Another law on this topic was later adopted (MIPAF, June 1998), according to the EC Regulation n.1967/2006, for the prohibition/management of the fishery activities in the ZTBs.
Figure 3-31 Fossa di Pomo in Adriatic sea (ZPB).
The ZTB and, more generally, all the Pomo pit is positioned within the GSA 17 of the Upper
and Middle Adriatic. The central sector of the Adriatic is occupied by a depression, which is
called the pit Pomo / Jabuka, which reaches a depth of about 250 m geographically situated
about more than 40 nautical miles (nm) far from the coast of Abruzzo. Through a big channel,
it communicates with the largest southern depression, whose seabed is more than 1200 m
deep, which marks the border with the Ionian Sea.
The pit Pomo / Jabuka is recognized as one of the most important and critical habitat of the
Adriatic Sea. The area is popular due to the high presence of species with a high commercial
value, such as M. merluccius and N. norvegicus.
The area of biological protection. The ZTB covers a sea area of about 2000 Km2 and it is
located both in international and territorial Croatian waters. The Croatian surface is equal to
about 2/3 of the total area (Jabuka Pit about 1400 Km2) while the international one is equal to
1/3 (Fossa di Pomo, about 700 Km2). With reference to the attached maps, the Biological Protection Zone extends itself over 40 nautical miles from the national coasts and it is delimited by
a line joining the following points: the Croatian island of Pomo (Jabuka), near the pit, determines the presence of the Croatian territorial waters (12 nm from the coast) within the ZTB. In
the picture, the boundaries of the ZTB are defined and the Croatian territorial component is
highlighted. Complete report in
http://www.regione.abruzzo.it/pesca/docs/relaz_scient/IZS_FOSSAdiPOMO_%2003_IM_04_A
B.pdf
pag. 128/216
3.2.3.2
Other legislative and planning tools
Concerning the offshore marine area, a bill was proposed to the Senate of the Italian Republic
in order to ban the prospecting, research and cultivation of liquid hydrocarbons in the offshore
Adriatic marine waters in front of the Abruzzo Region.
Figure 3-32 Hydrocarbon production concessions.
There are also 4 requests for applications for further drilling for oil exploration in the central
part of Abruzzo and for permissions for the cultivation of oil in the marine environment, all located off the coast.
Other planning tools with possible interactions with the IMP-MSP policies have been developed Also in the Abruzzo Region. The Regional Operational Programmes (ROP Abruzzo,
2000-2006, and 2007-2013) included Measures targeted to the marine environment protection
/ control and maritime activity (ROP-ERDF, European Regional Development Fund), as well
as to the fishery and aquaculture sustainable development (ROP-FIFG Financial Instrument
for Fisheries Guidance).
Among the main actions of the ROP-FIFG in Abruzzo, there have been some innovative actions:

Doc.U.P. Fishing – Abruzzo Region -2002/2003 - Measure 4.6 - "Innovative actions"
"Exploratory fishing with modified trawls in order to reduce the fishing pressure on juvenile stages”;

Doc.U.P. Fishing – Abruzzo Region - 2005/2006 - Measure 4.6 - innovative actions"
"Project aimed at creating memorandums of understanding on fisheries and aquaculture among the Abruzzo region, Croatia, and Serbia and Montenegro"
http://www.regione.abruzzo.it/pesca/docs/relaz_scient/Progetto_05_IM_04_AB.pdf.
pag. 129/216
For the protection and the development of marine areas, we can highlight the following intervention:

Doc.U.P. Fishing – Abruzzo Region 2000-2006 - Measure 3.1 - ARTA - Project Code
02/BA/04/AB - PROTECTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF AQUATIC RESOURCES "Project for the construction of an area for the development and protection of aquatic
resources in the Province of Chieti (Rocca San Giovanni, Vasto, Ortona) Teramo (Pineto
Martinsicuro)
Pescara
(Pescara).
http://www.regione.abruzzo.it/pesca/index.asp?modello=relaz_scient31&servizio=xList
&stileDiv=mono&template=default&msv=DOCUPpes4
Figure 3-33 Construction of an area for the development and protection of aquatic marine resources.
3.2.3.3
Cooperation projects
Some topics related to the IMP-MSP policies were also developed within the INTERREG,
LIFE or other EC programmes. Abruzzo regional Institutions (Public and Private) were involved in many projects on maritime transport, management of shipping routes, marine environment protection and control, ICZM and fishery, carried out in the whole Region.
Main ones are:
1. R.I.C.A.MA. project - Rationale for Integrated Coastal Area Management – developed
between 1999 and 2001;
pag. 130/216
2. The SICORA project :
http://www.ing.univaq.it/dipartimenti/mostra_dipartimento.php?codice=3
3. Feasibility study: “Integrated management of the coastal area. Organic plan for the
risk in vulnerable areas. Feasibility of interventions for the defence and management
of the coastal area at regional level.” - CIPE act n.106/99;
4. CIPE funds act 36/2002 and act 17/2003. A preliminary planning of interventions,
aimed at the full requalification of seven sites of the Abruzzo coastal area, has been
developed between march and September 2004.
R.I.C.A.MA.
Rationale for Integrated Coastal Area Management
Promoted by Abruzzo Region and funded by the European Union within the LIFE Programme.
The RICAMA Project was inspired by the need to set up and introduce new methodological
and organisational tools to solve the erosional problems of coastal zone of Abruzzo Region.
Such erosion is in many situations further exacerbated by inadequate human infrastructures
(including those specifically built in the past for “coastal defence purposes”) and by an urban
and land use development extremely close to the beach areas.
The R.I.C.A.MA. project is one of the 35 “case-studies” foreseen by the European Demonstration Programme on the Integrated Coastal Zone Management and it has developed an innovative approach to solve the problems linked to the integrated management of the coastal zone.
R.I.C.A.MA. project has defined Plans, Procedures and Methodologies to set up legislation
and carry out an efficient management of the coastal zone in the Abruzzo Region.
The main project results have been:

Instructions on the methodologies for the acquisition, management and organization
of useful information in order to support the integrated management;

Geo-referenced database about protection interventions and works along the Abruzzo
coast;

Guidelines on works and interventions in the coastal zone, for the setting up of Beach
Plans and of the State marine Plan;

Directions for the environmental evaluation of works, interventions, plans and programmes in the coastal zone;

Directions for Planning and Regulation Tools supporting the Integrated Coastal Zone
Management;

Definition and analysis of Intervention strategies;

Directions for the implementation of Environmental management systems;

Guidelines for the morphological monitoring;

Setting up of interventions priorities;

Elements for risk management in the coastal areas;
pag. 131/216

Information activities and awareness campaigns addressed to stakeholders and to the
general public

Awareness campaigns addressed to local authorities;

Dissemination activities;

Pilot project SIT.
S.I.Co.R.A. Project: Information Support for the Management of the
Regione Abruzzo coast
Together with the R.I.C.A.MA. project, the Abruzzo Region has approved the regional law n.
108/2000 in order to promote “applied research to support regional planning on coastal defence from erosion”. This project was called SICORA.
The SICORA project aims at starting government processes on the coastal area of the Abruzzo region. The main goal is setting up a constantly working Decision Support System (DSS).
The DSS will allow the development of government processes in the coastal zone, in order to
make Public Administration capable of solving, in an effective and sustainable way, all the
problems linked to the management of the coastal zone. The project also foresee the improvement of the Territorial Informative System (SIT) and the development of scientific and
socio-territorial specialist studies, such as the study on the rebuilding of dune systems through
autochthonous vegetation. The results of all the scientific and socio-territorial analysis, in the
form of technical or software report, will be transmitted to the Public Administration, included in
the SIT of the Abruzzo Region or in the guidelines of the DSS or in the report about the state
of Abruzzo’s coasts.
From RICAMA and SICORA projects, the following products were produced:

Feasibility Study: "Integrated management of the coastal area. Comprehensive plan
for the vulnerable areas risk. Feasibility of defence and coastal zone management interventions on a regional scale "(CIPE n.106/99);

Implementation of coast defence and rehabilitation interventions according to an integrated plan at "regional scale" - Integrated Management of the coastal area;

Sharing strategies and dissemination of information
pag. 132/216
Figure 3-34 From RICAMA and SICORA projects. Final relations.
Feasibility Study. Risk analysis on a regional scale.
The results of the risk analysis allowed to:

Objectively select the more "critical" stretches of coastline;

Develop strategies and guidelines for setting up and optimize coasts’ requalification
and defence interventions.

Retrain existing works in order to improve the current hydraulic-structural "performances";

Restore a proper width of the beach in order to ensure adequate mitigation and defence from waves due to the rise of the sea level;

Artificial nourishment of beaches.
The availability of the "sand resource” for nourishment was searched in the sea.
pag. 133/216
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Ma
M a rr tt i n s i c u r
M a r t in s ic u r o A
M a r t in s ic u r o B
M in s ic o C
A l b aa r t i n s i c uu r o D
A lb a A d r ia t i r o E
ca
Ad
T o rr i a t i c a A
T o r ttoo r e t o BA
T o r e to
G i u lri t o r e t o B
G iu li a n o v a C
G iu lia n o v a A
B
an
R o soev a C
t
R ose o A
R o s e to B
R o s e to C
R o s eto D
R o s eto E
P in t o F
P i n ee t o A
P in e t o B
t
S i l vo C
S i l v ii A
S ilv i B
C
Mon
t
M o n e s ilv a n
t
e
M o n s ilv a n o A
t e s ilv o B
Pes ano C
P e s cc a r a A
a ra
P
F ra e sc a ra B
F r a nn c a v i l l a C
F r a n c a v illa A
B
ca
O r tv i l l a C
O r t oo n a A
O r to n a B
O r na C
S a n to n a D
S a n V it o A
Rocc
V it o
S
R o c c a S a n a n V it o B
G
C
a Sa
n io v a n
F oGs si o v a n n i A
n
a
T o r i n F o s s a cc e s i ai BA
e
o
s
T o r in d i S a ia B
T o r in o d i S a n g r o A
n
o
C a sdai S a n gg r o B
ro C
l
b
o
C asa
l b o rrdd i n o A
i
V a sn o B
V a s tt o A
V a s to B
oC
S a n V a s to D
S a lv
oA
Figure 3-35 From Feasibility Study. Risk analysis on a regional scale.
Figure 3-36 Requalification and defence interventions.
pag. 134/216
Figure 3-37 The availability of the "sand resource” zone.
E.T.I.C.A. Project (EMAS for Tourism in Internal and Coastal Areas: integrated management).
The project aimed to assess the environmental situation in the seven participating municipalities of the Teramo district – Alba Adriatrica, Giulianova, Martinsicuro, Pineto, Roseto degli
Abruzzi, Silvi, and Tortoreto.
This enabled the establishment of environmental targets and the implementation of a specific
planning programme. A further goal was the introduction of personnel training to underpin the
adoption of the EMAS environmental management system.
Started in November 2004 and now concluded, it has connected the ICZM with sustainable
tourism, encouraging the implementation of SGA (Environmental Management System)
among the coastal Municipalities. During the project, 7 municipalities have been supported by
experts during the registration process. 2 Municipalities got the EMAS Registration (Martinsicuro and Silvi), achieving the project final goal, 5 Municipalities got the ISO 14001 Certification (Martinsicuro, Pineto, Roseto, Silvi, Tortoreto). After the end of the project the Municipality
of Pineto got the EMAS Registration.
All the 7 Municipalities have been supported in the implementation of their SGA for the EMAS
Registration, in order to accomplish with the final objective of the Abruzzo Region that is registering 7 Municipalities with the EMAS. The project, in line with the principles of the ICZM – To
involve all the stakeholders and all the levels of Administration – has achieved integration
among all the different levels of government of the territory.
In order to reach this result:

An environmental data collection and analysis has been carried out on 26 different issues, in order to obtain the exact and updated description of the environmental situation for each municipality;
pag. 135/216

In order to plan and build an Environment System Management, each Municipality has
been supported by one or more experts, so that all the 7 Municipalities have had
equal opportunities and access to the registration. The registration concerned the
whole Administration and not only the single sector; the EMAS registration process
has been adapted to the already existing quality systems, if available.

Dissemination activities on all the territory has been promoted, specifically: 7 meetings
aimed at presenting the results of the ETICA project, 6 videos dedicated to the project
and broadcasted on TV and on the web, participation to fairs, best practice exchange
with Greece.

9 training modules about environmental issues and EMAS procedures have been carried out. They were addressed to the Local Bodies Staff and to the partners.

The website www.eticalife.org has been created.

the innovative method of dynamic analysis of systems has been used in order to elaborate a simulation model, aimed at identifying future scenarios analysing the relations
between occupation, tourism development and environment policies.
Figure 3-38 From E.T.I.C.A.
REQUISITE project INTERREG III A Adriatic Cross border
The project concerned the creation of a network for the collection and integration of data about
the eutrophication and mucilage phenomena in the marine waters of the Northern-Central
Adriatic basin. These data were registered by the Regional Environment Agencies and by the
Research Institute from Croatia and Italy. The newsletters edited can become a strategic information tool for local administrations, because they can have information and even forecasts
about the development of the monitored phenomena.
Both the phenomena considered, in fact, are widespread and interest the whole NorthernCentral Adriatic basin. There has been an active integration with the ADRICOSM project,
funded by the Ministry of Environment and Territory, aimed at implementing the Integrated
Coastal Zone Management in the Adriatic Sea, through a module on currents. Integration of
the information collected in the sea and of the forecasts of the dynamics of currents has con-
pag. 136/216
cerned the elaboration of indexes to calculate the probability of mucilage on the beaches,
through remote sensing images.
Main results of the project are:

Integration of the monitoring of marine waters concerning the eutrophic and mucilage
phenomena;

Creation of a network among all the project partners, in order to gather all the information collected through the observation systems;

Editing of newsletters on the state of health of the sea and on its evolution;

Setting up of methodologies to quantitatively estimate the eutrophication and/or mucilage processes;

Integration of information collected on the job with all the other data derived from prevision models and remote sensing;

Informing the European Union about the environmental problem of the mucilage phenomena, in order to persuade the European Institutions to reconsider this issue when
formulating new policies;

Qualitative improvement of the network (RAI and Croatia) thanks to an exchange of
information, experiences and knowledge.
Powered Project of Offshore Wind Energy: Research, Experimentation, Development
POWERED project (IPA Adriatic CBC 2007-2013) aims to define a set of strategies and
shared methods for the development of the off-shore wind energy in all the Countries overlooking the Adriatic Sea. Such energetic choice could allow a rapid increase of installations,
thanks to the reduction of the problems related to landscape topic that are frequently the main
obstacles to the creation of wind parks in high density population territories or in areas with
high historical or landscape value. Also the problems related to the transport of the wind turbines of big size should be reduced, especially in Countries like Italy in which the problem of
connection between the main and the suburban roads is important, because of the small dimension of the roadway. Industrial ports that overlooking the Adriatic Sea could be assume a
decisive role in the development process, becoming a marshalling but also productive areas of
the technological components. The main objective of the project is drafting guide lines for the
realization of off-shore wind parks in the Adriatic Sea compatible with the planning and conservation policy shared among the project partners. In parallel will be identified development
Sea basins for the energetic technology above mentioned. It will allow the defining of the
characteristics for a project of electric submarine connection network that will enormously facilitate the exchange of energy power between Countries. The achievement of the project’s objectives will be possible thanks to the study concerning the wind resources on the Adriatic Basin, the study will be developed through numerical process and will be validated through testing method. Such validation will be possible thanks to the installation of a network of coastal
weather stations and of, at least, marine ones. Such network, at the end of the project, will be
functioning and will support weather forecast services.
The “POWERED” project aims to define a set of strategies and methods common to the countries overlooking the Adriatic Sea valuable for the development of off-shore wind farms. The
quest for a common action amongst the Adriatic countries would lead to a fast growth of the
pag. 137/216
number of installations. On one hand the off-shore installations would not sense the restrictions imposed on on-shore plants from both landscape requirements and the unavailability
of large installation areas in the surroundings of populated regions which are to be served, on
the other hand, economy scale transports would be eased by exploiting the naval freighter
lines connecting the arbours across the Adriatic Sea. At this purpose it is worthwhile mentioning the potential economic growth of the cities hosting the arbours. New richness would stem
from their “hub” role in the “production-delivering” chain of the new large wind turbines.
pag. 138/216
3.2.4
Puglia Region
3.2.4.1
Implementation level of IMP and MSP
In the Puglia Region an overall and holistic IMP-MSP process has not been implemented yet,
although some national and regional Acts on related issues are just available, as well as some
networks and management plans.
The Natura 2000 network and management plan is well developed in the Puglia Region; in
fact, the regional implementation of the Directive 92/43/EEC has allowed the identification of n.
77 Sites of Community Importance (SCI). Three sites are fully marine, “Posidonieto Isola di
San Pietro-Torre Canneto (IT9130008)”, “Posidonieto Capo San Gregorio-Punta Ristola
(IT9150034)” and “Posidonieto San Vito-Barletta (IT9120009)”, while eighteen sites cover both
terrestrial and marine surfaces: Isole Tremiti (IT9110011), Duna di Campomarino (IT9130003),
Torre Colimena (IT9130001), Bosco Tramazzone (IT9140001), Stagni e saline di Punta della
Contessa (IT9140003), Torre Guaceto e Macchia S. Giovani (IT9140005), Litorale brindisino
(IT9140002), Palude del Conte-Dune di Punta Prosciutto (IT9150027), Porto Cesareo
(IT9150028), Palude del Capitano (IT9150013), Litorale di Ugento (IT9150009), Alimini
(IT9150011), Le Cesine (IT9150032), Torre Veneri (IT9150025), Aquatina di Frigole
(IT9150003), Montagna Spaccata e Rupi di San Mauro (IT9150008), Rauccio (IT9150006),
Litorale di Gallipoli e Isola S. Andrea (IT9150015). The full list of SCI is reported in the Decree
of Ministry of Environment dated 3 July 2008.
Moreover, in the Puglia region there are two Nature Reserves – Marine Protected Areas
“Isole Tremiti” (Ministry Decree dated 14 July 1989) and “Torre Guaceto” (Ministry Decree
dated 12 April 1991), and one Marine Protected Area – “Porto Cesareo” (Ministry Decree dated 12 December 1997).
Finally, three wetlands of international interest (Ramsar sites) are located in the Puglia Region: “Le Cesine”, “Saline di Margherita di Savoia”, “Torre Guaceto”. Their surfaces are included in the above mentioned protected areas.
Further, the Puglia Region signed a Memorandum of Understanding (DGR n. 1808, dated 6
October 2009) for the Interregional Action Plan, proposed by the Italian Ministry for the Environment, for the protection of sea turtles. This Interregional Action Plan is targeted to the
monitoring, conservation and management of sea turtles.
The National Ministerial Decree “Establishment of biological protection zones in the marine
waters (ZTBs)”, dated 18 February 2004, has identified two areas for the protection of fishery
resources in the marine waters offshore the Puglia Region; another National Ministerial Decree on the subject was later adopted (22 January 2009) according to the E.C. Regulation n.
1967/2006, for the prohibition/management of the fishery activities in the ZTBs .
Moreover, some Regional Government existing Acts can be considered as precursors for the
governance of the maritime-marine system. The main ones are:

Regional Law n. 21 “Provisions relating to mining”, dated 12 November 2004, regulated mining activities and the cultivation of quarries (the marine ones also) according to
the “habitat” 92/43/EC and the “birds” 79/409/EC directives;

Regional Law n. 17 “Rules governing the protection and use of coast”, dated 23 June
2006, regulated the coastal regional planning according to the ICZM concepts;
pag. 139/216

Regional Regulation n. 24 “Guidelines for the authorization of plants powered by renewable sources”, dated 30 December 2010, identifying areas and sites unsuitable
for the installation of specific types of plants fed by renewable sources (including offshore wind farms) in the Puglia regional territory;

Regional Regulation n. 21 “Advisory Commission for Local Fisheries and Aquaculture”, dated 21 December 2006, establishing a commission to express opinions on
fishery and aquaculture issues;

Regional Law n. 16 “Principles, guidelines and lines of action on regional transportation”, dated 23 June 2008, regulated the regional transportation system (including the
maritime one) according to the European Community guidelines on transport.
3.2.4.2
Other legislative and planning tools
The Puglia Regional Council approved in the last years the Management Plans of Natura 2000
sites, including the marine-costal ones: SCI-SPA "Stagni e saline di Punta della Contessa"
(DGR n. 2258, dated 2009.11.24), SCI "Litorale brindisino" (DGR n. 2436, dated 2009.12.15),
SCI "Montagna Spaccata e Rupi di San Mauro" (DGR n. 2558, dated 2009.12.22), SCI “Zone
umide di Capitanata” and SPA “Paludi presso il Golfo di Manfredonia" (DGR n. 347, dated
2010.02.10), SCI "Torre Guaceto e Macchia San Giovanni" (DGR n. 1097, dated 2010.04.26),
SCIs "Alimini", "Aquatina di Frigole", "Palude dei Tamari", "Specchia dall’Alto", "Torre
dell’Orso", "Torre Veneri" (DGR n. 1871, dated 2010.08.06).
The Management Plans of Natura 2000 sites have been prepared by Municipalities, supported
by the Regional Park Department and funded by the POR 2000-2006 Program (Measure 1.6 intervention Line 1.C) and the Regional Programme for the Protection of Environment (Axis 2
"Protected Natural Areas, Nature and Biodiversity").
According to the Regional Law n. 17 “Rules governing the protection and use of coast”, and
following the process of Strategic Environmental Assessment, the Regional Coast Plan has
been approved by the Puglia Government the 13 October 2011. Similarly, the Regional
Transport Plan (required by the Regional Law n. 16/2008) is now implemented under the Strategic Environmental Assessment procedure.
With regard to the off-shore marine area, at this time a bill was proposed in the Senate of the
Italian Republic for the prohibition of prospecting, exploration and production of liquid hydrocarbons in the marine waters off-shore the Adriatic Sea in front of the Puglia region.
Other planning tools with possible interactions with the IMP-MSP policies have been also developed in the Puglia Region. The Regional Operational Programmes (POR Puglia; 20002006, 2007-2013) included measures targeted to the marine environment protection/control
and maritime transport (POR-FESR, European Regional Development Fund) as well as to the
fishery and aquaculture sustainable development (POR-SFOP, Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance). In example, the actual marine waters monitoring program in Puglia is carried
out according to the 2000/60/EC Directive in the framework of a POR-FESR specific project,
and the new POR-FESR project “BIOMAP” is targeted to the identification and mapping of the
marine bio-constructions in the Puglia Seas for the protection and the sustainable management of these habitats. The FEP (European Fund for Fisheries) is another planning tool available for the Puglia Region.
pag. 140/216
3.2.4.3
Cooperation projects
Moreover, some topics related to the IMP-MSP policies were also developed within the
INTERREG, LIFE or other EC programs. Puglia regional Institutions (Public and Private) were
involved in many projects on maritime transport, management of shipping routes, marine environment protection and control, ICZM, fishery, carried out all along the Region. The acronym
of some completed or in progress international projects are reported below in alphabetical order: ADRIAFORM (Technical assistance for the development of a network for the qualification
of human resources in the field of Logistics and Transport), ADRION (information and communication services for passengers travelling by sea), COLECOMAN (Collaborative Ecosystem Management), CORALFISH (ecosystem based management of corals, fish and fisheries),
ECO-GOVERNANCE (ecological basis for the governance of coastal areas: ecology, management and monitoring of aquatic transitional eco-systems), ERESIA (Environment Remote
Sensing Interregional Agency), GAIA (Generalised Automatic Exchange of port information
Area), GOW (governance of water resources and protection of coastal marine ecosystem),
MAP (Multimodal Adriatic Port), MEDITS (Mediterranean Trawl Surveys), MOS.MED.IA (Motorways of the Sea – Mediterranean Impact Analysis), SEALINK (European Sea Motorway
Brindisi-Corfu–Igoumenitsa), SEAPASS (monitoring and regulation of the maritime traffic in
coastal areas of greatest natural and environmental relevance), SECURE SEA (information on
the presence of ships, boats and other floating objects in real time, in order to reduce the risk
of collisions), SELSY (Sea Land System), SPICOSA (sustainable management of coastal
zone systems), THALES (Mapping of intercultural and environmental maritime and aquatic
itineraries within Mediterranean), TUR. SEA ADR. (alternative forms of tourism, innovative and
sustainable, for the use of the marine-coastal zone heritage).
pag. 141/216
3.3
Croatia
The Republic of Croatia is an independent, sovereign and democratic country, which won its
independence on 8 October 1991. The State, with the area of 56 594 km2, is situated in the
South-eastern part of Europe, surrounded by Alps in the West, Sava and Drava rivers in the
North and East and the Adriatic Sea in the South. Surface area of coastal sea is 31 067 km2.
The coastal sea consists of interior sea waters (from coast to basic line) and territorial sea (12
nm from the basic line in the open sea direction), according to the Coastal Sea Act from 1987.
The total length of the coastline is 6278 km, of which 1880 km belong to the coast of the mainland, and 4398 km to the island coasts, which makes the Croatian coast the second indented
in the Mediterranean. Croatia has 1246 islands (79 islands, 525 islets, 642 rocks and reefs;
the 48 islands are inhabited).
With regard to the maritime border between Croatia and Slovenia, the counties have not yet
reached an agreement on the exact delimitation of this sea area along the Bay of Piran. An
Arbitral Tribunal has been set up to solve this matter.
Territorial organizations in the Republic of Croatia are counties, towns, municipalities and settlements. The Croatian coastal area belongs to the country’s most valuable economic and
natural assets. Total population in the Republic of Croatia is 4.284.889 (2011.), with population
density of 75,71 people per km2. There are 7 coastal counties (Istria, Primorje-Gorski Kotar,
Lika-Senj, Zadar, Šibenik-Knin, Split-Dalmatia and Dubrovnik-Neretva: 24 705 km2) where
lives 33% (1.411.935) of total population with population density of 57 inhabitant/km2. The
largest coastal towns are Pula, Rijeka, Zadar, Šibenik, Split and Dubrovnik.
The Region of Istria covers an area of 2812,97 km2. The territory of the Croatian part of Istria
is surrounded on three sides by the Adriatic sea, which influences significantly the climate of
the Peninsula. The mountain belt-Ćićarija and Mount Učka, stretching in the direction northsouth, makes the natural border of Istria with the hinterland.
Istria is located on the important transportation direction north-south, and thus is over the
Adriatic a link between the central Europe and Mediterranean. The following important element in the territorial evolution of Istria is the link with the hinterland, and in this way with the
Dannubian countries as well as the countries of Eastern Europe.
The Adriatic coast of the Croatian part of Istria can be articulated into two parts according to its
traits:

The western coast of Istria and

The coast of the Kvarner and Rijeka Gulf
The western part of Istria from the mouth of the Dragonja river to the Kamenjak Cape. It is
shallow, rocky coast that stretches in the direction NNW-SSE. A number of deep bays are distinguished the mildly indented west coast: the mouths of the Dragonja and Mirna rivers, namely the part of Piran and Tara coast, than the Lim canal and the part of Pula on the south.
North of the Tara valley the coast is shallow with mild inclination without islands and reefs. The
coast is more indented in the central part, so that nearby Poreč and Vrsar first islets and islands appear, and in the lower part the Rovinj group of twenty four islets and islands are distinguished. The Brioni islands are distinguished on the south which consists of Big and Small
pag. 142/216
Brioni, and 12 smaller islets and reefs. The biggest depths are about 30-35 m; which is at the
same time average depth of Gulf of Venice.
The coast of the Kvarner and Rijeka Gulf stretches in the direction SSW-NNE. In contrast to
the west coast, this coast is steep, particularly the coast of the Rijeka Gulf. The highest sea
depth is 50-70 m.
The length of the coastline including islands and islets is 524 km.
The greatest part of the Peninsula (except its central part) is built of water-porous stones,
therefore in Istria there are no big surface water currents. The longest river is the Mirna river
(53 km), then the Raša river (23 km) and the Boljunčica river (20 km). The medium annual water potential on mouths is for the Mirna 16m3/s and for the Raša 12m3/s. The water potentials
of the Istria currents decrease in dry, summer mouths. The multifunctional artificial lake-the
Butoniga accumulation of the area of 280 ha was created by the dam construction on the
Butoniga river. The anticipated and planned purpose of the accumulation is water supply of
the Peninsula in dry, summer periods, defence against flood and agriculture produce watering.
In the Croatian part of Istria 860 running and mixture of running and salty water springs have
been found.
The Istria Region consists of 41 units of local self-government (10 towns and 31 municipalities). The population of Istria Region is 208.055 (2011.) which represents 4,86% of the population of the Republic of Croatia. The average population density is 74 people per km2. The
coastal part of the Region is more densely populated (137 people per km2).
The major pressures on the coastal zone in the Republic of Croatia and the Region of Istria
are:

Maritime transport

Marine and coastal tourism

Fisheries and marine aquaculture

Coastal urbanisation

Quarries

Energy generation
3.3.1
Implementation level of IMP and MSP
There is no specific maritime physical planning in Croatia. Marine activities are co-ordinated
by 7 different Ministries:

Ministry of Environmental and Nature Protection;

Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning;

Ministry of the Maritime affairs, Transport and Infrastructure;

Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship;

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development;

Ministry of Tourism;

Ministry of Culture,
pag. 143/216
and several governmental institutions and regulated by different legislative regulations:

The Maritime Code (1994, 2007, 2008, 2011);

The Shoreline and Marine Harbours Act (2004, 2006, 2009);

The Marine Fishery Act (2010, 2011);

The Environmental Protection Act (2007);

The Nature Protection Act (2005);

The Contingency Plan for Accidental Marine Pollution (2008).
In Croatia the regulatory system that governs sea areas is characterised by a sectoral approach of powers vested in national authorities-harbours, fishery and mariculture, navigation,
energy, directorates and public companies managing particular resources. Although the spatial planning law requires the co-operation of the majority of institutions dealing with ICZM, this
co-operation is only formal and thus not working properly in terms of the weighting of the different sectors' views and interests.
The basic physical planning positions are determined by the Physical Planning and Building
Act (OG 76/07, 38/09, 55/11, 90/11, 50/12, 55/12), the Physical Planning Strategy of the Republic of Croatia (1997), and the Physical Planning Programme of the Republic of Croatia
(1999).
The Physical Planning Strategy of the Republic of Croatia (1997) is a starting document for the
interpretation of basic positions. According to it, the main starting point for planning the area of
the Croatian Adriatic is reduced to four requirements:

protection of the area is given precedence over other requirements and interests;

extension of building areas has to be planned on sites away from the coast;

in the coastal area realisation of a public interest is given precedence over other interests;

islands have to be planned as unique planning units, regardless of the number of local-self-government units, while smaller uninhabited islands cannot be included in
building areas.
Under provisions of the Physical Planning Act, the Strategy is the basic physical planning document used for the project development decisions, land-use planning in smaller areas, and
development of the local land-use plans. The Physical Planning Strategy goals are:

Maintaining of preserved areas;

Systematic remediation of threatened areas;

Ensuring minimization of space degradation in new spatial development programs;

Keeping the current share of anthropogenic areas;

Stipulating development of medium-size urban communities.
Among major spatial development problems, the most pronounced ones is un-rational space
use, uncontrolled growth of large cities, neglect of rural areas and areas along the state border, the occupancy of large areas for building purpose (particularly in the segment referring to
settlements and industrial zones expanding over high-quality agricultural land), low quality
pag. 144/216
mass construction, at the coast with an extremely large share of illegal construction, with underdeveloped infrastructure in some segments and generally unsolved questions of waste disposal. Decisions in the field of spatial development have to be based on an interdisciplinary
approach. With this objective the necessity is pointed out to promote coordination between
departments and participation of all relevant subjects in programmes, projects and plans, and
in particular to take the spatial component into consideration already at the preparatory stages, in order to consider on time all aspects and possible effects of measures in space, as well
as to avoid conflicts. Therefore it is necessary, among other, to create and advance regulation,
especially the legal basis for urban reallocation and expropriation as precondition for efficient
orientation of settlement planning, particularly from the position of safeguarding public interests, to secure professional qualification at all levels, particularly at the local one. Based on
the adopted Physical Planning Strategy, and in accordance with the Physical Planning Act, the
Ministry prepared the Physical Planning Programme for the Republic of Croatia which sets up
measures and course of action for its implementation.
In the protected coastal area special criteria shall be applied, the aim of which is to strengthen
practices of spatial protection and economy, as well as to prevent, within the possibilities of
physical planning, various abuses of space which, sometimes, were rooted in planning documents.
Physical Planning and Building Act prescribed the preparation of a specific coastal regulation.
The key provisions of the Act include:

Protected coastal area (PCA) instrument has been proclaimed including the coastal
belt of 1000 meters on mainland and all islands, and a 300 m marine belt;

restrictive conditions for construction and legal extension within the PCA in new local
physical plans;

any construction of residential or tourist buildings within PCA can take place only upon
adoption of regulatory development plan approved by the County Planning Institute,
the State Development Control Office and Ministry. No construction can take place before the land for public spaces (streets, public facilities) has been allocated and
equipped with basic infrastructure;

New residential and tourist developments outside settlements are allowed outside a
70 m coastal belt. Within this 70 m belt allowed interventions include: open public
spaces such as recreation areas, playgrounds, seafront promenades and beaches,
tourist catering and entertainment facilities, and coastal infrastructure (ports, dry marinas and other uses which by their very nature require coastal location);

tourism development planning is no longer local-level responsibility but is moved up to
the county plans. All seven coastal county spatial plans are presently being amended
by designating tourist development areas.
Key challenges to sustainable development of the Republic of Croatia, according to Strategy
for Sustainable Development of the Republic of Croatia (OG 30/09), among the other key challenges is protection of the Adriatic Sea, coastal area and islands. The sea is a large and important area of the Republic of Croatia (35.4% of the total surface area) both in relation to the
protection of nature and the environment and the conservation of biodiversity as well as in relation to a large number of various activities (maritime transport, construction of transport and
municipal infrastructure, tourism and nautical tourism, economic activities associated with
fisheries). All of the above is of great importance and interest for the sustainable development
pag. 145/216
of the Republic of Croatia. Reduce the loss of marine and coastal biodiversity and increase the
number of protected areas is one of the activities for overall objectives of the Strategy for Sustainable Development of the Republic of Croatia.
In June 2009 the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Spatial Planning adopted “Criteria
for Planning Tourism zones in the Coastal Area of the Republic of Croatia”. According to „Criteria for planning tourism zones in the Coastal area of the Republic of Croatia“ (June, 2009.)
new tourism zones in physical plans of countries are planned in protected coastal areas, almost exclusively along the coastline. It is of outmost importance to move tourism zones away
from the coastline, in order to free the coast from construction, particularly sub-standard construction-regardless whether this refers to organised tourism construction or spontaneous
construction. New construction has to be planned as far away from the coast as possible, i.e.
on the border and/or outside the protected coastal area. In the coastal area hotel construction
has to be of high quality with a function tending to all-year utilisation.
Basic guidelines and criteria in the procedure of preparation of Physical Plans of County and
Physical Plans of towns and municipalities, between others, are:

Counties are obliged to implement uniform planning of islands areas and to equalise
their provisions for the implementation of physical plans towns or municipalities in the
part relating to general requirements for building and spatial development (including
tourism zones);

Constriction of tourism accommodation capacities for needs of national parks should
be direct outside the boundaries of their scope;

In physical plans of counties and in physical plans for the development of towns and
municipalities it is obligatory to prepare an evaluation of landscapes for new and existing not built-up and undeveloped tourism locations;

For tourism zones planned on peninsulas and islands or their parts which are narrower than 250 m it is mandatory to prove in the plan argumentation the possibility of carrying out the planned designation and to establish landscape protection requirements;

In protected areas of nature and cultural heritage protection it is not allowed to plan
extensions of existing not built-up tourism zones and change of designation of hotel
into tourist settlements or of campsites into tourist settlements.
Environmental Protection Act (OG 110/07) describe following terms:

Integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) is the dynamic process of sustainable
management and use of coastal zones, simultaneously taking into account the fragility
of coastal ecosystems and the landscape, the diversity of activities and use their interaction, the maritime orientation of certain activities and use their impact on marine
and terrestrial components;

Marine ecosystems are regions of ocean space encompassing coastal areas from river basins to estuaries to the seaward margins of coastal current systems and seaward
boundaries of continental shelves, which are characterized by distinct productivity and
trophic, bathymetric and hydrographical features of the region;

Marine environment is the living space of organisms and their communities, defined
by distinctive physical, chemical and biological features, which includes: open sea
zones, estuaries and coastal marine zones including internal sea waters, territorial
sea, sea bottom and seabed of those marine zones.
pag. 146/216
3.3.2
Implementation level MSFD
The Marine Protection Strategy is not elaborated yet. The Marine Protection Strategy shall set
out and direct long term goals for the management of the marine environment based on the
principles of sustainable development in accordance with overall economic, social and cultural
development on the territory of the State. The Marine Protection Strategy shall contains the
fundamental basis for directing and harmonising economic, technical, scientific, educational,
organisational and other measures as well as measures for implementing international obligations, with the aim of protecting the marine environment and shall contain in particular:

an assessment of the current status of the marine environment and of the effect of
human activities on the environment;

the criteria and requirements for determining good marine status;

the goals of marine environmental protection and the indicators;

short-term and long-term measures for achieving good environmental status;

programme for monitoring marine status;

integrated coastal management.
The Marine Protection Strategy shall be drawn up by the Ministry in cooperation with central
state administration bodies competent for: the sea, tourism, transport and development, the
economy, agriculture, forestry, water management, nature science and health. The development of the Marine Protection Strategy shall be coordinated by the Ministry. The Marine Protection Strategy shall be adopted by the Croatian Parliament, upon the proposal of the Government. It shall be adopted for a ten year period, on the basis of the analysis of the efficiency
of measures undertaken and of the environmental status from the Environmental Status Report.
3.3.3
Other legislative and planning tools
Strategic Environmental Assessment
Strategic Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes (Environment Protection Act,
OG 110/07) is a procedure for the assessment of likely significant impacts on the environment
which may occur due to the implementation of a plan or programme. Through strategic assessment a basis is created for promoting sustainable development through integration of environmental protection requirements in the plans and programmes for specific sectors. This
enables relevant decisions on the adoption of the plan or programme to be made based on
knowledge of the possible significant impacts which the implementation of the plan or programme may have on the environment, while a framework for the activities of developers is
provided and the possibility for including the essential elements of environmental protection in
the decision making process is ensured.
Strategic assessment shall be mandatory for:

a plan or programme, with the exception of amendments thereto, which is adopted at
the state and regional level in the following sectors: agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy, industry, mining, transport, telecommunications, tourism, waste management
and water management;
pag. 147/216

the spatial plan of a county and Spatial Plan of the City of Zagreb, with the exception
of amendments thereto.
The Ordinance on Nature Impact Assessment (OG 89/07) establishes projects which are subject to mandatory nature impact assessment, the content, timeframe and manner of establishing the nature impact assessment, the method of informing the general public and the method
of calculating the security for elimination of possible impacts on nature.
The Region of Istria
Basic principles for area planning in the Physical Plan Region of Istria (Istria Region „Official
paper“ no. 16/11,consolidated text) are in Article 4:

Area as a resource. Rational usage of space and protection in all elements of usage,
knowing that the environment cannot be replenished. The area of the region is known
for its diversity, beauty, with more means of usage, situated on good transit position.
By this plan, the environment is claimed most valuable resource of the region, with
natural beauty, fields, sea, underwater and belonging organisms, but also very sensitive resources, such as subterranean waters, coastal area and forests.

Sustainable development. Sustainable development is a basic principle for the area
planning and guarantee for the future, which means saving the natural resources and
environment for generations to come. Sustainable development means that the human activity is harmonized with greatness and dynamics of systems in the nature.
Sustainable development is not suffocating the economic development, but it cannot
jeopardize people 's health, plants and animal species, the process in nature and natural goods.
The conditions of delimitation of space according to usage (Article 6, 7). According to usage,
the space is delimited on space protection criteria. The usage of space is conditioned by susceptibility of space. The space of a county is delimited on:

Protected natural heritage;

Space of National Ecological Network;

Protected cultural and historical inheritance;

Protected agricultural and forest area;

Protection of the seas and inland waters, the waterworks and water springs;

Area and parts of imperilled environment.
Physical Plan Region of Istria contains the areas with special development measures. There
are in article 151. for the coastal area (towns of Umag, Novigrad, Poreč, Rovinj, Vodnjan, Pula
and Labin and for communities of Brtonigla, Tar-Vabriga, Vrsar, Funtana, Bale, Fažana, Medulin, Ližnjan, Marčana, Barban, Raša and Kršan).
According to Physical Plan Region of Istria the execution of the delimitation of environment
according to usage, established by this plan is carried out by environment arrangement plan of
a community and city, laws and decisions of announcements of nature parks, by determining
the reclamation class of lands, by development of forest economics basis, by determining the
characteristics of cultural wealth, by development of water management and plans for water
drainages, by the development of mineral raw materials management basis and by determine
the areas which are imperilled by fire and elementary disasters and the war destruction.
pag. 148/216
By this plan of space considering usage is divided considering function to (Article 17):

the area of settlements and housing-tourist settlements

areas outside the settlements for other purposes (tourism, economy management,
traffic, buildings of infrastructure, recreation, the exploitation of mineral raw materials,
the areas of special use)

agricultural areas

forest areas

water surfaces
Article 37-39 described forest which can be divided in three categories:

Forest as an economical resources are representing the largest part of entire forest
resources, and they are intended solely for economical usage (using woods for building material or heating, for hunting and game breeding, foraging the forest fruits).

Protected forest are representing the smaller part of forest resource, and their basic
intention for them is protection and requalification of imperilled areas (fire devastated
areas, surfaces exposed to erosion, the improvement of micro climatic features of the
area).

The forest for special purpose are territorially delimited from the rest of the forest resource, and are by the Physical Plan, predicted inside the coastal area and in area of
national park and nature parks, and their basic purpose is maintaining the ecological
values for and specific (protected) habitats, purpose for recreation, and to elevate the
scenery. The planning of mentioned operations is enabled with special conditions of
forest usage proscribed by the Ministry of forestry and agriculture.
The other purposes are exploitation of sea raw material, various underwater activities and other, under conditions determined by special list.
By this plan, it is enabled that in specially explored and justified locations, and on the rank of
urban planning of cities and municipalities, can, in a underwater zone of inner sea zone and
recreational zone of coastal part of the sea, the artificial habitats can be planned, on account
of expansion of potential habitats specially valuable benthic entities, and as for reduction of
destruction impact of the sea on arranged beaches.
Preserving biodiversity at sea and along the coast
In Croatia, the protection of biodiversity is harmonised with the EU legislation, by the:

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD);

The Strategy and Action Plan for the Protection of Biological and Landscape Diversity;

Nature protection Act;

Regulation on Protection of Wild Taxa;

Regulation on Proclamation of the Ecological Network.
The Strategy and Action Plan for the Protection of Biological and Landscape Diversity (OG
143/08) of the Republic of Croatia is the fundamental document for nature protection, laying
pag. 149/216
down long-term objectives and guidelines for the conservation of biological and landscape diversity and protected natural values, and methods for implementation thereof, in accordance
with the overall economic, social and cultural development of the Republic of Croatia.
Within the meaning of the Nature Protection Act (OG 70/05, 139/08,57/11), nature is the overall biological and landscape diversity. Nature and natural assets are of interest for the Republic of Croatia and are beneficiaries of its special protection.
Croatian Red List of Threatened Species in the Republic of Croatia includes within the analysed groups (vertebrates, butterflies, dragon-flies, cave fauna, vascular plants and fungi) 1
131 threatened taxa. All these taxa are strictly protected by the Regulation on Protection of
Wild Taxa enacted in January 2006. The freshwater fish is considered to be the most and the
vascular plants the least endangered taxonomic group.
According to the Nature Protection Act, strictly protected species comprise 809 plant taxa (including 37 species listed on Annex II of the Habitat Directive) and protected species include
331 taxa.
In 2007, the State Institute for Nature Protection developed the expert base proposal for the
Regulation on the proclamation of the ecological network (Regulation on Proclamation of the
Ecological Network, OG 109/07) that was adopted in October 2007. Pursuant to the NATURA
2000 network of the European Union, the area of the ecological network in Croatia is divided
into internationally important areas for birds and areas important for other wild taxa and habitat
types. For each area, the conservation objectives are outlined, i.e. a list of species and habitat
types given for which the areas was included in the ecological network and for which the impact of any interventions in the area must be considered during any acceptability assessments
of plans, programmes and interventions for the ecological network. Furthermore, guidelines for
protection measures are given for each area of the ecological network and apply to all natural
and legal persons using natural assets, or carrying out works and interventions in the areas of
the ecological network. Croatia's National Ecological Network covers 47% of the terrestrial
land area and 39% of the marine territory, in addition to two corridors: the sea turtle corridor
and the Palagruža-Lastovo-Pelješac corridor (important for bird migrations).
The Regulation on Proclamation of the Ecological network proclaims the ecological network of
the Republic of Croatia with the system of ecologically important areas and ecological corridors with conservation objectives and guidelines for protection measures which are aimed at
maintaining or establishing a favourable status of threatened and rare habitat types and/or wild
taxa.
The Croatian National Habitat Classification defines the following main habitat classes, with
each divided into four levels of habitat types:

Inland surface water and wetland habitats;

Inland un-vegetated and sparsely vegetated habitats;

Grassland, bogs, fens and tall forb habitats;

Scrub habitats;

Forest habitats;

Coastal habitats;

Marine habitats;
pag. 150/216

Undergrounds habitats;

Cultivated non-forested land and habitats with weeds and ruderal vegetation;

Constructed and industrial habitats;

Habitat complexes.
The Region of Istria
The delimitation of protected natural heritage areas done by according an expert base proposal drawn up by the National Institute for Nature Protection which shall establish the assets
of the area to be protected, the method of administering the area, as well as on a statement
drawn up by the body passing the act of designation concerning the funds granted for managing the protected area.
Protected areas are: strict nature reserve, national park, special nature reserve, nature park,
regional park, nature monument, important landscape, forest park, park landscaping monument.
Landscapes
The Republic of Croatia is a signatory to the European Landscape Convention (Florence,
2000), which entered into force on 1 March 2004. Under the Convention, Croatia undertook
the obligation of implementing landscape conservation through landscape protection, management and planning instruments. One of the main activities towards achievement of this
goal is development of the Landscape Basis of Croatia, which will identify the characteristics
and state of landscape, establish their specific properties and carry out their classification.
Strategic objectives are:

Ensure landscape conservation through landscape protection;

Management and planning instruments that are based on identification and the state
of landscape characteristics and on the completed process of landscape inventorying
and classification.
The Landscape Basis of Croatia is not adopted.
The Nature Protection Act regulates landscape planning in the State. Pursuant to Article 16,
paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Nature Protection Act, an important landscape is a natural or cultivated tract of land distinguished by major landscape value and biological diversity or culturalhistorical value, or a landscape distinguished by unique conserved features characteristic of a
particular area designated for relaxation and recreation or a particularly valuable landscape
established pursuant to this Act. Projects and acts impairing the features for which the important landscape was designated as such shall not be permitted.
At the State level, the State Institute for Nature Protection, among its other specific roles, proposes the plans for protected natural areas and National Strategies for improving the management and protection of the landscape.
pag. 151/216
The Region of Istria
Physical Plan Region of Istria defines the general structure of development and the relationships with bordering regions. It defines the regulations for local planning and guidelines for the
valorisation and protection of the landscape (in both written and graphic documentation), defining the management structure within protected natural areas. The Physical Plan identifies
the values of the landscape and introduces the monitoring system for the control of natural areas and for the forecasting of risks that may compromise natural qualities. According to Article 10. of Physical Plan Region of Istria the delimitation of areas of special value-landscapes
is determined by this plan on graphical map no. 3.3. of that plan, and more specifically is determined by area plans of development of cities and municipalities. The Istria important landscape, according to article 16 of the Nature Protection Act, is presented in graphical map no.
3.1. of the Physical Plan. The "Natura Histrica“ is the competent regional public entity for administering important landscape.
Landscape Basis of the region of Istria elaborated. It is take in account the coastal landscape
and historical and cultural aspects of the region.
Cultural Heritage
Croatia has an established system of measures for the protection of cultural heritage.
List of protected marine areas in the Republic of Croatia are based on the Act on the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage (OG 69/99, 151/03, 157/03, 87/09, 88/10, 61/11,
25/12). In situ conservation of the cultural heritage prescribed by the Cultural Heritage Register and the Act on the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage Underwater archaeological localities in line with the Cultural Heritage Registry have the priority in terms of implementation of the Contingency Plan for Accidental Marine Pollution. The list of underwater archaeological localities in line with the Cultural Heritage Registry is kept at the Headquarters'
command and published on the webpage of the central state administrative body competent
for the sea, and it is updated annually.
The Region of Istria
According to Physical Plan Region of Istria (Article 9) the delimitation of protected cultural heritage areas done by determining the border in procedure of issuing the resolve of determining
the characteristics of, on which it can be determined the smaller and the wider area of protection with different measures of protection of cultural heritage. The areas and locations anticipated by this plan of protection of cultural heritage refers to: the urban entity, semi urban entity, rural entities, archaeological and hydro archaeological areas, ethnographical zones and
memorial areas and individual structures and complex of sacral, civil and fortification character. Besides the areas quoted here, by the plan it is determined areas for research and potential protection of entities or parts of agricultural landscapes of special importance for state and
county. 20 archaeological isolated underwater sites existing in the Region of Istria.
Water protection
The Decision on the List of Waters of the First Order (OG 79/10) establishes the List of waters
of the 1st order, which includes interstate waters, coastal waters, other major waters and canals, and torrential waters of significant power. Interstate waters are all the waters defined by
pag. 152/216
Article 3 paragraph 1 item 40 of the Water Act, the area of whose basin exceeds 50 km2 or
the length of whose watercourse exceeds 20 km, shall be classified as interstate waters. Watercourse in Istria County is Dragonja river. Coastal waters are all waters defined by article 3
paragraph 1 item 65 of the Water Act shall be classified as coastal waters. Other major waters
and canals, are a body of water whose basin exceeds 200 km2 or whose length exceeds 20
km shall be classified as watercourse. In Istria County there are Mirna and Raša rivers. Canals
are all artificial water bodies of higher significance for flood control and irrigation shall be classified as canals. In Istria County there are peripheral canals (encircling 2 and 3) of Čepić polje,
peripheral canals no2 Donja Raša, peripheral canals no5 Donja Raša, Srednja Mirna peripheral canal, Butoniga relief canal. All waters of greater significance for irrigation of large karst
shall be classified as sinking rivers. In Istria County there is Pazinski potok. Water bodies of
larger significance for flood control and irrigation or whose volume exceeds 500 000 m3 shall
be classified as reservoirs and retentions. In Istria County there is Butoniga reservoir and
Čepić retention.
Within the Adriatic river basin district, all the areas designated as eutrophic, areas serving for
abstraction of water intended for human consumption and areas of protected nature shall constitute a sensitive area (Decision on the designation of sensitive areas, OG 81/10). The map of
the areas of this Decision is set out in the Annex which forms an integral part of this Decision,
in the scale 1:25 000, with its original copy kept in Croatian Waters, and shall be delivered upon request and free of charge to state administration bodies, bodies of local and regional selfgovernment units and legal persons vested with public authority.
The Regulation on Quality Standards for Water (OG 89/10) stipulates water quality standards
for surface waters including coastal waters and territorial sea waters, and for groundwater. According to article 11, the status of surface waters shall be established by means of assessment of the ecological status and the chemical status of water bodies. The ecological status of
surface waters shall be established on the basis of biological, hydromorphological, chemical
and physiochemical elements supporting the biological elements, whereas the chemical status
of surface waters shall be established with respect to the priority and other pollutants as follows: Coastal waters (a) ecological status - biological elements, composition, abundance and
biomass of phytoplankton, composition and abundance of other aquatic flora, composition and
abundance of benthic invertebrate fauna, hydromorphological elements, morphological conditions: depth variation, structure and substrate of the coastal bed, structure of the intertidal
zone; tidal regime: direction of dominant currents, wave exposure, chemical and physiochemical elements supporting the biological elements, transparency , thermal conditions, oxygen
balance, salinity, nutrients ; b) chemical status: chemical status in relation to priority substances, pollution by priority substances discharged into the body of water, chemical status with respect to pollutants, pollution by other substances discharged in significant quantities into the
body of water). Elements applicable to artificial and heavily modified water bodies shall be
those applicable to whichever of the natural surface water bodies most closely resembles the
heavily modified or artificial water body concerned.
The Region of Istria
According to Physical Plans Region of Istria (article 128), next measures should be implemented in sphere of wholesome protection of water source zones, zones of drainage, and
running waters. In the period of 2002 to 2010, and in accordance with the law of waters, it is
necessary to improve the quality of all surface running waters of state and local significance,
or their parts, to the level which is proscribed by the Government plan for water protection, and
pag. 153/216
in non-existence of County plan, even for local running waters, in accordance with this plan.
Based on a map of jeopardized water sources and wells (those that are been used and
planned ones), to start making requalification programs for all subject in II. water protection
zone. The vulnerability map of subterraneous waters will be made in accordance with
UNESCO/International Association of Hydro geologist's recommendations. For the evaluation
of vulnerability the next parameters will be analysed: the porosity of the boulder, the thickness
of the surface cover, the urbanization of the space and agricultural function. This methodological approach should be applied on all area of Istria, especially in the area of influx, which lies
on rocky surfaces, 2010 at the most.
The delimitation of the waterworks in reference on measures of protection anticipated by this
plan is conducted on basis of categorization of waterworks on II category, and I in accordance
of article 129 of ordinance.
The water surfaces are divided according to usage:

sea (traffic, economic fishing on open sea, economic fishing along the coast, mariculture, recreation);

the water current;

accumulations.
The delimitation of water surfaces is conducted in accordance with delimitation of usage of area of belonging coast. The water surfaces are marked in graphical chart 1. (“Usage and function of space“).
The purpose and ways of usage of water surfaces is related to water (sea), water (sea) volume and on bottom of the rivers. Seas that is.
In accordance with the regulations from the Waters Act (OG no. 153/09, 130/11) a systematic
monitoring of the quality of waters is the subject of the programmes in the domain of Croatian
Waters (“Hrvatske Vode“). Results of monitoring the quality of waters enable the adoption of
basic planning premises for water management at the level of the Republic of Croatia and the
Istria Region. Monitoring the quality of surface water flows - Dragonja, Mirna, Raša, Boljunčica
and Pazinčica has been systematically carried out since 1980, while the Butoniga accumulation has been monitored since 1990. Complex hydro-geological relations, primarily conditioned
by numerous specific features of water flows in the Karst underground left numerous open
questions both regarding the inflow area and the underground waters supply, which also
means the question of the possibility of increasing pumping quantities in the intervention location and the protection of sources. Monitoring the quality of source waters and wells included
in the water supply or else potentially used for the water supply has been carried out since
1983. With the aim of obtaining as representative as possible indicators of the quality of waters at the sources and the wells, the Istria Region has financed the programme of monitoring
which has supplemented the programme of Hrvatske Vode since 1997. The programme is carried out by the Institute for Public health of the Istria Region. The results of the analysis are
statistically elaborated and once a year submitted for the acceptance in the form of report. The
Government of the Istria Region examines the report and adopts the Conclusion.
pag. 154/216
Professional Fishing and Aquaculture at the sea
The fishing zones are divided as outer sea zone (more than 2 km from the shore) which is intended for all kinds of fishing in the frame of accordance with rules of sea fishing, and inner
sea zone (distance from the shore is inside 2 km) which is intended for economy fishing with
selected techniques of fishing, and as for sports fishing. In 2002 the Agriculture and Fishing
Programme was passed in the Croatian Sabor (Parliament, i.e. the Hrvatski Sabor), through
which they propose to direct the fishing effort towards the open waters and towards small pelagic species (anchovies, sardines, and sprats). Legal framework governing fisheries in the
Republic of Croatia includes 3 laws – Marine Fisheries Act (OG 56/10, 127/10, 55/11), Freshwater Fisheries Act (OG 106/01, 7/03, 174/04, 10/05 i 49/05-consolidated text) and Act on
structural support and market organization in fisheries (OG 153/09, 127/10). On the basis of
these three Acts, a wide range of implementing regulation has been adopted, which further
regulate specific issues. In the sector of marine fisheries, the most important implementing
regulations are governing technical measures, measures directed towards protection of resources through minimum catch and landing sizes as well as designation of specially protected areas or fisheries protected areas, determination of technical characteristics of fishing
gears, manner of keeping and submission of fisheries-related data and manner of issuance of
fishing licenses. Specific ordinances govern sport and recreational fisheries at sea, as well as
subsistence and small coastal fisheries. Another important segment relates to marine aquaculture, where ordinances determine the way farming incenses are issued as well as other detailed rules governing marine aquaculture activities. In the sector of freshwater fisheries, the
ordinances govern commercial fisheries (catch quotas, manner of issuance of licenses, fishing
areas), sport and recreational fisheries (fishing rights and management of resources within the
management areas awarded to right holders) and freshwater farming activities.
The Region of Istria
The waters adjoining the Istria Peninsula have always been known as good fishing areas.
They represent most of the reproduction area of most fish species commercially interesting for
fishery in the Northern Adriatic Sea. The typical fishing concerns soles, curled octopuses, mullets, scallops (in the area of Novigrad). Mariculture is principally present in the Canal of Lemme and Budava bay, with installations of mussel farming, oyster farming and fish mariculture.
The mentioned sector of the Istria region has reached a production equal to one third of the
National fished product. In the very sensitive areas where the sea is of high quality (the sea of
I categories), and is intended or it is used for mariculture, to restrict or to forbid the activities
and the building close to shore and on the sea which are not intended for that activity. The
mariculture is to be coordinated with receipting capacity of water body, based on researches
conducted. The breeding of fish and shells (mariculture) can be conducted in suitable areas,
determined by the Physical Plan Region of Istria, and the breeding of fish on the open sea and
research of experimental production can be conducted on suitable and other, unpolluted locations of the inner zone.
Harbours, maritime transport and nautical ports
In the Republic of Croatia there are 333 ports open to public traffic, 6 of which are of national
significance, whereas the others 297 ports have county and local importance.
According to the Maritime demesne and seaports Act (OG 158/03, 141/06) maritime demesne
is a public asset of interest for the Republic of Croatia, enjoying its particular protection. A part
pag. 155/216
of land shall be considered to be seashore, ports and harbours, embankments, sand-shelves,
rocks, reefs, beaches, estuaries, canals linked with the sea as well as live and non-living natural resources in the sea and maritime subsoil.
Transport and Development has created the Pre- Accession Maritime Transport Strategy
(June 2005.). It is the result of the comparative analysis of the Croatian legislative, institutional
and economic system in the maritime sector with the corresponding systems valid in the European Union, which presents a unique programme of the implementation of the goals and objective set forth. Although regular and safe connections from the 49 inhabited Croatian islands
to the mainland is an important issue for enabling sustainable growth in that part of Croatia, it
is not just a question of economic development, but also of protecting the fundamental human
rights of the island inhabitants. Strategy covers issues concerning maritime affairs that have
been placed, in accordance with the Croatian legislation, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry
of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development. However, its successful implementation entails dialogue with the market and institutions which are directly or indirectly tied to maritime
affairs. In order to ensure precisely this type of dialogue and coordinated strategic approach in
all segments of the economy influencing maritime affairs on one hand, or which are influenced
by maritime affairs on the other, the Ministry will, in accordance with the practices and experience of other European states, form a specific Maritime Cluster as a forum for the debate and
harmonisation of the entire sector. This Strategy derives from the Transport Development
Strategy of the Republic of Croatia, 1999. It is based on the maritime transport sector gap
analysis relative to the EU legal and economic inheritance and takes into account the European Commission Opinion of Croatia's Application for Membership of the European Union in the
field of Maritime transport (COM (2004) 257 final) as well as the Council Decision on the principles, priorities and conditions contained in the European Partnership with Croatia (COM
(2004) 275 final).
The Nautical tourism development Strategy of the Republic of Croatia 2009-2019 (December,
2009 and “Criteria for Planning Tourism zones in the Coastal Area of the Republic of Croatia”
(Ministry of Environmental Protection and Spatial Planning, June 2009.) contains a vision and
strategic goals of further development of nautical tourism in accordance with the principles of
sustainable development, as well as the Action Plan for the Strategy implementation which
elaborates measures, activities, carriers and deadlines of the Strategy implementation for the
period 2009 - 2019.

In physical plans of counties requirements have to be separately determined for planning and use of space for berths in nautical tourism ports and “sports ports”, and particularly in ports in which within the port local waters the location of two or more types
of berths is planned;

for each planned location of nautical tourism ports in physical plans for the development of towns and municipalities an adequate building area needs to be foreseen for
the necessary facilities on land and for infrastructure at sea;

for all new marinas (regardless of their size and type of project) the impact on changes and requirements of landscape protection has to be presented in the plan;

in physical plans for the development of towns or municipalities the requirements for
the use of vessel storage and “dry marinas” needs to be determined through description and plan representation. Vessel storage can be used in certain time period for
temporary storage of vessels on the dry. In physical plans of counties requirements for
pag. 156/216
vessel storage in the coastal belt and outside the coastal belt have to be separately
described;

“dry marinas” are service and storage for which the following standards are recommended:
a) the free area in the part on land has to fulfil the needs for storage of a certain
number of vessels;
b) dry marinas may include a smaller shipyard for the construction, repair and service of vessels;
c) dry marinas have to be connected with the surrounding area by a road of adequate width which shall enable safe vessel transport.
The Region of Istria
The delimitation of the sea is conducted by determining the usage for (Article 29):

Traffic function;

Fishing;

Mariculture;

Recreational;

Other activities.
The sea zones indented for traffic activity is divided on seafaring routes, harbours, harbour
basins and anchorages.
The recreational zones include the parts of marine area close to shore and they are intended
for swimming and water sports. On that parts of the coast, the zone for swimming and sports
is minimally 300 meters in width, and in urban plan documents for city and municipality that
zone can be augmented, but in a way that it does not interfere with seafaring routes on inner
and international routes.
Due to stoppage of the pollution caused by the sea traffic and harbour activities, the next
measures of protection should be conducted:

to obtain the equipment for prevention of the spreading and for cleaning the pollution
(cleaning ship, floating protection damns, skimmers, pumps, reservoirs, specialized
vehicles, dispersant) inside own facilities or by the way of specialized enterprises;

in the harbours to secure the acceptance of oiled waters and used oiled;

in the marines and local harbours to install the equipment for acceptance and treatment of sanitary waters from the boats, containers for disposal of communal waste,
used oil, remnants of fuels, and oily waters;

to determine the way of maintenance of the vessels on the sea and on the land (article
134).
Security and defence
The Ministry of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development considers that safety of navigation and pollution prevention is the most important aspects of its responsibility for maritime
pag. 157/216
sector. Wishing to successfully prevent any terrorist act against security of ships, persons or
port facilities, the IMO ISPS Code, 2002., has been implemented in the Republic of Croatia in
due time and fully in accordance with international standards. A significant field in maritime
safety and environmental protection issues are relating to yachts and boats, mainly from the
EU countries (more than 60,000 per annum) and sailing within the Croatian internal sea waters and territorial sea. The Ministry makes significant efforts to ensure safety of all persons
aboard these craft. Taking into account the present status as well as the foreseeable overall
development of the Republic of Croatia and the neighbouring countries, the Ministry sets the
following as the basic goals in the area of the maritime safety, security and environmental protection:

Increase of the general level of safety on board Croatian-flagged ships and their inclusion in the White list of the Paris MOU;

Recognition of the Croatian Register of Shipping in accordance with Directive 94/57
as amended;

Introduction of the Vessel Traffic Monitoring and Information System (CVTMIS);

Protection and maintenance of clean waters in the Adriatic Sea;

Improvement of the maritime education and training system of seafarers;

Continuous improvement of standards of living and work on board ships;

Increase the level of environmental protection in ports, in accordance with the highest
practical standards;

Strengthening of administrative capabilities and operational effectiveness, particularly
in respect of pollution prevention, pollution response and search and rescue operations.
The Contingency Plan for Accidental Marine Pollution (OG 92/08) is a sustainable development and environmental protection document which establishes the procedures and measures
for predicting, preventing, restricting and preparedness for as well as response to accidental
marine pollution and unusual natural marine phenomenon for the purpose of protecting the
marine environment. The Contingency Plan is harmonised with international treaties governing
the area of marine environment protection to which the Republic of Croatia is a party. The
Contingency Plan is implemented in case of accidental marine pollution caused by oil and/or
oil mixture if the amount of pollution exceeds 2000 m3 , hazardous and noxious substances,
and in case of unusual natural marine phenomenon. A county contingency plan in case of accidental marine pollution, which is adopted by a county representative body, subject to prior
approval of the central state administrative body in charge of environmental protection, shall
be implemented in case of pollution caused by oil and/or oil mixtures if the amount of pollution
does not exceed 2000 m3 or sudden natural phenomena at sea of minor size and intensity.
The Contingency Plan does not apply in case of radioactive pollution. The Contingency Plan
shall be implemented in marine areas, on seabed and marine subsoil of the Republic of Croatia which include the maritime domain, internal sea waters, territorial sea and the Protected
Ecological and Fishery Zone ( ZERP).
The Region of Istria
The County Operational Centre is the body responsible for the implementation of procedures
and measures for predicting, preventing, restricting, achieving preparedness for and response
pag. 158/216
to accidental pollution according to the county contingency plan as well as for operational participation in the implementation of the Contingency Plan and Sub-regional Plan.
The scope and geographical coverage of the county contingency plan matches the county
borders.
Article 137 of the Physical Plan Region of Istria described the measures of special protection.
There are: the criteria for applying the measures of protection of the people, natural and material values are based on geographical specifics, demographical specifics, achieved level of
economic development, infrastructure and all public activities, as for constant evaluation of risk
of natural disaster for people and areas, technical-technological and ecological disaster and
wounds due to eventual war suffering.
State property and Bathing
The Croatian legislation defines the "maritime domain" as public property, which extends to
one part of the state territory on the mainland, to the inner sea water and territorial sea, as well
as to the corresponding seabed and subsoil, and has specific legal, functional and economic
characteristics.
The management of the maritime domain and its adequate protection, maintenance and economic exploitation can be secured only by a comprehensive application of regulations concerning maritime domain and ports, and regulations in the area of development, urban planning, construction, environmental protection, mining, tourism, marine fishing, nature protection
and protection of cultural monuments, as well as through an efficient inspection and administrative supervision. It is necessary to have a comprehensive approach to the planning and
management of the coastal area, while respecting the specifics of maritime domain as a public
good. The maritime domain, belongs to all people and is therefore of special interest to the
Republic of Croatia. According to the Maritime demesne and seaports Act (OG 158/03,
141/06) the use of maritime demesne may be a general or special one. General use of maritime demesne shall mean that anyone has the right to use maritime demesne pursuant to its
nature and purpose. Special use of maritime demesne shall be any use that is not a general
one nor is a commercial exploitation of maritime demesne. Commercial exploitation of maritime demesne shall be the use of maritime demesne for carrying out commercial activities, involving or not the use of existing installations and other facilities on maritime demesne and
with or without constructing new installations and any other facilities on maritime demesne.
According to the Maritime demesne and seaports Act neither ownership nor any other property
right may be acquired on maritime demesne on any grounds. Maritime demesne consists of
internal sea waters and territorial sea, their seabed and subsoil, and a part of land that is by its
nature intended for general use or has been proclaimed as such as well as anything that is
permanently attached to such part of a land on the surface and underneath it. The seashore
extends from the seaward middle-water line and embraces the belt of land delimited by the
line reached by the highest waves in storms as well as the part of the land that by its nature or
purpose serves for exploiting the sea for seaborne trade and sea fishing as well as for other
purposes related to exploitation of the sea and the width of which is no less than 6 m measuring from the line in horizontal distance from the seaward middle-water line. The seashore also
encompasses a part of land derived from strewing, in the part which serves for exploiting the
sea. National Hydrographic Institute shall establish the seaward middle-water line.
pag. 159/216
The Regulation on sea bathing water quality (OG 73/08) sets out standards for bathing water
quality on sea beaches, establishing limit values for microbiological parameters and other
characteristics of the sea. A sea beach is a developed or natural beach defined under a special regulation. Monitoring of bating water quality at sea beaches shall be carried out from 15
May until 30 September. Before the beginning of each bathing season, the representative
body of the county shall issue a decision establishing the sea beaches on which bathing water
quality monitoring shall be performed, the preparation of a cartographic representation of the
sea beach and the development of the bathing water profile. The Croatian Environment Agency shall deliver the report on annual assessment of beaches on the Croatian Adriatic and the
report on final assessment of beaches on the Croatian Adriatic to the European Commission,
in accordance with Directive 2006/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15
February 2006 concerning the management of bathing water quality and repealing Directive
76/160/EEC.
The Region of Istria
Results of an active protection are aimed towards, along with the above stated, a possibility of
quick and timely interventions in cases of exceeded standard values of indicators of pollution
adopted and defined in laws and performance acts in the domain of environmental protection.
There has been a systematic monitoring of the quality of the air, the waters, and the sea in the
area of the Istria Region since the early 1980s. The Istria Region has been an active participant in the co-financing of the monitoring programme since 1996. Region Government once a
year examines the described issues and it adopts the Conclusion on the Sea Quality on the
Beaches.
Islands
The Croatian islands include almost all islands on the east coast and the central area of the
Adriatic, making the second largest archipelago in the Mediterranean. There are 1.246 of
them, geographically divided into 79 islands, 525 islets, 642 rocks and reefs. The island Mali
Lošinj has 8.116 inhabitants and is the only island settlement with more than 5.000 inhabitants. Ecosystems of the Croatian islands, their endemic plant and animal species and geological forms are extremely valuable. Thus, the list of the officially protected natural heritage is
extremely long, given the relatively small total island area. Of the 7 Croatian national parks 3
are on the islands including the adjacent sea (Brijuni, Mljet, Kornati), and there is the Telašćica
park of nature on the island of Dugi otok.
Islands are viewed as Croatia's national wealth together with all of their fixed assets having
special national, historic, economic and ecological importance and as such are of interest to
the Republic of Croatia and enjoy its special protection. The Islands Act (34/99, 149/99, 32/02,
33/06) is based upon the principles of the National Islands Development Programme (February 1997) and it provides for the management of island development at national, county and
town / municipality levels.
In view of the demographics and economic development, islands are divided into two groups
according to the Islands Act (Article 2):

The first group includes undeveloped and insufficiently developed populated or periodically populated islands as follows: Unije, Susak, Srakane Vele, Srakane Male, Ilovik,
Maun, Prvić (Kvarner Bay Islands), Goli, Sv. Grgur, Premuda, Silba, Olib, Škarda, Ist,
pag. 160/216
Molat, Dugi otok, Zverinac, Sestrunj, Rivanj, Rava, Iž, Ošljak, Babac, Vrgada, Prvić
(Šibenik Islands), Zlarin, Kaprije, Žirje, Veli and Mali Drvenik, Šćedro, Vis, Biševo, Sv.
Andrija, Lastovo, Sušac, Vrnik, Mljet, Šipan, Lopud, Koločep, Lokrum, Kornati and islands of Žut and Sit group.

The second group includes all populated islands (48) that have not been included in
the first group and also Pelješac Peninsula.
Under this Act programmes of sustainable island and/or island group development are drawn
up for islands and island groups comprising single regional and economic entities. Sustainable
island development programmes list and asses total natural and built resources of islands or
island groups, paying special attention to unutilised farmland and buildings and determining
the manner of their preservation i.e. overall and sustainable utilisation pursuant to the National
Programme's principles and guidelines. Investment proposals pertaining to island economy
providing for natural and built resources to be used in line with the National Programme's principles and guidelines are attached to the programme of sustainable island development together with the documentation required for lease of unused farmland. Economic investment
proposals shall contain provisions about the type, volume, location and production life of
goods and/or provision of services including the description of technology to be used. Programmes of sustainable island development and state programmes referred to in article 27 of
this Act are particularly considered during the development of physical plans adopted for regions of coast-island counties, island and coast-island towns and municipalities. Programme
of sustainable island development represents a compulsory developmental programme of all
coast-island counties, island and coast-island towns and municipalities. Content and methodology for the drawing of the programme of sustainable island development is prescribed by the
Government of the Republic of Croatia upon recommendation of the Ministry and with previously obtained opinions of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Physical Planning,
Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Trades, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Ministry of the
Economy, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and
Communications and Croatian Water Board (Hrvatske vode), respectively.
The main medium-term goals of the island economy (National Island Development Programme) development are for the economic structure and households to be as versatile as
possible. Economic conditions for the achievement of these goals should, among other things,
be created by a series of co-ordinated measures of fiscal policy. These measures should aim
at encouraging small and medium investors in activities which ensure a sustainable island development, the users of sustainable technologies and households who want to enlarge the
number of their activities. Special encouragement should be offered to households engaging
in both tourism and agriculture. Activities which should be encouraged on all Croatian islands
through fiscal measures are:

environmentally friendly agricultural production on the existing and new plantations, in
the open air and in enclosed facilities (cultivation of olives, viniculture, Mediterranean
fruit growing, cultivation of carob, citrus fruits and medicinal and aromatic herbs, vegetables and flowers;

small-scale and semi-intensive sheep and goat-breeding;

bee-keeping;

processing of agricultural products protected by geographical indication (sheep and
goat-milk cheese, honey and other apicultural products, "well-known" and other quality
pag. 161/216
wines, olive canning, production of pure and extra pure olive oil, pharmaceutical and
cosmetic semi-products and products);

cultivation of shellfish, fish and other sea animals;

coral diving;

sponge diving;

stone quarries;

stone-cutting;

manufacture of sails;

manufacture of fishing tools;

pottery;

production of island souvenirs;

small-scale tourism in the existing renewed and adapted facilities;

small ship-building;

private shipping by sea, road and air;

private health services and;

private schools.
An integral planning of sustainable development of islands will be achieved by amending the
existing planning system. Besides the usual physical planning documents, programmes for full
and sustainable exploitation of island resources will be devised. On the level of feasibility studies they will also contain alternative investment proposals. In this way these programmes will
help the island local self-government to attract investors in the sustainable island development. The Islands Act will provide for the obligation to bring island physical plans in line with
the programmes of full and sustainable exploitation of island resources.
Programmes of full and sustainable exploitation of island resources will be made for each island and group of islands which makes a geographic and economic unit. The programmes will
contain:
1. demographic analysis, employment and assessment of available work force;
2. analysis of present exploitation of natural and man-made resources;
3. state of infrastructure and superstructure;
4. state of natural and cultural heritage;
5. evaluation of the present state of development;
6. criteria for the protection of heritage and a full and sustainable exploitation;
7. external limitations;
8. list and accessibility of arable plots of land and island pastures which have not been
cultivated or used for pasture for five (5) years or the owner of which is unknown or
inaccessible;
pag. 162/216
9. list and condition of buildings which have not been used for twenty (20) years and the
owner of which is unknown or inaccessible;
10. agricultural and economic plan with the principles of agricultural development;
11. principles of the development of tourism;
12. principles of fishing development;
13. principles of the development of other activities;
14. principles of the development of education, health care and cultural activities;
15. plan of necessary infrastructure;
16. plan of a network of field and other lanes used in agriculture;
17. possible varieties of full and sustainable exploitation of island resources;
18. necessary investments for each possible variety;
19. promotion of the Programme.
Regional plans of strategic nature are a part of the modern methodology of physical planning,
especially when they relate to sensitive areas in terms of development and to areas with special features and values. Since the territory and sea of the Croatian islands belong to the
above areas according to all criteria, a special document, Plan of Special Feature Areas, will
be worked out for them. This Plan will be in line with the National Physical Planning Strategy
and Programme and will be a part of the Integral Management Plan for the Croatian Coastal
Areas. By following the principle of integral planning and sustainable development, the Plan
will in the best possible way resolve important spatial conflicts between the elements of infrastructure systems which relate to the exploitation, zoning or protection of the island environment beyond the borders of local self-government and administration units. The Plan will be
developed according to a defined content and method and will also contain an environmental
policy consideration. All competent authorities dealing with the development of the Croatian
Adriatic Sea will take part in the development of the Plan. The results of and guidelines for
physical planning contained in this Plan will be binding and will serve as guidelines for physical
plans of the Adriatic counties. The Plan will also be the basis of other documents of more detailed physical planning and the documents to attract investments.
The Region of Istria
For islands within an island group, programmes of sustainable island development are drawn
for each island individually and as part of the group. Individual island programmes may be
adopted separately based on the decision of a representative body of a local self-government
unit.
Mining, dumping and extractive activities
Economic use of natural resources-extraction of minerals stone is regulated by the Physical
Spatial Plans of the Region. For economic use of natural resources it is also necessary to obtain a concession.
pag. 163/216
3.3.4
Other managing tools and international projects
The Ruđer Bošković Institute is regarded as Croatia’s leading scientific institute in the natural
and biomedical sciences as well as marine and environmental research. Since the Ruđer
Bošković Institute was founded in 1950, it has continuously operated with the task of conducting fundamental research in the natural and biomedical sciences. Over 550 scientists and researchers in more than 80 laboratories pursuing research in theoretical and experimental
physics, physics and materials chemistry, electronics, physical chemistry, organic chemistry
and biochemistry, molecular biology and medicine, the sea and the environment, informational
and computer sciences, laser and nuclear research and development. The Center for Marine
Research (CMR) of the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb is an interdisciplinary centre,
whose activities are focused upon basic and applied oceanographic research, including the
following areas: processes and dynamics within and between trophic levels (primary and secondary production, cycle of basic and biogenic elements); investigation of water mass dynamics; flora, fauna and animal communities (taxonomy, ecology and organism communities in
natural and polluted areas); ecological, physiological and genetic research on marine organisms and the impacts of pollution; monitoring of pollution and marine water quality; investigation of eutrophication.
Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries from Split was founded in 1930 as the first national
scientific and research institution dealing with research of the sea. Since the founding scientific
activity of the Institute is extremely multidisciplinary, since it covers almost all fields of research. The Institute carries out a very complex research in the fields of biological, chemical
and physical oceanography, sedimentology, and fisheries biology and aquaculture.
The basic direction in the work of the Institute is represented by fundamental scientific research, which is mostly conducted through projects of continuing research activities funded by
the Croatian Ministry of Education and Sports. The aim of this research is extending the
knowledge of the structure of different plant and animal populations in the Adriatic Sea, as well
as their relation to various abiotic and biotic factors important for the balance of the Adriatic
ecosystem, and the definition of coast-open sea interdependence, in order to recognize possible changes resulting from climatic and anthropogenic factors. The basic mechanisms of action of population dynamics, biology and ecology of marine organisms are also under research, especially the most economical fish species and edible invertebrates (crustaceans and
cephalopods), in order to determine the biologically acceptable level of their exploitation.
The activities of the Institute for Marine and Coastal Research-Dubrovnik are basic and concern the research of natural features in the Adriatic Sea and its coastline, particularly research
into the structure and processes of ecosystems. The Institute also develops other activities,
such as: monitoring living marine and land resources, monitoring sea quality, experimental
rearing of plant and animal species with the aim of acquiring fundamental knowledge and
studying the various stages of natural processes, maintenance and popularization of aquarium, maintenance and popularization of the Botanical Garden on the Lokrum island, formation
of scientific and expert collections, as well as the organization of courses and lectures.
All Institutes are included from 1998. in project “Adriatic” - Systematic Research of the Adriatic
Sea as a Base for Sustainable Development of the Republic of Croatia.
pag. 164/216
Croatian Environmental Agency (CEA) has collaboration with other international institutions
such as:

ETC–Land Use and Spatial Information (ETC-LUSI, Spain);

EEA (European Environment Agency);

JRC (Joint Research centre, Italy);

UBA (Federal Environment Agency, Germany);

VROM (Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, NL);

InfoMill (The Dutch knowledge centre for environmental legislation and policy);

DCMR (Environmental Protection Agency, NL);

Fondazione Minoprio – Regione Lombardia (Foundation for Professional Training,
Research and Services, Region Lombardia, Italy).
The project “Maritime Safety: Strengthening of Administrative Capacity, Vessel Traffic Monitoring and Management“ (total value of project: € 2.55 million), to be conducted within the
PHARE Programme for pre-accession assistance for the year 2005. The project is designed to
complete the existing AIS system (Automatic Identification of Ships) by the installation and integration of additional 13 radio-communication stations along the Adriatic Coast and fitting
other information and communication equipment amounting to a total of € 1.5 million (of which
€ 1.1 million is funded from the PHARE Programme), as well as to introduce an expert and
technical support in providing IT/statistical and operational solutions for the CVTMIS system,
education and training of the Ministry personnel and design of a system development study
valued at € 1.0 million (to be completely funded from the PHARE Programme).
The implementation of this Project by mid-2008 is to result in the establishment of an organizational and technological system for monitoring all vessels exceeding 300 GT in the internal
sea waters, the territorial sea, and the Protected Ecological and Fishery Zone of the Republic
of Croatia. This is to have a direct impact on the reduction of marine accidents, enhancement
of the efficiency of SAR operations at sea and reduction of pollution of the sea from ships, allowing an exchange of information with the corresponding European Commission bodies.
When installed, the system will also have positive effect on the business operation of the ports
and combined transport.
The Project „Maritime Safety: Strengthening of Administrative Capacity, Vessel Traffic Monitoring and Management -Phase Two“ (total value of project: € 9.00 million) is to be conducted
within the Phare programme’s pre-access assistance for the year 2006 and 2007.
The Project envisages the completion of the Croatian Vessel Traffic Monitoring & Information
System (CVTMIS) including radar, RDF, communication and power supply subsystems, as
well as the shipping forecast subsystem. The implementation of the project by 2010 is to ensure an overall and functional control of vessel traffic.

Extension of competences of the inspectors responsible for the application of ship inspection measures over Croatian-flag and foreign vessels entering into Croatian ports;

Education and training of company security officers;

Education and training of emergency teams to be engaged in case of pollution;
pag. 165/216

Education and training of persons responsible for coordinating search and rescue operations;

Education and training of inspectors authorized to carry out maritime accident investigations;

Adjustment of the harbour masters’ fleet to the requirements arising from the announcement of the Protected Ecological and Fishery Zone and from the obligation to
render assistance within the limits of responsibility of the Croatian Maritime Search
and Rescue Coordination Centre.
Regional Projects
In the framework of the IIIA Interregional Adriatic Cross-border Programme, Axis 2 – Economic integration of the cross-border production systems, Measure 2.1 – Improvement of competitiveness and cooperation, the ADRI.BLU Project - BLU ADRIatic Table for the sustainable
management of the fishing activities and fishing resources of the Adriatic Sea forms part of the
wider context of interregional and transnational cooperation in the fishing sector of the Northern Adriatic Sea linking the Regions of the frontier Countries in the carrying out of the Northern
Adriatic Pilot Plan in agreement with the European Committee, the European Parliament and
the Ministry of Agriculture and Fishing. The partnership was made up of:

Region of Emilia-Romagna, Productive Activities Department;

Regional Fish Economy Service (leader of the project);

Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia – Central Department for Farming, Natural, Forest and Mountain Resources – Fishing and Aquiculture Service;

Region of Veneto, Regional Office of the Primary Sector – Hunting & Fishing Planning
Unit;

Syndacate UNIPROM;

Region of Istria - Regional Council for Agriculture, Forests, Hunting, Fishing and Water;

Coastal-mountain County - Council for Marine, Transports and Communications;

Chamber of Commerce of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

NORFISH – Norwegian/Bosnian Fish Farm;

Municipality of Izola (as observer).
The ADRI.BLU Project (www.altoadriatico.com) has set itself the goal of boosting a cross
border process of sustainable socio-economic development of the fishing sector in the Northern Adriatic Sea subsequent to specific coordination and planning measures which have favoured the qualification of the entrepreneurial initiatives of the Northern Adriatic Sea in a general context of actual increase in the sustainability of fishing activities.
The ADRI.BLU Project outlines thus some lines and realizes concrete operational processes
representing in short a model applicable also in the Mediterranean Sea according to georeferred territorial scopes constituting an institutional reference of governance shared among the
coastal regions and a development system of the fish economy applying the planning of the
respective governs and the EU Directives for the Mediterranean Sea.
pag. 166/216
1. promoting the coordination among the regional institutions of the Northern Adriatic
Sea for an integration and harmonization of the fishing policies at the cross-border
level aiming at creating a framework favourable to the development of the SMEs of
the fishing sector;
2. favouring the organization and coordination of the fishing sector through the realization of specific instruments for the guideline and management of the natural resources
and fishing activities partly based upon the use of information technologies aiming at
favouring an integration among the fishing firms of the area;
3. Promoting and boosting the sustainability of the fishing activities through the realization of infrastructures for a widespread increase of biodiversity in favour of the SMEs
of the Northern Adriatic Sea;
4. Creating new chances of development for the SMEs of the sector through a diversification of the traditional fishing activities consequent to the application of rational policies for the management of the sector;
5. Creating new trading, production and innovation exchange opportunities among the
cross-border SMEs of the fishing sector as a consequence of the meeting actions
among firms;
6. Increasing at the cross-border level the information of the operators of the fishing sector as regards the responsible management of the resources and innovative activities
for the fishing sector.
3.3.5
International agreements
Republic of Croatia is a member of several important regional fisheries management organizations. The most prominent among them are the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) and the International Commission for Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
In addition to these two, Republic of Croatia is also a member of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO UN), European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission) as well as the international organization in fisheries EUROFISH. GFCM and
ICCAT are regional fisheries management organizations that have a mandate to adopt obligatory and binding regulations and recommendations, and the task of their members is to transpose and implement these instruments in national legal framework. Both organizations hold
their annual plenary meetings where the decisions are being adopted. Republic of Croatia has
finalized the accession negotiations with the European Union. The negotiation process involved first and foremost the manner of harmonization of national legal framework with the
provisions of the acquis. In the framework of the negotiations, certain transitional periods for
certain specific elements of Croatian fishery have been granted to Republic of Croatia. In addition, Republic of Croatia has been granted the possibility of higher co-financing rate from the
European Fisheries Fund for some of its outer islands. Common fisheries policy of the EU
comprises a wide range of legal instruments which in general cover five large areas – fleet and
resource management, market organization, structural measures, state aids, inspection and
control and international relationships. The basic regulation of the Common Fisheries Policy is
the Council Regulation (EC) 2371/2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of
fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy. This Regulation is currently being revised, and a new framework shall be presented by the European Commission during the
pag. 167/216
summer of 2011. Based on this Regulation, a range of other instruments has been adopted,
governing different issues. The most important ones are Council Regulation (EC) No 104/2000
on the common organization of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products, Council Regulation (EC) No 1198/2006 on the European Fisheries Fund and the Council Regulation (EC)
No 1224/2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules
of the common fisheries policy. This framework package governs the most important issues. In
addition to these regulations, the most important instrument for Republic of Croatia is the Mediterranean Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No 1967/2006 concerning management
measures for the sustainable exploitation of fishery resources in the Mediterranean Sea) This
regulation governs different technical measures and gear restrictions applicable in the Mediterranean Sea.
The Joint Commission for the protection of the Adriatic Sea and coastal areas established in
1977 under the Agreement on Cooperation for the Protection of the Adriatic Sea and coastal
areas from pollution concluded in 1974 between the former Yugoslavia and Italy to address
environmental issues in the Adriatic region in a multidisciplinary manner. The Republic of Croatia is a party to the Agreement on Co-operation pursuant to the succession of international
agreements, and other member states of the Commission are the Republic of Slovenia, the
Italian Republic and Montenegro. Each state appoints a chairman and members of the Commission. In the Republic of Croatia coordination is carried out by the Ministry of Environmental
Protection and Nature, and the members are representatives of ministries responsible for activities within the Commission: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration; Ministry of
Finance; Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development; Ministry of the Sea,
Transport and Infrastructure; Ministry of Culture; Ministry of Science, Education and Sports;
Ministry of Regional Development, Forestry and Water Management. Experts whose work
concerns issues of protection of the Adriatic also participate in the work of the Joint Commission. The Commission considers all issues relating to pollution of the Adriatic Sea waters and
coastal areas, makes proposals and recommendations to governments on the issue of research it considers necessary, gives an opinion on programmes and takes care of their alignment, proposes to the governments what measures should be taken in order to remove existing and prevent new causes of pollution of the Adriatic Sea.
So far the Commission has dealt with following activities:

working together on a continuous examination of the Adriatic Sea ecosystem;

cooperation and mutual direct assistance in combating pollution incidents and special
protection of sensitive areas as well as adoption of a common (sub-regional) Contingency Plan for accidental pollution of the Adriatic (Sub-regional Contingency Plan was
signed in 2005 in Portorož);

establishing a traffic separation scheme and establishing of sailing routes in the Adriatic;

identification and control of pollution caused by inadequate handling and disposal of
solid and hazardous waste;

cooperation concerning revitalization and protection of environmental values (landscape, nature and construction heritage);

remediation of the most burdened areas (Po, Bay of Trieste, Bay of Koper, Rijeka
Bay, Kaštela Bay) and other areas of larger cities, industrial zones and ports;
pag. 168/216

cooperation in preventive protection and further implementation of development strategies aligned with resource conservation;

information activities;

solving the issue of ballast waters in the Adriatic.
The Commission's work currently takes place in three sub-committees:

Within the framework of the Sub-Commission for ballast waters, which also provides
support to activities of the GloBallast (UNDP / GEF / IMO) project, activities were initiated to develop the Adriatic ballast water management strategy.

Sub-Commission for the preparation of addendums to the Sub-regional contingency
plan began work in 2009 with the aim of preparation of technical addendums for the
implementation of the Sub-regional contingency plan for the prevention of, preparedness for and response to larger scale pollution incidents in the Adriatic. The Subregional Plan was drawn up with the technical assistance from the Regional Marine
Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC), the
Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP /
MAP), as part of an initiative to develop a sub-regional system for the entire Adriatic
Sea. The signatories of the Agreement on the sub-regional contingency plan are
Croatia, Italy and Slovenia. The purpose of the Agreement is to establish a joint cooperation mechanism by which the national authorities in Croatia, Italy and Slovenia will
coordinate and unify their actions in preventing and responding to sea pollution that
affect or could affect the waters under their jurisdiction, the coast and related interests
of one or more of these countries, or accidents that exceed the available capacity for
response of each individual country.

The Sub-Commission for the Unification of methods of assessment and development
of indicators to assess the state of the marine environment was established with the
aim of coordinating activities and exchanging information among countries of the Adriatic on the implementation of the EU Directive on Marine Strategy. This subcommission shall examine and harmonize existing monitoring programmes, the list of
indicators and methodologies to select the most suitable for the Adriatic and to facilitate exchange and comparison of data.
The Joint Committee meets once or twice per year and each year another member takes over
the hosting. The last meeting of the Commission was held on 25 May 2010 in Ancona under
the chairmanship of the Italian Republic and on this occasion the Sub-Commission for integrated coastal zone management was established and Montenegro became a full member of
the Commission. After the meeting Slovenia took over the presidency of the Commission.
Another important initiative to mention is the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative already described at par.
2.5.2. It was established at the Conference on the Development and Security in the Adriatic
and the Ionian Sea in Ancona on 19 - 20 May 2000. The Adriatic-Ionian Council was established at the ministerial level, and it decides on all basic and specific issues, including the areas and forms of co-operation between the Initiative member states, co-operation with other international organizations and initiatives, as well as political issues in the region. The Initiative's
work is carried out through round tables which are divided in four thematic units: Round Table
for Environment and Fire Protection, Round Table for Tourism, Culture and Interuniversity Cooperation, Round Table for Small- and Middle-Sized Entrepreneurship and Round Table for
pag. 169/216
Transport and Maritime Affairs. During its second presidency (May 2007 - May 2009) of the
Adriatic-Ionian Initiative Croatia was focused in its programme on the revision of current cooperation. Efforts were focused on the establishment of a new and clearly recognizable identity of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative. Areas of co-operation were determined whereby small and
middle-sized entrepreneurship, transport connectedness, environmental protection and fire
protection constitute the fundamental backbone, instead of the present six round tables. A new
Rules of Procedure of the Round Tables was passed which was adapted to the redefined areas of cooperation, as well as the Rules of Procedure of the newly established Permanent Secretariat of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative, which began work on 1 June 2008, the last day of the
Croatian presidency. Montenegro assumed presidency of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative in June
2010.
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, at the Summit held in Barcelona in November 2005 the parties of the partnership have expressed their
commitment to intensify efforts to reduce pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by 2020 through
the Horizon 2020 initiative. At the Conference of environment ministers in Cairo in November
2006 a Work programme for the Horizon 2020 (2007 - 2013) was adopted which is one of the
key initiatives within the Union for the Mediterranean which is the current name of the EuroMediterranean Partnership. The aim of the initiative is to reduce pollution of the Mediterranean
Sea so that the most significant sources of pollution, such as municipal waste, sewage and
emissions from industries that are responsible for 80% of pollution of the Mediterranean Sea
are resolved in an appropriate manner. For implementation and monitoring of the Work Programme for 2007 - 2013 three operational components were formed: component for investment in pollution reduction projects, component for capacity building and component for the
assessment, monitoring and research. Responsible for implementing the initiative is the Steering Committee which consists of the European Commission members, responsible person for
this topic from EU Member States, the competent persons for the European Neighbourhood
and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), members of international governmental organizations, international financial institutions, NGOs, local authorities, private sector and the competent person for Horizon 2020 from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Turkey.
The Adriatic Euroregion was founded on June 30, 2006 in Pula, Region of Istria, Croatia. It
represents a model of co-operation that includes trans-national and inter-regional co-operation
between regions of the Adriatic coastline. Refer to par. 2.5.4 for other information on this initiative.
pag. 170/216
3.4
Slovenia
3.4.1
Implementation level of IMP and MSP
3.4.1.1
Resolution of the National Maritime Development Programme
Slovenia adopted a Resolution on the National Maritime Development Programme (OG RS,
No. 87/2010), taking into account, inter alia, the guidelines and policies of the European Union
in the maritime sector, such as the White Paper on European Transport Policy, Integrated
Maritime Policy for the European Union, Action Plan of the Integrated Maritime Policy for the
European Union, Strategic Goals and Recommendations for the EU’s Maritime Transport until
2018, Communication and Action Plan with a View to Establishing a European Maritime
Transport Space without Barriers, Integrated Maritime Policy for Better Governance in the
Mediterranean, Towards the Integration of the Maritime Surveillance: A Common Information
Sharing Environment for the EU Maritime Domain and Developing the International Dimension
of the Integrated Maritime Policy of the European Union.
The national programme is based on the analysis of the existing maritime situation and conditions, maritime safety and the role and importance of the maritime sector to the economic and
social development. Changes in the maritime sector with an emphasis on the safety of maritime transport trigger new development trends that require the fastest possible tracking of innovations and their implementation in practice.
The National Programme is a strategic document which, through the definition of the situation,
objectives and measures, provides conditions for the sustainable and integrated development
especially in the field of maritime transport safety. Moreover, it embodies a vision and helps to
create conditions conducive to maritime transport development and the more effective exploitation of advantages, such as the outlet to the Adriatic Sea, a modern freight and passenger
terminals and a maritime-oriented economy and education system.
The Programme established a balance between the preservation and improvement of the
quality of life, better environmental protection, co-existence of the port activities, industry and
tourism in the sensitive area of the Northern Adriatic and the provision of enhanced opportunities for Slovenia’s development as a modern maritime country. It also points out the importance and role of marine economy in Slovenia, maritime transport safety (considering the
situation in this field and the goals and plans for the provision of maritime transport safety) and
the national approach to the coastal spatial management (emphasizing the requirement for the
coordination of marine economic activities with all stakeholders in the area).
Two separate chapters deal with clustering in marine economy and human resources development for the needs of the maritime sector at the Maritime and Technical Education Centre
and the Faculty of Maritime Studies and Transport of the University of Ljubljana.
A special chapter is devoted to the only cargo port in Slovenia (containing a plan for the development of port and logistics activities, a vision of Slovenia’s opportunities to develop into a
regional logistics centre, the planned objectives and activities required for their attainment.
Specific chapters deal with other economic activities, crucial for Slovenia as a maritime country, namely shipping, shipbuilding and production of ship components and recreational craft;
integration of the Port of Koper into the system of motorways of the sea and short sea shipping. The National Programme also contains chapters dealing with hydrography and cartog-
pag. 171/216
raphy (significant from the point of view of maritime transport safety) and ecology (situation,
objectives and development plans to maintain and improve the achieved level).
The central part of the Resolution introduces new instruments for implementation, monitoring
and supplementing the National Maritime Development Programme of the Republic of Slovenia. The final chapters provide the maritime legal framework in Slovenia, i.e. internal legal resources, relevant European legislation and international conventions, ratified to date by the
Republic of Slovenia. There is also an overview of the international conventions to be ratified
in the future.
The Resolution on the National Maritime Development Programme was drawn up on the basis
of the Maritime Code.
The area is also regulated by the following acts:

Maritime Code of 2004 (OG RS, Nos. 26/01, 110/02-ZGO-1, 2/04, 37/04-UPB1, 98/05,
49/06, 120/06-UPB2 and 88/10), regulating the sovereignty, jurisdiction and control of the
Republic of Slovenia over the sea, navigational safety in territorial waters and inland maritime waters, protection of the sea against pollution from vessels and legal regime of ports;

Waters Act of 2002 (OG RS, No. 67/2002, Act Amending the Water Act, OG RS, No.
57/2008);

Nature Conservation Act of 2007 (OG RS, No. 56/99);

Marine Fisheries Act of 2006 (OG RS, No. 115/06).
3.4.1.2
Maritime Spatial Planning
The Spatial Planning Act does not cover the issues of maritime spatial planning, but it also applies to the sea. The Decree Amending the Decree on the Types of Spatial Planning of National Significance (OG RS, No. 68/2005) lies down that spatial regulations important for the
spatial development of the Republic of Slovenia also include the spatial regulations for the
seabed, thus providing that:

the Spatial Planning Act also applies to the sea (seabed);

maritime spatial planning is under jurisdiction of the State and not under municipal jurisdiction.
Therefore, the role of maritime spatial planning as an instrument to coordinate potentially conflicting interests on land (coast) and the sea is not yet fully utilised in Slovenia, as also found
by the PlanCoast project (Interreg IIIB CADSES).
A “Maritime Spatial Plan” has not yet been drawn up. However, some uses of the sea area
have been defined on the basis of sectoral rules outside the formal spatial planning framework, namely the areas of nature protection and cultural heritage, fishing reserves, waterway
corridors, etc.
The Resolution on the National Maritime Development Programme of the Republic of Slovenia
also contains a chapter on spatial planning, which points out only the aspects related to the
preparation of spatial plans for maritime transport (ports, waterways, transport safety facilities,
etc.), taking into account the basic strategic framework provided by the Ordinance on Spatial
Planning Strategy of Slovenia. The Ordinance, inter alia, defines the principles of coherent and
pag. 172/216
coordinated development of transport and settlement networks in relation to construction of
public economic infrastructure. The document sets out the main principles and concepts of
transport networks in the Republic of Slovenia and also defines the role of the Port of Koper in
international public transport and long-distance transport links.
The need for maritime spatial planning proved most acute in the case of the planned gas terminals in the Gulf of Trieste. The project was conceived without predefined possible variants,
without strategic environmental assessment and without coordination at the trilateral level
(Slovenia, Croatia, Italy) and with other users, which triggered a wave of opposition to the project and such an approach.
The area is therefore regulated by the following legislation:

Spatial Planning Act – Informal Consolidated Version
rs.si/wps/portal/Home/deloDZ/zakonodaja/izbranZakonAkt );

Decree on the Types of Spatial Planning of National Significance – Informal Consolidated Version (OG RS, Nos. 95/07, 102/08 and 26/10).
3.4.2
(http://www.dz-
Implementation level of MSFD
Between 2005 and 2008, Slovenia, together with other EU Member States, participated in the
process of drafting a common EC marine environment policy. On this basis, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council was adopted on 11
December 2007, establishing a framework for Community action in the field of marine environment policy (hereinafter referred to as the Directive 2008/56/EC). The Directive
2008/56/EC provides the framework for action by the Community in the field of marine environment policy in conjunction with the maritime and fisheries policies.
In Slovenia, the authority responsible for the implementation of the Directive 2008/56/EC is the
Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry), including
its constituent bodies.
According to the provisions of the Water Act, the authority responsible for the implementation
of the Directive 2008/56/EC is the Ministry responsible for waters, entrusted with the tasks of
transposing the Directive into national law, preparing the marine strategy, inter-sectoral coordination and harmonisation of its content with neighbouring countries and the countries in the
region. The platform for transposition of the Directive into the Slovenian national law is Article
59a of the Water Act, specifying that a marine environment management plan has to be prepared to achieve the strategic goals in the field of water management. The tasks are shared
by the Ministry (Environment Directorate – Water Division) and its affiliated body – the Slovenian Environment Agency (ARSO) with its offices by river basins (Adriatic and Danube) and
sub-basins (Soča River, which flows into the Adriatic Sea). Another body within the Ministry is
the Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia for the Environment and Spatial Planning.
The Ministry is responsible to draw up a programme of measures designed to achieve or
maintain good environmental status, which requires a comprehensive environmental impact
assessment, socio-economic assessment, justification of exceptions and feasibility of implementation by 2016 at the latest.
To ensure the implementation of the Directive 2008/56/EC, the Ministry prepared a framework
plan of action for the first planning period 2008-2015, which is summarised below. The plan
pag. 173/216
was prepared on the basis of the provisions of Directive 2008/56/EC, which, in addition to
principles, objectives and instruments for the attainment of goals, specifies the individual steps
to be carried out by the Member States for the preparation of marine strategies and timelines.
The Directive also specifies the method of preparation of individual steps where coordination
of marine strategy content is needed amongst the Member States as well as the non-member
countries in the region or sub-region.
In accordance with Article 5 of the Directive 2008/56/EC, the plan of action consists of:

an initial assessment of the environmental status (Article 8);

determination of good environmental status (Article 9(1));

establishment of environmental targets (Article 10);

a monitoring programme (Article 11);

notifications and Commission’s assessment (Articles 12, 16);

programmes of measures (Article 13);

exceptions (Article 14);

public consultation and information (Article 19);

notifications and Commission’s assessment (Articles 9,10,11 and 15);

regional cooperation (Articles 5 and 6).
Organisation of the implementation of tasks at the national level: the Ministry of Agriculture
and the Environment is responsible for preparing and reporting to the Commission on the implementation of Marine Strategy. It also notifies the Government and the National Assembly of
the Republic of Slovenia, as well as the general and professional public. The Ministry is also
responsible for the harmonisation of particular contents of the Directive at the regional level
and the Adriatic sub-region.
The key professional tasks in relation to the implementation of the Directive 2008/56/ES are
carried out by the Institute for Water of the Republic of Slovenia, Marine Biology Station Piran
and Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation with the participation of Fisheries Research Institute of Slovenia, Slovenian Environment Agency and other specialised
professional institutions.
Due to the diversity of content and cooperation of the professional public it is appropriate to
also involve other bodies within the Ministry through working groups (sectoral task force) and
other ministries (inter-sector task force).
3.4.3
Other legislative and planning tools
Water Framework Directive
The Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment, including its constituent bodies, is responsible for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD).
Slovenia is a water-rich country – it abounds in water of all types and has a wealth of flora and
fauna. Abundant rainfall, a variety of landscapes and diverse natural environments have contributed to a dense network of surface watercourses and groundwater systems. The waters of
Slovenia are divided among those of the Danube river basin district and those of the Adriatic
pag. 174/216
Sea river basin district. The Danube river basin district includes the Mura, Drava and Sava
sub-basins, whereas the Adriatic Sea river basin district includes the basins of the Soča River
and all Adriatic rivers, along with the sea. To facilitate management, every sub-basin is divided
into smaller units called water bodies. Slovenia has 155 surface water bodies and 21 groundwater bodies.
The River Basin Management Plan is an important national document of the Republic of Slovenia, which defines the management approach to achieving good status of its waters by
2015. The Plan envisages reciprocal coordination and cooperation of all people and institutions in Slovenia. A water management plan always encompasses the entire river basin or
sub-basin, describes its characteristics, discusses the existing activities, analyses the environmental burdens, presents the findings of regular monitoring of water status, defines the objectives and necessary measures for the achievement of good water status as well as the required financial resources. In view of the characteristics of the Slovenian territory where all river sub-basins span over country borders, planning has been coordinated with the neighbouring countries.
The key chapters of the River Basin Management Plan cover the water quality, flood protection and water use. These are the areas where different or conflicting interests arise, favouring
either development or protection of water resources, namely the conflicts between spatial development and preservation of water bodies, discharge of waste water and preservation of watercourse quality as well as between intensive agriculture and preservation of sufficient drinking water supply.
Drawing up of the River Basin Management Plan brought to light many unsolved developmental problems stemming from a wide-ranging interests of a great number of stakeholders. Slovenia will successfully ensure adequate water supplies in the future only if it sees eye to eye
with the relevant stakeholders about the protection of our water resources. The responsible
institutions and services will have to be efficient and the companies and individuals responsible.
The implementation of the water management issues falls in the remit of national and local
services and institutions responsible for spatial planning. Water management is also coordinated at the European level where Slovenia takes part in the common water management
plans and coordination as well as transfer of knowledge, experience and technologies.
The River Basin Management Plan was adopted in August 2011 by Decree on the River Basin
Management Plan for the Danube Basin and the Adriatic Sea Basin. (OG RS, No. 61/2011).
Slovenia transposed the principles and provisions of the Water Framework Directive into the
national law through the following regulations:

Water Act (OG RS, Nos. 67/02, 2/04);

Environment Protection Act (OG RS, No. 41/04);

Nature Conservation Act (OG RS, Nos. 56/99, 31/00, 110/02-ZGO-1, 119/02-ZON-A
and 41/04- ZON-B);

Public Administration Act (OG RS, Nos. 52/02, 56/03, 83/03, 110/03, 134/03 and
36/04);

Act Ratifying the Convention on Co-operation for the Protection and Sustainable Use
of the River Danube (Danube River Protection Convention) (OG RS-MP, No. 12/98);
pag. 175/216

Act Ratifying the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution, the Protocol for the Prevention of Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Dumping from Ships and Aircraft, and the Protocol concerning Cooperation in Combating
Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Oil and Other Harmful Substances in Cases of
Emergency (OG RS, No. 12/1997);

Decree on the Chemical Status of Surface Waters (OG RS, No. 11/2002);

Decree on the Quality of Underground Water (OG RS, No. 11/2002);

Decree on the Emission of Substances and Heat in the Discharge of Waste Water
from Pollution Sources (OG RS, No. 35/1996);

Rules on the Delimitation of River Basins and Sub-basins and of Relevant River Basin
Districts with Class I Waters (OG RS, No. 82/03);

Rules on Methods for Determining Water Bodies of Underground Water (OG RS, No.
65/03);

Rules on Methods for Determining Water Bodies of Surface Water (OG RS, No.
65/03);

Rules on Determining Water Bodies of Groundwater (OG RS, No. 63/2005);

Rules on Determining and Classification for Water Bodies of Surface Water (OG RS,
No. 63/2005);

Decree on the Quality Required of Surface Waters Supporting Fresh-water Fish Life
(OG RS, Nos. 46/02 and 41/04-ZVO-1);

Decree on the Quality Required of Water Supporting Marine Bivalves and Gastropods
(OG RS, Nos. 46/02 and 41/04-ZVO-1);

Rules on Determining Marine Areas where the Quality of Water Is Suitable to Support
Marine Bivalves and Gastropods (OG RS, No. 106/04);

Rules on the Designation of Surface Water Sections Important for Freshwater Fish
Species (OG RS, No. 28/05).
The background documents are published on web site:
http://www.mop.gov.si/si/delovna_podrocja/voda/nacrt_upravljanja_voda_za_vodni_obmocji_d
onave_in_jadranskega_morja_2009_2015/
Flood Directive
The authority responsible for flood issues is the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment
which implements the tasks in relation to water management, specified in detail by the Water
Act. The scope of activities includes the preliminary flood risk assessment, identification of the
areas of potential significant flood risks (Article 5 of the Flood Directive), production of flood
hazard and flood risk maps for such areas and drawing up the flood risk management plans in
plans in accordance with the provisions of the Flood Directive 2007/60/EC. Implementation of
the Flood Directive is regulated by the Decree on the Establishment of Flood Risk Management Plans (OG RS, No. 07/10), by which Slovenia has transposed the majority of the Flood
Directive provisions into the national law.
pag. 176/216
In addition the Operational Programme for Environmental and Transport Infrastructure period
2007-2013 defines Flood related measures and activities as one of the priority areas. Activities
and measures will include a risk assessment of significant flood risk areas and a comprehensive proposal on the measures. The proposals include construction measures mainly in uninhabited flood plains (Controlled flooding in areas where there is no major damage), measures
in existing urban areas, areas that represent potential threat to environment, and areas of important economic activities. Activities and measures are organized in projects providing flood
protection in the basin Savinja, Ljubljanica, Sava, Drava and Dravinja, Mura 35 and upgrading
the system for monitoring and analysis of the aquatic environment in Slovenia in total amount
of 185 million of EUR. (OECD report)
In Slovenia, the requirements of the Flood Directive are implemented through the following
regulations:

Water Act (OG RS, Nos. 67/02, 110/02);

Act Amending the Water Act (OF RS, No. 57/08);

Rules on Methodology to Define Flood Risk Areas and Erosion Areas Connected to
Floods and Classification of Plots into Risk Classes (OG RS, No. 60/07);

Decree on Conditions and Limitations for Constructions and Activities in Flood Risk
Areas (OG RS, No. 89/08);

Decree on the Establishment of Flood Risk Management Plans (OG RS, No. 7/2010).
Other relevant documents relating to the Flood Directive are:

Implementation programme for Flood Directive 2009-2015:
http://www.mop.gov.si/fileadmin/mop.gov.si/pageuploads/podrocja/okolje/pdf/vode/po
plavna_direktiva_okvirni_program_izvajanja.pdf;

Slovenian reports to the EC on the implementation of FD:
http://cdr.eionet.europa.eu/si/eu/fdart3/envsz3wq;

A preliminary assessment of flood risk in Slovenia was prepared within the implementation of the Flood directive:
http://www.mop.gov.si/fileadmin/mop.gov.si/pageuploads/podrocja/okolje/pdf/vode/pre
dhodna_ocena_poplavne_ogrozenosti.pdf.
Habitat and Bird Directives
Several large bio-geographical regions meet in Slovenia. Its terrestrial habitats and landscapes can therefore be ascribed to a number of main groups: alpine and mountain habitats,
sub-mountain habitats, marine areas, lowland plains and aquatic ecosystems. A special Slovenian feature is a large karstic area with around 10,000 underground caves. Forests cover
nearly 60% of the land area and are well preserved.
In terms of biodiversity, Slovenia is one of the most outstanding countries in Europe. It boasts
about 850 endemic species, the majority of which live in subterranean habitat types, alpine
and subalpine grasslands, rocks and scree. In comparison with other EU countries, Slovenia
has many areas with preserved habitat types, which is the result of extensive agricultural use
pag. 177/216
and co-natural, multipurpose and sustainable forest management. Despite this, 10% of ferns
and flowering plants and 56% of vertebrates (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish)
are endangered. The loss of their habitats is the major threat.
Most threatened habitats are dry and wet grasslands, coastal and marine habitats, and standing and running waters. The proportion of threatened reptile species and amphibians is very
high in Slovenia in comparison to other taxonomic groups and other OECD countries. Slovenia's greatest task regarding the conservation of biodiversity relates to endemic species, habitats and habitat types that are disappearing here as in the rest of Europe – coastal, marine
and inland waters, marshes and wetlands, humid and wet grasslands, and subterranean habitat types. Achieving the objectives 2a and 2b of the National Environmental Action Programme
(NEAP) seems to need more push in relation to species, as a report on conservation status of
species and habitat types of European Union’s interest in 2007 has shown that 75% of species
are in an unfavourable status. Situation is better with habitat types of which 55% are in an unfavourable conservation status.
The main objectives of Slovenia’s policy for nature protection are contained in the National Nature Conservation Programme 2005-2015 (NNCP), which is a part of the National Environmental Action Programme 2005-2012 (NEAP). These objectives are:
1) To establish a comprehensive nature conservation system and implement it in an efficient
manner.
2) To preserve the high level of biodiversity and to halt the decline in biodiversity by:
a) maintaining or achieving a favourable status of endangered species and habitat types;
b) maintaining or achieving a favourable status of species’ habitats and habitat types for
which areas important for biodiversity conservation are designated (areas of ecological importance, Natura 2000 areas, Ramsar localities);
c) introducing efficient and coordinated nature conservation in protected areas through
management plans and other measures;
d) raising the standard of all procedures involving wild animals;
e) ensuring sustainable use of the components of biodiversity and the sustainability of
activities that affect the natural world.
3) To preserve a favourable conservation status of large carnivore species and to reduce
conflicts.
4) To preserve as many natural systems of biogenesis as possible.
5) Valuable natural features:
a) to preserve those features characterised as a valuable natural feature of a certain
species and to measure all other features to the greatest extent possible;
b) to ensure the recovery of damaged or destroyed valuable natural features;
c) to ensure that valuable natural features are used in a way that does not threaten
them;
d) to ensure the ex situ protection of valuable natural features whose preservation in the
wild (in their natural habitat) is not possible.
pag. 178/216
To achieve the objective 2 (preserve the high level of biodiversity) and following a planned
measure of the NEAP/NNCP, the Natura 2000 Management Programme 2007-2013 was
adopted by the Government in 2007 which sets more detailed conservation objectives for the
Natura 2000 sites to achieve a favourable status for endangered species and habitat types of
EU importance. Biodiversity conservation is also dealt with by the Biodiversity Conservation
Strategy of Slovenia (2001-2011).
Responsibility for biodiversity conservation is expressed in the percentage of protected zones
and areas. Some 47.7% of Slovenia’s territory is covered by ecologically important areas.
Two-thirds of these areas are included in the European NATURA 2000 network, covering
35.5% of the territory of Slovenia. Nationally designated protected areas account for around
13%, with one National Park (Triglav), 7 regional and landscape parks, and a number of reserves and places of outstanding natural beauty. There are further 35 protected areas, designated at the local level.
On 29 April 2004, the Slovenian Government issued a regulation defining the Slovenia's Natura 2000 areas (Decree on Special Protection Areas (Natura 2000 Areas)). A total of 286 areas
were included: 260 on the basis of the Habitats Directive (SCI) and 26 on the basis of the
Birds Directive (SPA). These areas cover 35.5% of Slovenia's total surface area. With respect
to the European Commission, the SCI sufficiency index is sufficient for 70% of the habitat
types and species of the Union’s interest and for the SPA an increase is expected as well.
To ensure an adequate management of Natura 2000 areas, the Natura 2000 Site Management Programme 2007-2013 was adopted. This Operational Programme was developed during two and a half year period, allowing for intense consultation. The Programme:

defines the Natura 2000 conservation objectives and measures to achieve them;

identifies the competent sectors and their related management plans and responsible
implementers;

enables horizontal links to other strategic plans and development programs of the
Government;

identifies the financial resources;

tries to use the opportunities for local and regional development from Natura 2000,
and lists the key research gaps.
Funding sources for the implementation of this programme include the European Regional
Development Fund, the Rural Development Programme, LIFE+ and national funds.
Legislation:

Nature Conservation Act with Regulations (OG RS, Nos. 56/99, 31/00, 119/02, 22/03,
41/04, 96/04 – Official Consolidated Text);

Cave Protection Act with Regulations (OG RS, No. 02/04);

Triglav National Park Act (OG RS, No. 52/10);

Škocjan Caves Regional Park Act (OG RS, No. 57/96);

Škocjan Inlet Nature Reserve Act (OG RS, No. 20/98)
pag. 179/216
Main documents:

Biodiversity Conservation Strategy of Slovenia;

Natura 2000 Site Management Programme 2007-2013;

Resolution on the National Environmental Action Programme 2005-2012 (OG RS, No.
2/2006);

Reports on implementation of the EU legislation to EC, available on:
http://www.mop.gov.si/si/delovna_podrocja/narava/

Natura 2000 Site Management Programme 2007-2013.
Environmental Impact Assessment and Strategic Environmental Assessment
Environmental Impact Assessment: In Slovenia, the system of environmental impact assessment complies with the EU Directives regulating the assessment of environmental impacts (Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment of certain public and private projects on the environment, Directive 97/11/EEC amending Directive 85/337/EEC and Directive 2003/35/EC providing for public participation in respect of the drawing up of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment and amending with regard to public participation and access to justice
Council Directives 85/227/EEC and 96/61/EC.
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been implemented in Slovenia since 1993. An
application for environmental consent must include a project plan with relevant supporting
documentation, as well as an environmental impact report prepared according to a defined
procedure and audited by an authorized person. Based on these documents, the Slovenian
Environmental Agency (ARSO) carries out an environmental impact assessment with the involvement of other stakeholders. The ARSO subsequently grants or refuses an environmental
consent. It may stipulate certain conditions, limitations or instructions for mitigating negative
environmental impacts. The number of consent applications increased from 77 in 2000 to 120
in 2003, but fell to 10 in 2010, due to fewer projects being developed in the post-crisis period,
with 5 applications rejected by the ARSO.
In practice, there are a number of problems with EIA implementation. Most commonly, the EIA
procedure is carried out after a project has been included in a spatial plan. At this stage it is
hard to stop the project regardless of its environmental impact. Moreover, developers try to
limit public participation by claiming that the area affected by the project is negligible (the lack
of corresponding rules is an example of a regulatory loophole).
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is obligatory for plans, programmes and policies
with a significant environmental impact. These include all plans that contain projects for which
an EIA is required (e.g. all infrastructure programmes), plans for the Natura 2000 nature protection areas, spatial planning acts, and various sectoral programmes at the local and national
levels. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment has the power to require a
SEA for any other plan or programme if the Ministry considers that it may have a significant
environmental impact, although this sometimes leads to duplication with the EIA.
The SEA has been implemented at the national level in the case of operational programmes
for rural development, regional development, fisheries and cross-border cooperation. At the
local level, SEAs are required for spatial development strategies and land use plans, but they
pag. 180/216
are rarely carried out. Lack of public participation leads to a situation in which an SEA almost
always results in a positive decision. Local authorities respect the letter, but often not the spirit
of the law. In 2010, 244 plans and programmes were screened to determine whether an SEA
should be conducted; 36 were actually assessed, and only one proposal was rejected for reasons of biodiversity conservation. The Ministry needs to do more to enforce the SEA requirements for local spatial plans and encourage engagement of the public in this process.
The following regulations apply in this area:

Environment Protection Act (OG RS, Nos.. 39/06, 49/2006, 66/2006-odl. US, 33/2007ZPNačrt, 70/2008 and 108/2’09);

Nature Conservation Act (OG RS, No. 96/2004);

Decree on Special Protection Areas (Natura 2000 Areas) (OG RS, No. 49/2004);

Decree Amending the Decree on Special Protection Areas (Natura 2000 Areas) (OG
RS, Nos. 110/2004, 59/2007 and 43/2008);

Decree on the Categories of Activities for Which an Environmental Impact Assessment Is Mandatory (OG RS, Nos. 78/2006, 72/2007, 32/2009 and 95/2011);

Decree Laying down the Content of Environmental Report and on Detailed Procedure
for the Assessment of the Effects of Certain Plans and Programmes on the Environment (OG RS, No. 73/2005);

Decree on the Criteria for Determining the Likely Significance of Environmental Effects
of Certain Plans, Programmes or Other Acts and Its Modifications in the Environmental Assessment Procedure (OG RS, No. 9/2009).
3.4.4
International agreements
Slovenia is a signatory to the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against
Pollution (Barcelona Convention), which was ratified by Act Ratifying the Convention for the
Protection of the Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution, the Protocol for the Prevention of Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Dumping from Ships and Aircraft, and the Protocol concerning Cooperation in Combating Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Oil and Other Harmful
Substances in Cases of Emergency (OG RS-MP, Nos. 26/2002, 1/2004, 13/1993 and
16/2009). In 2005, the Republic of Slovenia and other Parties to the Barcelona Convention
adopted the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development.
The Republic of Slovenia is active within the Round Table on the Environmental Protection of
the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative. It supports the establishment of the Macro-Region with a view to
more effectively achieve good environmental status of the Adriatic Sea.
The mixed Slovenian-Croatian-Italian-Montenegrin Joint Commission for the protection of the
Adriatic Sea and coastal areas was established on the basis of the Agreement on Cooperation
for the Protection of the Waters of the Adriatic Sea and Coastal Zones against Pollution (OG
SFRY – MP, No. 2/1977), which was ratified by Decree Ratifying the Agreement between the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Italy on Cooperation in Protection
of the Waters of the Adriatic Sa and Coastal Zones against Pollution (OG SFRY – MP, No.
2/1977) and Act on Notification of the Succession of the Agreement of Former Yugoslavia with
pag. 181/216
the Republic of Italy (OG RS – MP, No. 11/1992). At the Commission’s meeting in 2008, all
Adriatic countries signed a Joint Statement on Environmental Protection of the Adriatic Sea.
For the purpose of implementing the Joint Statement and ensuring effective cooperation to
achieve the goals of Directive 2008/56/EC, a Sub-Commission was established for coordination of the implementation of adopted international and European obligations relating to good
environmental status in the sub-region or the Adriatic Ecoregion. On 17 December 2009, the
National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia adopted the Resolution on Strategy for the
Adriatic Sea (OG RS, No. 106/2009), with which the National Assembly calls on the Government of the Republic of Slovenia to continue and promote its efforts in respect of the protection of the Adriatic Sea and, in pursuit of the implementation of the Directive, to support coordinated preparation of the Marine Strategy for the Adriatic sub-region.
pag. 182/216
3.5
Bosnia Herzegovina
3.5.1
Legal aspects
Institutional structure of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is defined by the Federal
Constitution in 10 regional Cantons. According to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
the jurisdiction between the Federation and Cantons is shared (PAP/RAC, 2007b) with the exception of specific areas being under exclusive jurisdiction of the Canton (construction sector).
At present, there is no marine spatial planning in Bosnia and Herzegovina (PAP/RAC, 2007b).
The most important legislation regarding MSP in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the Federal Law
on Spatial Planning which involves:

Federal Ministry of Physical Planning and Environment;

Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry;

Ministry responsible for Coastal Planning: Neretva Cantonal Ministry for Civil Engineering and Physical Planning;

Neum Municipality.
At the moment, Bosnia and Herzegovina is preparing a new Spatial Plan for the Federation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the spatial planning of maritime activities. The inclusion of
the spatial planning of maritime activities was triggered by potential competition between maritime uses when installing a harbour in Neum. Moreover, in order to improve the efficiency of
the mariculture sector, PAP/RAC indicated that among others locations for growing juvenile
fish to commercial size should be defined and nutriments for fish feeding should be ensured.
Therefore, the spatial planning of the relevant area was believed to be necessary.
The Spatial Plan of the Neum Municipality is also under consideration and will have to be in
line with the Spatial Plan for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina once it is adopted.
Less potential for application of international MSP given the limited area under national jurisdiction; nevertheless best practices should be taken into account with regard to the further
analysis of joint MSP in the Adriatic Sea basin (Policy Research Corporation, 2011).
3.5.2
International agreements
Bosnia and Herzegovina is involved in the following principal international initiatives:

The Adriatic Euroregion (26 members - Regional and local governments from Italy,
Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and Greece);

The Adriatic-Ionian Initiative (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy,
Slovenia and Montenegro).
pag. 183/216
3.6
Albania
3.6.1
Implementation level of IMP, MSP and MSFD
With regard to the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP), Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP), and Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), being relatively new EU documents, so far they
have not been transposed into the Albanian national legislation, nor are they planned in the
short time future. Considering that Albania is a potential candidate country for EU membership
and the EU legislation is not obligatory as for the member states. According to the Stabilization
and Association Agreement (SAA), Albania has the obligation to approximate the national legislation with the EU acquis within a period of 10 years after the entry into force of the SAA,
which entered into force on April, 1, 2009. (Council of the European Union, 200619) After a
careful review of the national legislation and of the requirements of the IMP, MSP and MSFD,
will be elaborated the plan on transposing these legal acts in compliance with the specificities
of the country.
3.6.2
Other legislative and planning tools
Although the IMP, MSP and MFSD have not yet been transposed, there are other legal acts
that might contribute to the IMP-MSP and MSFD transposition and implementation:

The ratification of the Barcelona Convention and its protocols,

Law no. 9115, dated 24.7.2003 "On the protection of the marine environment from pollution and damage", which aims to protect the marine environment of the Republic of
Albania from pollution damage caused by human activities at sea and in coastal
zones, which spoil the quality of water, damage the marine resources, risk the fauna
and flora, threaten human health and hamper the normal development of activities in
this environment,

Law no. 8093, dated 21.3.1996, "On Water Resources", which includes all marine waters of the interior surface and groundwater, rain water, sewage, river beds, river
banks and water flows in the framework of meeting the requirements of the EU Water
Framework Directive,

Law "On the environmental treatment of waste water", which is in compliance with the
directive 91/271/EEC.

The Marine Code (Law no.9251, dated 8.7.2004). (moe.gov.al, 2013 )
Additional planned legal acts that might contribute to the IMP-MSP and MSFD transposition
and implementation are:

The "National Contingency Plan for accidental marine pollution”. This contingency
plan is in compliance with the obligations deriving by the International MARPOL Convention and the Barcelona Convention;

New law “On fisheries” in compliance with the EU acquis. The new law took into consideration the state of the fisheries sector in Albania and aims to provide support in
19 Document downloadable at:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/albania/st08164.06_en.pdf
pag. 184/216
order to further develop it in compliance with EU standards. It also aims to protect marine ecosystems, and prevent and reduce inputs that have a significant impact.

New law “On aquaculture” in compliance with the EU acquis;

New law and the strategy on integrated management strategy of water resources;
(moe.gov.al, 201320)
Albania’s maritime activities are rather limited with the most predominant sector being fishing.
The Fisheries fall under the Ministry of the Environment, Forests and Water Administration
(MoEFWA) within the Directorate for Water Resources and Fisheries. The ministry is also responsible for covering institutional tasks related to the development and the proposal of policies, strategies and action plans aimed at implementing protection and management
measures for the environment. The Deputy Minister for Fisheries is the main authority responsible for developing strategic guidelines for the sector in accordance with the policies approved by the Government. The fisheries administration falls within the Directorate for Water
and Fishery Policies while the Fishery Inspectorate falls under the Directorate for Environmental Control. The inspectorate includes 23 subordinate local inspectorates. The Agriculture University of Albania is hosting the “The lab for Fisheries and Aquaculture” responsible for carrying out the assessment of marine resources.
According to Article 31 of the Decision of the People’s Assembly, Resolution n° 8870 of
21.3.2002, «Amendments to Law n° 7908 of 05.04.1995 on Fisheries and Aquaculture», the
co-management plans include the participation of fisheries institutions and stakeholders, including here the Local Advisory Committees on Fisheries and Aquaculture. The competent
Authority from the institutional point of view is defined by Law n° 77941 dated 31.05.1995, included in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food (Decision of the Council of Ministers of n° 646 of
10.11.1995). Albania is divided into 12 Provinces / Regions, each with a Director General for
Agriculture directly appointed by the Minister. Thus the institutional structure is organized as
follows:

Ministry of Agriculture: Directorate for Veterinary Services;

Veterinary Research Institute (IKV) in Tirana;

The Laboratory for Fishery and Aquaculture, under the Agriculture University;

District Veterinary Offices;

Municipal Veterinary Services.
A pilot project for fisheries; aiming at increasing the economic and environmental sustainability
through improving the sectoral management has been conducted in the four main ports of
Durrës, Vlora (Vlorë), Saranda and Shengjin, as well as in the lake ports of Lake Ohrid and
Shkodra. The project ensured the collaboration of local communities.
In 1999 the Government of Albania developed a plan for the fisheries sector as part of a
broader strategy for the farming industry (Green Strategy) which included the following pillars:

Sustainable development of fisheries at sea and inland waters.

Restructuring and modernization of productive activities, commercial network, of fisheries and fishing ports.
20Legal acts: http://www.moe.gov.al/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51&Itemid=57
pag. 185/216

Sustainable increase in production both for marine and freshwater aquaculture.
The first National Plan for the fisheries sector was issued in 2004. The second Plan was developed for the years 20011 -2013 and is entitled “The Management Plan on Fisheries and
Aquaculture: Blue action”. This plan is based on the Strategy of fisheries and aquaculture Development. The following table showing the technical indicators of the fishing industry in Albania was extracted from this plan.
Table 3-1 Main structural and technical indicators of fishing industry in Albania; Capacity, activity, workforce and catch (source: FD - MoAF; IREPA)21
Port
Vessels N°
Power (kw)
Days at sea
Employment
Landings (t)
Durres
51
10.168
8.051
207
1623
Sarande
28
2.371
4.110
74
474
Shengjin
36
6.582
5.668
144
1126
Vlore
31
4.631
4.612
125
1047
TOTAL
146
23.752
22.441
550
4.270
There are 13 Fisheries Management Organizations (FMOs) in Albania. Articles 31/1 to 31/19
of Law No 7908 of 5.4.1995 provide rules for the establishment of FMOs within the state administration. FMOs are private juridical entities established according to the Civil Code, for activities in the fishing sector. An FMO is a voluntary union of members composed of owners of
fishing entities (ship-owners, establishments, or other subjects), and non-owners.
Ports, fishing centres or the structures related to fishing activity may be assigned to FMO
management. Any geographically determined body of water within Albania can be declared a
“co-management area” and managed by an FMO according to the co-management plan. The
law provides that each co-management area may have only one FMO. A co-management
strategy has the following major objectives:

Promote the exploitation of fishery resources, based on sustainable development, ensuring at the same time adequate levels to fulfil actual and future needs;

Preserve and maintain the quality and natural diversity of the fishing resources; and

Promote proper fishing technology;

Avoid surplus in fishing capacity. (pescamed.it, 201122).
21 Downloadable at: http://www.dfishery.gov.al/EN/pdf/FMP.pdf
22 Downloadable at:
http://www.pescamed.it/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=category&id=34&Itemid=205
pag. 186/216
Figure 3-39 Port of Vlora (source: www.albaniantourism.com).
Figure 3-40 Port Durres (source: http://www.skyscrapercity.com).
With regard to the ICZM Protocol, Albania is party since 2010. While in 2000, Albania became
party to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region
of the Mediterranean and its 6 protocols by the law “On the accession of the Republic of Albania to the convention “On the protection of marine environment and coastal area of the Mediterranean sea, as well as its 6 accompanying protocols”. The implementation of the ICZM protocol requirements in Albania are fulfilled through several policy documents and legal acts and
regulations. There is no current specific law, dealing with ICZM however its implementation is
carried out through different acts, such as in the nature and biodiversity, protected areas, envi-
pag. 187/216
ronment impact assessment, water, spatial planning, tourism, local governments, rural development legislation, etc. The legislation in place in Albania is elaborated in line with the requirements of multilateral international conventions and European policy. In 2006 the Albanian
Government signed with the member countries of European Union the Stabilization and association agreement. Based on that, all national legislation is under revision and being reviewed
in line with the EU acquis. The legislation is being derived and oriented by a set of national
strategies, such the National Strategy on Development and Integration and several sectoral
strategies.
Recently Albania has approved Laws respectively “On Environmental Impact Assessment”,
“On Strategic Impact assessment” and “On permitting”, completing its national legal framework
in accordance with the EU requirements.
With regards to the IZCM Protocol subjects on excavation and extraction activities as well as
infrastructure, energy facilities, ports and maritime works to prior authorization. The implementation of this obligation requires, inter alia, the organization of administrative procedures to this
effect. The provisions of Albanian laws on EIA and on permitting ensure these procedures are
fully respected in such regards. However the enforcement and implementation in practice
need to be improved.
Other relevant National Strategies/Legislations for ICZM in Albania are:

National Strategy on Development and Integration 2007-2013 and National Environment Strategy.

The National Environment Strategy approved in 2007 considers the biodiversity as
one of the priority areas of environment.

The Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, is the main document on biodiversity that
defines goals, objectives and the measures of biodiversity conservation management
in Albania for the period of 2000-2015.

Tourism strategy as the main document on tourism development.

Tourism Legislation: the Albanian law “On Tourism” No. 9734, dated 14.05.2007, also
takes into consideration tourism planning and management with regard to protection
of environment and natural resources. Places with natural tourist resources are defined as touristic spots.

The Sectoral Strategy for Transportation approved by the DCM no. 1214, dated
03.09.2008, has as its main objective the establishment of a unified road transport
network, which would gradually balance economic conditions and control traffic to reduce pollution and road accidents. The strategy in the field of sea transport, stresses
protection of the marine environment, necessary to ensure effective protection of
coastal regions and the maritime environment.

The Cross-Sectoral Strategy for Rural Development approved by the DCM , integrates
the principles of sustainable development and environmental protection, including
habitats that are important for conservation.

National strategy and plan for waste management.

Legislation Related to ICZM Implementation in Albania Nature Protection. Legislation
on nature protection which relates to protocol is comprised by a set of laws and by
laws which are enacted according to EU directives: Habitats Directive and Wild Birds
pag. 188/216
Directive and based on the major requirements derived by multilateral environmental
agreements to which Albania is a party.

Water Legislation.

Spatial Planning Legislation: Law No. 10119, dated on 23.04.2009 “On territory planning” has abrogated since September 2010 the Law No. 8405, dated on 16.09.1998
“On urban planning ” as amended. (moe.gov.al, 201323).
Significant effort has been recently made by the Albanian Government in order to ensure harmonization with European Union (EU) Directives including the sustainable use and management of the marine environment. Several such laws include the following:

Law on Biodiversity Protection No. 9587, dated 20 July 2006, establishing the legal
basis for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and for achieving Aichi
targets. Furthermore the law is based on the Convention of Biological Diversity and
other relevant EU directives such as Habitat and Wild Bird Directives. (njoftime.org,
201324);

Law on Protected Areas No. 8906, dated 6 June 2002 and revised in 2008 based on
the criteria of World Center of Nature Conservation” (IUCN). (moe.gov.al, 201325);

Law on Fisheries dated 31.5.2012 based on the principles and rules of the EU Council
Regulation (EC) No 1967/2006 of 21 December 2006 addressing the sustainable exploitation of fishery resources in the Mediterranean Sea26.
As outlined in the 4th National Report on CBD the total number of protected areas in Albania
comes to 797 comprising an area of 375,947.7 hectares or 13, 17% of the entire national territory. While marine protected areas are very few they are still included in the terrestrial PAs27.
Thought small, today the list of marine and coastal protected areas extends as far as the following seven sites:

National Marine Park Karaburun-Sazan

Protected Landscape (IUCN V) of Buna river and surrounding wetlands (including
Velipoja and Viluni wetland);

Managed Nature Reserve (IUCN IV) of Kune –Vaini-Tale,

Managed Nature Reserve of Patok-Fushekuqe (including the Patoku lagoon)

Managed Nature Reserve of Rrushkulli

National Park Divjake-Karavasta (including the Karavasta lagoon)

Protected Landscape of Vjosa river (including the Narta lagoon)
23 http://www.moe.gov.al/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=51&Itemid=60
24 http://njoftime.org/article/Ligj-Nr-9587-Date-20-07-2006.html
25Legal acts: http://www.moe.gov.al/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51&Itemid=57
26 Document downloadable at:
http://www.google.al/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CEoQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Farchive.
rec.org%2Falbania%2FCDLigjet%2Fdoc%2F2012%2FLIGJ%252064%2C%2520dt.31.05.2012%2C%2520fl.73.doc&ei=s5N_UZW7G4Lw4QSbn
oG4BQ&usg=AFQjCNG7Dz5wMrDtqj3q4Tj3rFiJKxRm-Q&bvm=bv.45645796,d.bGE
27 Document downloadable at: http://www.cbd.int/doc/world/al/al-nr-04-en.pdf
pag. 189/216

National Park Butrinti & the Butrinti lake
While the following three sites enjoy international protection status:

Butrinti lagoon (UNESCO World Heritage);

Kune, Vaini, Patoku, Karavasta, Narta, Orikumi, Butrinti lagoons (potential special protected areas by the Barcelona Convention, and Important Bird Areas);

Velipoja, Viluni, Karavasta and Butrinti lagoons (Ramsar Convention).
As for the location and a complete picture of Albania’s PA please refer to the map below.
Noteworthy is the First National Marine Park of Karaburun – Sazani, established in 2010 by
Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 289, dated 28.04.2010. The 12,570 hectares area of
the Karaburuni peninsula lays on the western part of the bay of Vlora and along with the Island
of Sazani has been identified as a priority area by the Government of Albania. The surrounding terrestrial areas do not currently enjoy protected status. (Kashta et al, 201128).
Strictly Natural Reserve/Scientific Reserve
National Park
Natural Monument
Managed Natural Reserve
Protected Landscape
Natural Protected Area of Managed Natural
Reserves
Figure 3-41 Albania’s Protected Areas Map (source: Ministry of Environment, Forest
and Water Administration).
28 Document downloadable at:
http://www.google.al/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDwQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dli
b.si%2Fstream%2FURN%3ANBN%3ASI%3ADOC-XS1V8QQG%2F2771fd14-fc19-4bce-aa90d90738ec3c00%2FPDF&ei=d5V_Uf-_CaC4AT58YGQCA&usg=AFQjCNH1aZsBrYZ2vSZUDT3_a3_FEj0O9Q&bvm=bv.45645796,d.bGE
pag. 190/216
Currently a “Strategic Plan for Marine and Coastal Protected Areas (SPMCPAs)” is being developed with the support of UNDP in the frame of the Project “Improving Coverage and Management Effectiveness of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas (September 2011 - April
2016)”. An additional proposal for new protected areas based on the 2000 National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan has been revised in 2010 under “Gap Assessment of the Protected Areas and Development of Marine Protected Areas Project”.
Maritime transport in Albania falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Works and
Transport; and more specifically the Directory of Maritime Transport Policies. This directory is
divided into the Project Implementation Unit, Port and Ship Safety Sector, and the Policy Sector on Maritime Transport. The Maritime Transport licencing is the responsibility of the Safety
department. The ports in Albania are those of Shengjin, Durres, Vlora and Saranda, with
Durres being the main and biggest port29. The Port of Durres (master plan showing in the picture below) is situated in SW part of the city of Duress. The port is state owned, has 11 wharfs,
a water area of 67 ha, land area of 80 ha, a 2.2 km long quay, water depth of 7.5-11.5m in the
basin, and a cargo volume of over 3 Mil Ton/Year30.
Unfortunately information on Maritime transport is very limited and outdated. The Ministry’s action plans though extensive; they are incomplete with unclear goals and deadlines.
Figure 3-42 Port of Durres Master Plan (source: Ministry of Public Works and
Transport).
29 Downloadable at:
http://www.dsdc.gov.al/dsdc/pub/32ab_albania_donnor_conference_presentation_stavri_ristani_305_1.pdf
30 Downloadable at: http://www.mppt.gov.al/previewdoc.php?file_id=50
pag. 191/216
The current national legal acts guiding Maritime transport are:

Law on “Maritime Code” no. 9251, dated 8.7.2004;

Decree No. 4938, dated 4.2.1972, revised on 26.4.1980, on Port Captainship;

Law on “Port Authority” No.9130, dated 8.9.2003 (mppt.gov.al, 2013)31;
It is worth mentioning that construction is on-going at two more ports by concessionary
agreements. Porto Romano (Pontili) Port – Durres is being built by the Romano Port company
based on the concession agreement. “BOT” (Built, Operate, Transfer), adopted by Law no.
9298, dated 28.10.2004. This port will be used for handling of oil, gas and their sub-products.
The Port of Vlora Bay is being constructed by the Italian company La Petrolifera Italo Albaneze, based on a second concessionary agreement. The uses of the port will be the unloading and storage of oil, gas and their sub products. According to the Albanian Transport Sectoral Strategy (2008-2013) the port will facilitate the processing by increasing the security level
and environment protection.
In the prospective with regards to shifting from a mere coastal country into a developed maritime country the strategy will focus on the following objectives: the establishment of Maritime
Administration, completion of the legal maritime framework with acquis communautaire, modernization of port, rehabilitation and reconstruction of ports infrastructure, superstructure, establishment and usage of specialized ports, privatization of port commercial services, development of maritime transport, life safety in sea, and sea environment protection. (mppt.gov.al,
201332).
With regards to coastal management, coordination and defence it is worth mentioning that in
2009, by decision of the Albanian Government, a new structure named the Inter-institutional
Maritime Operational Centre (IMOC) was established. The centre serves as an is an interministry institution, charged with ensuring the surveillance of the Albanian maritime space, for
guaranteeing the organization, planning, coordination and direction of operations on sea, in
compliance with the national and international maritime legislation in power.
The institutions of the centre involve the:

Ministry of Interior: a 24-hour presence by means of the institutional coordinators and
duty officers.

Ministry of Defence: a 24-hour presence, as well as is in charge of the operation and
maintenance of the Surveillance System of the Maritime Space.

Ministry of Finance: a 24-hour presence through institutional coordinators and duty officers.

Ministry of Environment, Woods and Water Administration: a 24-hour presence
through institutional coordinators and duty officers.

Ministry of Public Work, Transport and Telecommunication: coordinating capacity.
31 http://www.mppt.gov.al/
32 Downloadable at:
http://www.google.al/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CDwQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.m
ppt.gov.al%2Fpreviewdoc.php%3Ffile_id%3D664&ei=IbR_UdzWCoWM4ATAjYCICg&usg=AFQjCNG7QTqUcrwaWAL_F05qiDF8J_qsg&bvm=bv.45645796,d.bGE
pag. 192/216

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Consumers Protection: coordinating capacity.

Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youths and Sports: coordinating capacity.
It lays within the mission and duties of the centre to assure: the i) management and control of
the Albanian maritime borders, ii) life safety on the sea and iii) interaction of the state institution that have responsible and interests within the maritime space. The IMOC coordinates and
leads:

Costal Operations for the control of the maritime border;

Costal Operations against illegal trafficking;

Costal Operations in the war against terrorism;

Costal Operations against organized crime;

Search and Rescue Operations, as well as first aid on sea;

Anti-Pollution Operations;

Operations to protect fishing;

Operations to preserve the ecological equilibrium and maritime environment;

Operations for the protection and well-administration of fishing wealth (etiological biomeasurement);

Operations for safety on the sea. (mod.gov.al, 201333).
3.6.3
International agreements
So far Albania has ratified the following international conventions related to the management
of the marine space:

United Nations Convention on The Law of The Sea;

International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping
For Seafarers;

Barcelona Convention for Protection against Pollution in the Mediterranean Sea;

International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships;

International Convention on Load Lines;

International Maritime Convention "On Search and Rescue at Sea;

International Maritime Convention "On the rules for preventing collisions at sea;

Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (LLMC);

International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS);

United Nations Convention on Conditions for Registration of Ships;

Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea;
33 http://www.mod.gov.al/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=221&Itemid=574
pag. 193/216

International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage;

International Maritime Convention on “Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage”;

Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL);

Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic;

United Nations Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea - the "Hamburg Rules";

International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified
by the Protocol of 1978;

Paris Memorandum of Understanding (Paris MoU), establishing Port State Control;

International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water &
Sediments;

International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage;

International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks;

The International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances (HNS) by Sea;
Furthermore, the following conventions are under ratification procedures:

Protocol on Preparedness, Response and Co-Ordination To Pollution Incidents By
Hazardous And Noxious Substances, 2000;

The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods
Wholly or Partly by Sea (the Rotterdam rules) (moe.gov.al, 201334).
34 http://www.moe.gov.al/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53&Itemid=59
pag. 194/216
3.7
Montenegro
Current maritime policy in Montenegro is disintegrated as a product of vertical and horizontal
governing system. The low level of implementation of maritime policy is a result of the complexity of legal and other policy documents related to the planning and management of the
marine area, and the poor harmonization of these documents.
The management of the marine area and the activities on the coast and the sea is in general
governed by the state level and it is divided among several ministries.
At this moment, there is no legal or any other policy document that would have the character
of the Integrated maritime policy. However, the spatial planning policy in Montenegro is set by
the spatial plans. The basic characteristic of the spatial planning documents is that they cover
all relevant areas and components that can have a physical change in the area those plans
are covering. Spatial plans are divided in: a) strategic – development plans that have regional
character and are adopted for the longer period , and b) regulating plans that represent the
urbanistic solutions for the strategic targets from the development plans.
It was noted in the earlier time that spatial plans in Montenegro do not take into account, or at
least not in the adequate manner, the sea area. For that reason, the 1995 Law on planning
and development of space proposed the development of the Spatial plan for the coastal area.
However, the adoption of this plan in 2007, did not resolve this problem, since this plan, although it took into account the territorial sea of Montenegro, did not give the clear guidelines
for the development of activities, protection and use of the marine area.
Another important aspect of the spatial planning system in Montenegro is the principle of integrated planning, which ensures that all spatial plans have social, economic, environmental and
spatial components. The spatial planning system represents the basis for the integrated management. The main problems are the undeveloped practice of sea-use planning and poor
harmonization of sectoral programs for the management of different activities in the same
space.
Different activities at sea and on the coast are regulated by different laws, strategies and programs that should be harmonized, but in practice, the level of harmonization is low. At the
same time, the management of these activities is divided among different institutions on state
and some on local levels.
The highest level of integration in spatial and management sense is achieved in the area on
management of the coastal zone in Montenegro. The coastal zone is defined by law as integrated area of the land strip and territorial sea with one managerial institution. In practice the
problems represents that currently defined coastal zone in Montenegro is only a part of the
Coastal area as defined by the ICZM Protocol of Barcelona Convention, and the institution in
charge of the management of the coastal zone has limited jurisdiction, especially at the sea.
3.7.1
Implementation level of IMP and MSP
The Law on Spatial Development and Construction of Structures (adopted in 2008) is the key
legal document that prescribes the obligation and procedure for drafting spatial plans of different levels in Montenegro; Formal and planning basis for programmed spatial development is a
Five-Year Programme of Spatial Development, which, for the areas of public asset, are enact-
pag. 195/216
ed by the Government. It has already been said that strategies and plans for certain sectors
are proposed by relevant bodies and enacted by the Government.
Spatial plan of the Republic of Montenegro is adopted in 2008 and it represents the Montenegrin strategy for spatial development. This plan gives the guidelines for the development of the
three Montenegrin regions, Northern, Central and Coastal, as well as: the policy of use of land
and development of functions and economic activities in the Republic; elements of the longterm policy of spatial organization, plans of the basic infrastructure systems and basic technical systems and the manner of their integration with the infrastructure systems in the surrounding area; elements of natural and cultural heritage protection; strategic environmental
impact assessment, elements of protection of an interest for national defence; elements of
prevention and protection against natural and industrial hazards; areas and modalities of
cross-border and international cooperation in the field of physical planning; guidelines for the
preparation of spatial plans of smaller territorial units, identification of areas of high significance to the Republic; guidelines and measures for the implementation of the plan; areas and
zones of public interest; concession areas; methods, phases and schedule of implementation.
The first steps of MSP in Montenegro are referred to the adoption (in April 2007) of the Spatial
Plan for the Maritime Domain adopted as a Special Purpose Area Plan35 by the Parliament of
Montenegro. This plan covers a specific coastal zone that is defined by the Coastal Zone Law
(adopted in 1992) this plan covers a specific coastal zone – the public maritime domain, including the territorial sea, submarine zones, the sea bed and all relevant resources and the
entire Montenegrin coast. The preparation of the Spatial Plan for the Maritime Domain as a
Special Purpose Area Plan implied the use of all strategic, developmental, planning and programming documents of the Republic, as well of all the municipalities situated within this area
which includes the Montenegrin territorial waters (PAP/RAC, 2007).
Additional step in marine spatial planning in Montenegro is on-going. In 2011, the Government
of Montenegro defined the Coastal Zone in accordance with the provision of ICZM Protocol to
include the landward border of the administrative coastal units and seaward border of the territorial sea of Montenegro. The Government adopted the Decision on the Preparation of the
Special Purpose Spatial Plan for the Coastal Zone of Montenegro (Official Gazette 23/11), by
which the process of preparation of this, currently most important planning document, has
started, and is currently on-going.
Additional value to the process of drafting of this Spatial Plan is the realisation of the CAMP
Montenegro project in cooperation with UNEP/MAP that will produce numerous baseline studies as an added value for the development of the Spatial Plan for Coastal Zone of Montenegro. The development of this Spatial plan based on the studies and results of CAMP Montenegro will, for the first time introduce in the spatial planning system tools of ICZM such as carrying capacity, vulnerability assessment, etc.
35 The Spatial plan of a special purpose area shall be prepared and adopted for national parks, coastal zone, natural
reserves, recreational and tourist areas, etc. The spatial plan
of a special purpose area shall include specifically: assessment of the current state of development and land-use; the
status and directions of development in relation to the immediate surrounding; regimes of development and land-use
and zone boundaries; measures for the protection of landscape values; Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment
(SEA); other measures and requirements which correspond to the needs and characteristics of the purpose of the area for which the plan is being prepared.
pag. 196/216
Article 2 of the Decision on the Preparation of the Special Purpose Spatial Plan for the Coastal
Zone of Montenegro (Official Gazette 23/11), defines the area of the coastal zone for which
this spatial plan is being prepared as such: "the Spatial Plan is being prepared for the territories of the six coastal municipalities, territorial sea and internal coastal waters, excluding the
territories that belong to the National Park "Lovcen" in municipality Budva and the National
Park "Skadarsko jezero" in municipality Bar. The marine border of the coastal zone is the outer border of the territorial sea.
At the level of strategic planning, according to the Law, the coordination must be made in
drafting of state planning documents, such as Spatial plan of Montenegro, Spatial plan of
Coastal Zone (public maritime domain) and the future Spatial plan for the area of special purpose for the Coastal Zone (defined in accordance with ICZM Protocol). However, on operational level, in the implementation of plans and programmes of specific sectors (such as Tourism Development Strategy, Fisheries Strategy, Biodiversity Strategy, etc.), there is no obligatory coordination, which creates numerous problems on the operational level.
Participation of Montenegrin institutions in international projects dealing with Marine Spatial
planning also gave important results in implementation of the marine spatial planning in Montenegro. Through the PlanCoast project in 2007 a pilot project- the development of a sea-use
plan for the Boka Kotorska Bay (north marine area of the country) was realized. The Boka Kotorska Bay pilot project is believed to become a prototype for the rest of the coast and sea of
Montenegro (Policy Research Corporation, 2011).
Through the activities of the PAP/RAC of UNEP/MAP, Montenegro initiated realization of
Coastal Area Management Plan for the coastal area in Montenegro. CAMP Montenegro project is realized by the Ministry of sustainable development and tourism and includes the Montenegrin coast (the territories of six coastal municipalities’ total surface of 1591 km2) and the
internal waters and territorial sea (total surface around 2500 km2). The main goals of the
CAMP Montenegro are:

to create necessary mechanisms that can help achieve sustainable development of
the coastal area;

to support implementation of national policies and ICZM Protocol;

to promote integrated and participatory planning and management in the coastal area;

to build national and local capacities for ICZM and raise awareness of the importance
of the coastal area, complexity and fragility of its ecosystems and of the need for integrated approaches in managing them; and

to facilitate the transfer of knowledge on ICZM tools and approaches.
It is expected that CAMP Montenegro, among other results, will deliver: a) an analysis of the
institutional framework for the implementation of ICZM in Montenegro, b) baseline studies for
the support of the Coastal Area Spatial Plan, c) ICZM Plan in line with the requirements of the
ICZM Protocol, d) SEA for the ICZM Plan.
3.7.2
Implementation level of MSFD
Marine Framework Strategy Directive Montenegro is not implemented in Montenegro and currently Montenegro is at the beginning of the transposition of this Directive as it was suggested
by adoption of the new Law on the Protection of the Marine and Coastal Ecosystems. Since
pag. 197/216
Montenegro has a candidate status for accession to European Union, it has an obligation for
the transposition of EU directives in national legislation. This process has just started in Montenegro, however, by the deadline set in the negotiation process with EU, it will be an obligation for Montenegro to transpose Marine Framework Strategy Directive and fully implement it.
Within a RENA project carried out by the Ministry of sustainable development and tourism, it
was reported that currently only 6% of MFSD is transposed which relates the few definition
already set in national legislation.
Implementation of this Directive in Montenegro is on a low level. Basically obligations from the
Directive that are same as or related to the implementation of Barcelona Convention are implemented such as monitoring of some sea waters and coastal area parameters in accordance
with MEDPOL Programme requirements, some documents developed under obligation of LBS
and SPA Protocol, etc.
3.7.3
Other legislative and planning tools
The following legislation is considered relevant for Maritime Spatial Planning in Montenegro:

Law on Spatial Development and Construction of Structures (No. 51/08)

Law on Coastal Zone (No.14/92)

Water Law (No.27/07)

Law on the Sea (No.17/07)

Ports Law (No.51/08)

Nature protection law (No.51/08)

Law on environment (No. 48/08)

Law on maritime navigation (No.19/78)

Law on maritime fisheries and mariculture (No. 56/09)

Law on protection of the protection of the sea from boats (No. 20/11)

Law on Ratification of Convention on the protection of the marine environment and
coastal areas of Mediterranean (Barcelona convention) and its protocols

Law on Strategic Environmental Assessment (No. 80/05) and Amendments to the Law
on Strategic Environmental Assessment (No. 59/11)

Law on Ratification of the Multilateral Agreement among the countries of SouthEastern Europe for implementation of the Convention on environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context, (No. 02/09)

Law on exploration and production of carbohydrates (No 41/11)

Decree on conditions for maritime ports divided by type of maritime transport and purpose (No. 20/11)

Decree on order in ports and other parts of the coastal sea and internal waters (No.
41/06)

Decree on underwater activities in Montenegrin waters (No. 66/06)
pag. 198/216
The following strategic documents are relevant for Maritime Spatial Planning in Montenegro:

Spatial plan of the Republic (2008)

Spatial plan for the coastal zone(2007)

National Biodiversity strategy and Action Plan (2009) the impacts on habitats

National Sustainable Development Strategy (2006)

National Strategy for Integrated Coastal Zone Management (draft only) (2007)

National plan for search and rescue at sea (No.04/06)
The Montenegrin key player with regard to spatial planning is the Ministry of Sustainable development and Tourism. With regard to marine policy, beside the Ministry of Sustainable development and Tourism, key competences also lie within the Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in charge of water management and fisheries.
For what concern the spatial planning, it should be noted that in Montenegro it is, in general,
well-developed, comprehensive and integrated. However, it was noticed that there was a lack
of plans or adequate solutions for the coastal and marine area issues. The current planning
Law does not foresee the development of sea-use plans. Therefore it is necessary to use this
opportunity to introduce this new type of plans in Montenegro (PAP/RAC, 2007). Based on the
results obtained, adequate changes in legislation should be proposed by which the sea-use
plans would get appropriate place in the planning system.
3.7.4
International agreements
In 2008 Montenegro was accepted as a fully-fledged member of the UNEP Mediterranean Action Plan as a contracting party to the 1995 Barcelona Convention (The Convention for the
Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Area of the Mediterranean). By the end
of 2007 Montenegro has ratified the Barcelona Convention and its 4 protocols. Newest Protocol on Integrated Coastal Zone Management in the Mediterranean, has been ratified in Montenegro in December 2011.
Montenegro is involved in the Adriatic Euroregion, in the Adriatic-Ionian initiative, in the Commission for the Protection of the Adriatic Sea. For the description of these international agreements please refer to par. 2.5.
As a result of on-going bilateral cooperation of Montenegro with the Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea of the Italian Republic, the Environmental Montenegrin - Italian Facility
(EMIF) was established. Through this cooperation the on-going project is being realized:
"Preparation of Management Plan for Katič Islands - new Marine Protected Area". The second
phase of this project will include the training and assistance of the Italian partners for the establishment and first year of work of the MPA Katič Islands"
Cooperation with Republic Croatia in the area of water management is defined by the Law on
the ratification of agreement between Government of Montenegro and Government of Republic of Croatia in water management (No. 01/08). The purpose of this agreement is to jointly
consider and solve all questions, including the works and activities regarding the sustainable
management of waters and water constructions that can influence the changes in amounts
and quality of waters that are of interest for both countries.
pag. 199/216
Cooperation with Republic Albania is also defined by Contract between two Governments in
2001. and is related to the joint management of water, mostly focusing on Skadar Lake.
The Strategic Partnership for the Mediterranean Sea Large Marine Ecosystem has been created by a joint effort of GEF, UNEP and the World Bank to provide financial resources and
technical knowledge to countries of the Mediterranean for the joint activities with international
and bilateral cooperation agencies. Within this partnership, Montenegro is involved in the realization of the “Buna/Bojana Transboundary (Albania/Montenegro) Integrated Management
Plan", a pilot activity to demonstrate the development and implementation of a cross-border
management plan for the catchment area of the river Bojana that is borderline between Albania and Montenegro. This project is carried out in cooperation with UNEP-MAP PAP/RAC;
GWP-Med and UNESCO-IHP as the leading international cooperation agencies.
Projects concerning EU typologizations of the habitats important for conservation; in terms of
planning documents, there is National Program for Integration (NPI) of Montenegro in EU that
gave a projection concerning activities and their completion deadlines. So far, following projects are important: (i) EMERALD network (EC funded project) started in 2006 and finalized in
June 2008 by adoption of the List of (32) EMERALD sites , and (ii) Natura 2000 project is under implementation jointly by WWF, Daphne and Institute for the protection of nature in the period of 3 years. Need for establishing network of Natura 2000 sites in Montenegro is recognized by National Program for Integration (NPI) of Montenegro in EU.
The ADRICOSM Partnership was launched as a Type II Initiative at the World Summit on Sustainable development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in 2002 by the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea. The ADRICOSM Partnership has two general objectives: a) to efficiently organize, evaluate and coordinate multinational research, development and implementation programs that advance the understanding, monitoring and predictive capabilities in the
Adriatic Sea area for the establishment of integrated coastal areas and river basin management systems, and b) to consolidate the monitoring and prediction system by involving users
of the research products.
The Partnership works by implementing several projects based upon an integrated monitoring
and modelling approach for the Adriatic coastal areas and the overall river catchments, connecting land surface, underground and urban water systems with the marine environment for
the assessment and management of the marine ecosystem and the water resources. Project
ADRICOSM-STAR implementing the ADRICOSM Partnership strategy in the Montenegro
coastal area started in 2007. and it aims at the development and partial implementation of an
integrated coastal area and river and urban waters management system that considers both
observational and modelling components. The area of investigation is the Bojana river Delta
and the whole Montenegro Adriatic coast: the project considers transboundary water issues,
such as the Bojana river that is managed by both Montenegro and Albania, and the Montenegro coastal area which is naturally affected by Albanian marine waters.
pag. 200/216
4
Maritime Spatial Planning: Adriatic sea integrated analysis and conclusions
Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) aiming to result in a more coordinated management of maritime space, received significant attention at EU-level in recent years. A recent study commissioned by the European Commission (Policy Research Corporation, 2011) highlighted that the
Adriatic sea is one of the Mediterranean seas with the highest potential for the application of
the Maritime Spatial Planning. This potential is linked to:

The intense use of the sea and the foreseen increase in conflicts between human activities and sea uses;

The presence of a sufficient knowledge database;

The availability of a national/regional framework for marine policy or coastal planning;

The existence of cross border / international cooperation among Adriatic countries.
4.1
Maritime jurisdiction and international agreements
A fundamental basis for the Maritime Spatial Planning is the existence of a maritime jurisdiction beyond the territorial waters. From this point of view UNCLOS provides an overarching
framework for the allocation of marine space to national states, the rights and obligations regarding the management and conservation of the marine environment. UNCLOS introduced
the concept of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) and defined the limits of territorial seas, the
contiguous zone, the continental shelves and the high seas.
Concerning the territorial seas, most of the Adriatic states have established a 12-mile limit
(Table 4-1), with the exception of Bosnia - Herzegovina and Slovenia. Bilateral agreementstreaties for the delimitation of the territorial sea have been signed between Italy and Yugoslavia (1975 - Gulf of Trieste) and more recently between Croatia and Bosnia - Herzegovina in
1999.
The Law of the Sea Convention allows each coastal nation to establish an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) adjacent to its territorial sea, extending a maximum of 200 miles seaward from
the baseline. Unlike the internal waters and the territorial sea, the EEZ does not form part of
the national territory. Here, the coastal state merely has specific limited rights which apply not
to the maritime area itself but only to the resources existing within it. Within its EEZ, the
coastal nation has sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, conserving and
managing living and non-living resources, whether found in ocean waters, the seabed, or subsoil. At the moment none of the Adriatic countries have declared Exclusive Economic Zones
(EEZ) beyond their territorial seas (Table 4-1). The Maritime Code of Croatia, adopted on 27
January 1994, contains several provisions on the EEZ. However, the application of these provisions is conditioned to the decision of the Croatian Parliament to proclaim such a zone or a
zone of different nature.
A number of special zones have been established by Croatia, Slovenia and Italy, implying an
extension of their natural jurisdiction beyond territorial waters (Policy Research Corporation,
pag. 201/216
2011). These zones incorporate a number of specific topics like fisheries and ecological protection:

in 2003, Croatia established an Ecological and Fishery Protection Zone (EFPZ) in order to mitigate the negative impacts on marine resources. However, in 2004 the Croatian Parliament decided that the implementation of the zone regime for the EU Member States would only begin after signing a fishery partnership agreement with the EU.
Since no such agreement was signed, in 2006 the Croatian Parliament decided that
the legal regime of the EFPZ with regard to the EU Member States was to commence
as of 1 January 2008 at the latest. Subsequently, a new decision was adopted by
which the EFPZ was provisionally not to apply to EU Member States “until a common
agreement in the EU spirit was reached”. Consequently, so far, the EFPZ only applies
to non-EU Member States (Vidas, 2008);

in 2005, Slovenia established an Ecological Protection Zone. However, delimitation
agreements with neighbouring coastal States are still pending (UN Maritime SPACE,
2005);

Italy has passed legislation empowering the establishment of an Ecological Protection
Zone (one zone for the whole country) in 2006. The effective establishment of single
portions of the EPZ will be acted by agreement with neighbouring countries, or, pending the negotiations of the same agreements, by unilateral decree adopting provisionally the method of geometric equidistance. So far no EPZs have been established
(Policy Research Corporation, 2011).
The southern Adriatic countries – Albania and Montenegro – did not identify any special
zones. Therefore, their national jurisdiction is limited to their territorial waters.
In the Adriatic area there are several complex delimitation issues about the continental
shelves. The settlement of the maritime boundaries can be difficult to achieve, due to factors
such as the presence of islands or the configuration of the coasts. The bilateral agreements on
delimitation of the continental shelf are so far in force between Italy and Yugoslavia (Rome, 8
January 1968) and Italy and Albania (18 December 1982), but this last has not yet entered into
force.
Table 4-1 summarizes the information on the extent of States’ Territorial seas, Economic
Zones, Fishing Zones and Continental Shelves. It is so far clear that a considerable part of the
Adriatic Sea basin is only partially managed and controlled.
pag. 202/216
Table 4-1 Claims to maritime jurisdiction by states bordering the Mediterranean Sea.
State
LOSC ratification,
accession
Territorial sea
width
(n. miles)
EEZ,
width
(n.
miles)
Fishing zone,
width (n. miles)
Continental shelf:
Outer limit
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
12 January 1994
(*)
-
-
n/a
Croatia
05-apr-95
12
-
-
del
Italy
13 January 1995
12
-
-
depth 200 m or exploitability
Serbia and
Montenegro
12 March 2001
12
-
-
del
Slovenia
16 June 1995
-
-
n/a
Albania
23 June 2003
-
-
n/a
12
(*) A treaty on the maritime borders between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina was signed in 1999; however not
ratified (Policy Research corporation, 2011); n/a: no information available; del: up to delimitation with neighbouring
States
From another point of view, several bilateral and trilateral agreements exist in the Adriatic area; these specifically aim at increasing the collaboration among the countries in the field of
pollution prevention, marine security, economic development, land transport connections,
health and cultural co-operation, tourism development and maritime co-operation.
Within the whole Mediterranean sea, and thus also within the Adriatic sea, a regional framework treaty is in force; this was signed during the second intergovernmental conference held in
Barcelona in 1976, by the 21 Mediterranean coastal states (all except the Palestinian Authority) and the European Community. The so called Barcelona Convention aims at assessing
and controlling marine pollution, ensuring sustainable management of natural marine and
coastal resources, protecting the marine environment and coastal zones through prevention
and reduction of pollution whether land or sea-based, etc.
Besides the framework provided by the Barcelona Convention, other agreements and initiatives have been implemented. The Trilateral Commission for the protection of the Adriatic
originates from the bilateral commission between Italy and Yugoslavia (1974), which was relaunched in 1992, including Italy, Croatia and Slovenia. Montenegro has recently become a
member of the initiative. Even though the other Adriatic countries – Albania and Bosnia and
Herzegovina – do not form part of the Trilateral Commission, their interest in activities conducted by the Trilateral Commission was expressed. They were invited for – and attended –
the last meetings of the Trilateral Commission. The main goal of this Commission is the protection of the Adriatic Sea and coastal areas against pollution.
The Adriatic-Ionian Initiative was established at the Conference on the Development and
Security in the Adriatic and the Ionian Sea in Ancona on 19 - 20 May 2000, during which the
Ancona Declaration was adopted. According to this declaration, member countries committed
to co-operate in order to strengthen: peace and security, good neighbourly relations, economic
development, land transport connections, technical assistance, environmental protection,
health and cultural co-operation, tourism development and maritime co-operation.
pag. 203/216
The Adriatic Euroregion (AE) was founded on June 30, 2006 in Pula, Region of Istria, Croatia for transnational and interregional cooperation between regions of the Adriatic coastline.
The Adriatic Euroregion is the institutional framework for jointly defining and solving important
issues in the Adriatic area. It consists of 26 members - regional and local governments from
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia.
Finally, it is important to mention the Forum of Adriatic and Ionian Cities (1999) an initiative
of the Municipality of Ancona and ANCI (Italian National Association of the Municipalities).
This association brings together the coastal cities of the 7 countries of the Adriatic-Ionian Basin: Italy (28 cities), Slovenia (2 cities), Croatia (9 cities), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1 city),
Montenegro (3 cities), Albania (5 cities) and Greece (5 cities). The Forum aims to build and
develop the economic, social, environmental and cultural heritage of the Adriatic and Ionian
coastal cities and to collaborate on European integration and enlargement.
All these initiatives provide a fertile substrate for Adriatic cooperation that is essential to support MSP implementation at the Basin scale. In order to apply cross-border/international MSP
through these initiatives, the latter should not only aim at environmental protection or the development of one or more particular economic activities, but instead should follow a holistic
approach. In this respect, the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative and the Adriatic Euroregion are both
characterised by neutral approach, although the Adriatic Euroregion only involves regional authorities, whereas relevant national stakeholders should be involved as well. The Trilateral
Commission is primarily aiming at the protection of the marine environment and therefore does
not seem better qualified as a platform for MSP application. In conclusion, the Adriatic-Ionian
Initiative seems to provide the best characteristics to be used as a platform for MSP application in the Adriatic (Policy Research Corporation, 2011).
4.2
Institutional and legal framework at the national level
Maritime Spatial Planning and, more in general, Integrated Maritime Policy, are processes applied in a fragmented and sectorial ways among the Adriatic countries dividing responsibilities
between national and regional authorities. Coordination seems to be particularly complex, in
many cases multiple ministries and/or sectorial departments are responsible for IMP/MSP related topics as described in the paragraphs from 3.1 to par.3.7. A brief description of how the
single countries are managing these themes is presented below.
Differences among countries are also related to the different country status in relation to the
European Union: Italy and Slovenia are EU members, Croatia is an acceding country, Montenegro is a candidate country, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania are potential candidates36.
Italy has not implemented yet an Integrated Maritime Policy. Sea uses are managed in a
fragmented manner both vertically and horizontally by different administration levels and
through sectorial policies (see Figure 3-1 and Figure 3-2). Marine planning takes place at different levels of authorities, being spread across various ministries; this fragmentation limits the
MSP application. Consequently, changes in the legal framework are necessary to provide the
effective legal basis for the development of IMP and MSP.
36 http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/index_en.htm; last access 15 May 2013.
pag. 204/216
Concerning other legislative and planning tools referred to IMP/MSP themes, the Maritime
Strategy Framework Directive was transposed into Italian legislation on the 13 October 2010,
with the Legislative Decree n. 190. First required actions were implemented in due time, i.e.:
initial assessment of the current environmental status of marine waters, determination of good
environmental
status,
establishment
of
environmental
targets
(http://www.strategiamarina.isprambiente.it/).
The main European directives governing the various aspects related to the maritime spatial
planning and ICZM issues have also been implemented at national level through a large number of laws and legislative decrees. The main legislative references are certainly the laws
transposing the European directives which are complemented with numerous and equally important sector regulations that help in defining specific aspects of each topic. Concerning the
protection of the sea the Law December 2, 1994, no. 689 dealing with the Ratification and implementation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS - Montego Bay) is very
important to be mentioned because the purposes of maritime spatial planning stands in the
definition of rights and responsibilities of States in the use of seas and oceans.
Two national laws have transposed the EC Birds and Habitat Directives: the National Law No.
157 of 11 February 1992 as supplemented by Act Oct. 3, 2002 n. 221 (implementation of the
Birds Directive) and the Presidential Decree 8 September 1997 n. 357 as amended by Presidential Decree 120 of 12 March 2003 (implementation of the Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora). Other forms of biodiversity preservation include the “Ecological Protection Zone (EPZ)” beyond the outer limit of the territorial sea
(Law no. 61/2006) and the marine protected areas (instituted with law n. 979 of 1982 and Law
n. 394 of 1991). Based on the EU directive (92/43/CEE), Italy is also carrying out the implementation of marine Natura 2000 network. The Water Framework Directive (2000/60/CE) has
been adopted with the Legislative Decree 152/2006 and with the adoption of several management plans (http://www.direttivaacque.minambiente.it/distretti_idrografici.html).
The fisheries sector is managed by several laws; the creation of the Fishing Districts have
been defined with the legislative decree 226/2001 (art. 4). The Fishing Districts are proposed
by the Regions and then are identified and defined by National Legislative Decrees. Concerning the environmental permitting the reference is the Legislative decree 152/2006 whose
scope can be linked with ICZM/MSP themes in particular for sea defence works (also against
coastal erosion) and maritime ports including fishing ports.
In Slovenia, a “Maritime Spatial Plan” has not yet drawn up, but the Spatial planning Act
(2005) provides a legislative framework for the application of MSP. The Spatial planning act
indeed applies not only to the coast but also to the sea (including the seabed) and it states
that the maritime spatial planning is under jurisdiction of the State and not under municipal jurisdiction. The feasibility for the application of MSP is strong in this respect, although Slovenia
still needs to develop a legal basis for MSP by creating a national strategic plan for the sea.
The role of maritime spatial planning as an instrument to coordinate potentially conflicting interests on land (coast) and the sea is not yet fully utilised in Slovenia, as also found by the
PlanCoast project (Interreg IIIB CADSES). However, some uses of the sea area, have been
defined on the basis of sectorial rules outside the formal spatial planning framework, namely
the areas of nature protection and cultural heritage, fishing reserves, waterway corridors, etc.
Concerning other legislative and planning tools referred to MSP themes, the Maritime Strategy
Framework Directive has not been elaborated yet, even if to ensure its implementation the
pag. 205/216
Ministry of Agriculture and of the Environment prepared a framework plan of action for the first
planning period (2008-2015) on the basis of the provisions of Directive 2008/56/CE.
Recently Slovenia adopted a Resolution on the National Maritime Development Programme
(OG RS, No. 87/2010), taking into account, inter alia, the Integrated Maritime Policy and the
Action Plan of the Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union. This Programme is a
strategic document which provides conditions for the sustainable and integrated development
especially in the field of maritime transport safety. Other related actions refer to the River Basin Management Plans adopted in August 2011 and to the transposition of the WFD (Water
Framework Directive) in several regulations (Water Act, Environment Protection Act, Nature
conservation act, etc.); Slovenia has transposed the majority of the Flood Directive provisions
in national law (OG RS, No 07/10); both Strategic and Environmental Impact assessment
comply in Slovenia with the related EU Directives.
In Croatia, there is no specific Maritime Spatial Planning regulation, nor any spatial planning
or coastal law which can also be applied to the sea (Policy Research Corporation, 2011). Marine activities are co-ordinated by 7 different Ministries and several governmental institutions.
The regulatory system that governs sea areas is characterised by a sectorial approach of
powers subdivided in national authorities-harbours, fishery and mariculture, navigation, energy, directorates and public companies managing particular resources. Although the spatial
planning law requires the co-operation of the majority of institutions, this co-operation is only
formal and thus not working properly in terms of the weighting of the different sectors' views
and interests.
The basic physical planning positions are determined by the Physical Planning and Building
Act (OG 76/07, 38/09, 55/11, 90/11, 50/12, 55/12), the Physical Planning Strategy of the Republic of Croatia (1997), and the Physical Planning Programme of the Republic of Croatia
(1999). In Croatia coordination of spatial plans until 300 meters seawards is legally in place
(Policy Research Corporation, 2011). For the remaining part of the marine area coordination
among stakeholders is limited and a sectoral approach dominates. To enable the development
of MSP, changes in Croatian legal and institutional framework seem to be required in this respect (Policy Research Corporation, 2011). Concerning other legislative and planning tools
referred to MSP themes (Croatia is an acceding country), the Maritime Strategy Framework
Directive has not been elaborated yet, while several other laws manage the aspects of Strategic Environmental Aspects, Biodiversity and landscape preservation, fishery at sea, water protection, etc.
The institutional structure of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is defined by the
Federal Constitution in 10 regional Cantons. According to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the jurisdiction between the Federation and Cantons is shared (PAP/RAC, 2007b)
with the exception of specific areas being under exclusive jurisdiction of the Canton (construction sector).
At present, there is no marine spatial planning in Bosnia and Herzegovina (PAP/RAC, 2007b).
The most important legislation regarding MSP is the Federal Law on Spatial Planning which
involves different Ministries (Federal Ministry of Physical Planning and Environment; Federal
Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry; Ministry responsible for Coastal
Planning, Neum Municipality). The country is now preparing a Spatial Plan for the Federation
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the spatial planning of maritime activities. The inclusion
of the spatial planning of maritime activities was triggered by potential competition between
maritime uses when installing a harbour in Neum. The Spatial Plan of the Neum Municipality is
pag. 206/216
also under consideration and will have to be in line with the Spatial Plan for the Federation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina once it is adopted. The country shows less potential for application of
international MSP given the limited marine area under national jurisdiction; nevertheless best
practices should be taken into account with regard to the further analysis of joint MSP in the
Adriatic Sea basin (Policy Research Corporation, 2011).
Albania did not transpose in any national legislation the main EU Directives and Policies (Integrated Maritime Policy - IMP, Maritime Spatial Planning – MSP and Marine Strategy Framework Directive - MSFD), nor the country is planning to do it in the short future. This is possible,
considering that Albania is a potential candidate country for EU membership and the EU legislation is not obligatory as for the member states. According to the Stabilization and Association
Agreement (SAA), Albania has the obligation to approximate the national legislation with the
EU acquis within a period of 10 years after the entry into force of the SAA, which entered into
force on April, 1, 2009. The country is planning, after a careful review of the national legislation
and of the requirements of the IMP, MSP and MSFD, to elaborate in the future the transposition of these legal acts in compliance with the specificities of the country itself.
Although the IMP, MSP and MFSD have not yet been transposed, there are other legal acts
that might contribute to the IMP-MSP and MSFD transposition and implementation as for example: (i) the ratification of the Barcelona Convention and its protocols, (ii) Law no. 9115, dated 24.7.2003 "On the protection of the marine environment from pollution and damage", or (iii)
The Marine Code (Law no.9251, dated 8.7.2004); more details are provided in paragraph 3.6.
With regard to the ICZM Protocol, Albania is party since 2010. There is no current specific law,
dealing with ICZM however its implementation is carried out through different acts, such as in
the nature and biodiversity, protected areas, environment impact assessment, water, spatial
planning, tourism, local governments, rural development legislation.
Significant effort has been recently made by the Albanian Government in order to ensure harmonization with European Union (EU) Directives including the sustainable use and management of the marine environment. Several such laws include the following: (i) Law on Biodiversity Protection No. 9587, (ii) Law on Protected Areas No. 8906, (iii) Law on Fisheries dated
31.5.2012. While marine protected areas are very few they are still included in the terrestrial
Pas. Currently a “Strategic Plan for Marine and Coastal Protected Areas (SPMCPAs)” is being
developed with the support of UNDP in the frame of the Project “Improving Coverage and
Management Effectiveness of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas (September 2011 - April
2016)”. An additional proposal for new protected areas based on the 2000 National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan has been revised in 2010 under “Gap Assessment of the Protected Areas and Development of Marine Protected Areas Project.
Current maritime policy in Montenegro is disintegrated as a product of vertical and horizontal
governing system. The management of the marine area and the activities on the coast and the
sea is in general governed by the State level and it is divided among several ministries. At this
moment, there is no legal or any other policy document that would have the character of the
Integrated Maritime Policy.
The first steps of MSP in Montenegro are referred to the adoption (in April 2007) of the Spatial
Plan for the Maritime Domain adopted as a Special Purpose Area Plan by the Parliament of
Montenegro. This plan covers a specific coastal zone that is defined by the Coastal Zone Law
(adopted in 1992) this plan covers a specific coastal zone – the public maritime domain, including the territorial sea, submarine zones, the sea bed and all relevant resources and the
pag. 207/216
entire Montenegrin coast. The preparation of the Spatial Plan for the Maritime Domain as a
Special Purpose Area Plan implied the use of all strategic, developmental, planning and programming documents of the Republic, as well of all the municipalities situated within this area
which includes the Montenegrin territorial waters (PAP/RAC, 2007).
Additional step in marine spatial planning in Montenegro is on-going. In 2011, the Government
of Montenegro defined the Coastal Zone in accordance with the provision of ICZM Protocol to
include the landward border of the administrative coastal units and seaward border of the territorial sea of Montenegro. The Government adopted the Decision on the Preparation of the
Special Purpose Spatial Plan for the Coastal Zone of Montenegro (Official Gazette 23/11), by
which the process of preparation of this, currently most important planning document, has
started, and is currently on-going. Additional value to the process of drafting of this Spatial
Plan is the realisation of the CAMP Montenegro project in cooperation with UNEP/MAP that
will produce numerous baseline studies as an added value for the development of the Spatial
Plan for Coastal Zone of Montenegro. The development of this Spatial plan based on the studies and results of CAMP Montenegro will, for the first time introduce in the spatial planning
system tools of ICZM such as carrying capacity, vulnerability assessment, etc.
Participation of Montenegrin institutions in international projects dealing with Marine Spatial
planning also gave important results in implementation of the marine spatial planning in Montenegro. Through the PlanCoast project in 2007 a pilot project- the development of a sea-use
plan for the Boka Kotorska Bay (north marine area of the country) was realized. The Boka Kotorska Bay pilot project is believed to become a prototype for the rest of the coast and sea of
Montenegro (Policy Research Corporation, 2011).
The Montenegrin key player with regard to spatial planning is the Ministry of Sustainable development and Tourism. With regard to marine policy, beside the Ministry of Sustainable development and Tourism, key competences also lie within the Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in charge of water management and fisheries.
Marine Framework Strategy Directive Montenegro is not implemented in Montenegro and currently Montenegro is at the beginning of the transposition of this Directive, as it was suggested
by adoption of the new Law on the Protection of the Marine and Coastal Ecosystems.
4.3
Conclusive remarks
Maritime Spatial Planning, compared to land use planning, is a fairly new and emerging process (Peel and Lloyd, 2004). This process in the Adriatic sea shows different levels of development, both in relation to the different needs within the basin (which are stronger in the
northern part) and in relation to the longer or shorter membership to European Union.
From an institutional and legal framework in each Adriatic country the coordination on MSP
themes among national, regional and local authorities still needs to be established. The single
nations analysed in this report did not develop until now (early 2013) an Integrated Maritime
Policy and the management of maritime space and resources is fragmented, Therefore MSP
has not been implemented, yet. However, among the Adriatic sea countries several operative
instruments (including bilateral and trilateral agreements), sectorial laws and international co-
pag. 208/216
operation projects exists which all together represent an excellent and well developed starting
point for the future development of MSP.
Coordination among nations within MSP is still far to be reached as well, in particular for the
significant differences in government structures that make difficult to introduce uniform solutions for MSP policy making. Four key initiatives on cooperation already exist in the Adriatic
sea that could help and facilitate the dissemination of the MSP concepts: the Trilateral Commission, the Adriatic - Ionian Initiative, the Adriatic Euro region and the IPA Adriatic Programme. Several international agreements are also in place among the Adriatic sea countries
and/or regions. All these initiatives, projects and international agreements show that crossborder/international cooperation is well advanced in this area and, in particular, in the northern
part of the Adriatic sea.
The Adriatic-Ionian Initiative and the Adriatic Euroregion are both characterised by a neutral
approach, while the Trilateral Commission is primarily focusing on environmental protection. In
this perspective, the first two appear to be more promising for the implementation of a MSP
process at the Adriatic Sea scale; in particular the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative seems to provide
the best characteristics to be used as a platform for MSP application since it involves national
stakeholders that play a key role as far as the maritime or marine space and resources are
concerned.
In the Adriatic sea, the need for marine spatial planning is very strong in particular for its intense use and for the potential growing conflicts among user’s needs and ecosystem protection policies. The future development of MSP will be strongly influenced by the need of a holistic and ecosystem based approach that allows the contemporary management of an increasing demand for sea space and of an ecologically responsible decision-making. It is important
for the implementation of this process to reach a more efficient vertical and horizontal coordination between national and regional authorities and among countries. Indeed, the interconnection of sea spaces, the cross-boundary impact of sea uses and the broader scale needed
to be ecologically meaningful, require the development of an international perspective.
pag. 209/216
5
References
This section of the report list the main consulted references; these area grouped by chapters
or paragraphs. For some chapters/paragraphs references are directly mentioned in the chapter/paragraph text or included as footnote; therefore are not reported in the following list.
Chapter 2 – Policy and legal framework
Bloch, H. 2000. EU policy on nutrients emissions: legislation and implementation. In:
Wastewater and EU-Nutrient Guidelines, pp. 52-59. International Water Association, London.
Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the Conservation of wild birds, OJ L 103, 24
March 1979, as amended.
Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the Conservation of natural habitats and of
wild fauna and flora, OJ L 206, 22 July 1992.
Council Regulation 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy, OJ L 358, 31 December
2002.
DG Maritime Affairs & Fisheries (2008). Legal Aspects Of Maritime Spatial Planning. Prepared
by MRAG, Institute of Maritime Law- University of Southampton, Lamas sa, Oko Institue e.V.,
NILOS, PoIEM sp. (Framework Service Contract, No. FISH/2006/09 – LOT2.
Ekebom, J., Jäänheimo J., Reker J., (2008). Towards Marine Spatial Planning in the Baltic
Sea, BALANCE Technical Summary Report 4, May 2008.
European Science Foundation (ESF) (2007). Impacts of climate change on the European marine and coastal environment, ecosystems approach. Marine Board Position Paper 9.
European Commission, 2006. Green Paper - Towards a future Maritime Policy for the Union:
A European vision for the oceans and seas. COM(2006) 275 Volume II – ANNEX of 7.6.2006
European Commission, 1998. Communication from the Commission to the Council and the
European Parliament on a European Community Biodiversity Strategy COM (1998)42 final.
European Commission, 2000. Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy.
European Commission, 2001. Communication from the Commission to the Council and the
European Parliament - Biodiversity Action Plans in the areas of Conservation of Natural Resources, Agriculture, Fisheries, and Development and Economic Co-operation
COM(2001)0162 final.
European Commission, 2002. "Recommendation of the European Parliament and the Council
concerning Integrated Coastal Zone Management (EU ICZM Recommendation),
2002/413/EC, OJ L148"
European Commission, 2006. "Communication from the Commission to the Council and the
European Parliament on the review of the Sustainable Development Strategy: A platform for
action. COM(2006) 658 final/2".
pag. 210/216
European Commission, 2006. Commission Staff Working Document Annexes to the Communication from the Commission Halting the Loss of Biodiversity by 2010 — and beyond. Sustaining ecosystem services for human well–being. SEC(2006) 621 final.
European Commission, 2006. Halting the loss of Biodiversity by 2010 - and beyond: Sustaining ecosystem services for human well-being. COM/2006/0216 final.
European Commission (2006): Guidance document on the strict protection of animal species
of community interest provided by the 'habitats directive' 92/43/EEC. Draft version 5. vol. Draft
number 5.
European Commission, 2007. "Commission Staff Working Document. Accompanying document to the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council,
the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union (the "Blue Book"). SEC(2007) 1278".
European Commission, 2007. "Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions. An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union (the "Blue Book"). (COM
(2007) 575 final)".
European Commission, 2007. Commission Staff Working Document - Accompanying document to the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council,
the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union. Action Plan. SEC(2007) 1280 final.
European Commission, 2007. Communication from the Commission to the European parliament, the Council, the European economic and social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions - An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union. COM(2007) 575 final.
European Commission, 2007. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European economic and social Committee and the Committee of the
regions. Conclusions from the Consultation on a European Maritime Policy COM(2007) 574
final.
European Commission, 2008. "Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council establishing a framework for community action in the field of marine environmental
policy (Marine Strategy Framework Directive)".
European Commission, 2008. Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions. Guidelines for an Integrated Approach to Maritime Policy: Towards best practice in
integrated maritime governance and stakeholder consultation COM(2008) 385 final.
European Commission, 2008. Communication on a Roadmap for Maritime Spatial Planning:
Achieving common principles in the EU. COM(2008) 791 final.
European Commission, 2009. Communication "Towards the integration of maritime surveillance: A common information sharing environment for the EU maritime domain”. COM(2009)
538 final.
European Commission, 2009. Communication on developing the international dimension of
the Integrated Maritime Policy of the European Union COM(2009) 536 final.
pag. 211/216
European Commission, 2010. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council. Marine Knowledge 2020 marine data and observation for smart and
sustainable growth. COM(2010) 461 final.
European Commission, 2010. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.
Options for an EU vision and target for biodiversity beyond 2010. COM(2010) 4 final.
European Commission, 2010. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions. Achievements and future development COM(2010) 771 final.
European Commission, 2011. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.
Our life insurance, our natural capital: an EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 COM(2011) 244
final.
European Commission, 2011. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions on external dimension of the common fisheries policy COM(2011) 424 final.
European Commission, 2011. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions; Reform of the common fisheries policy. COM(2011) 417 final.
European Commission, 2011. Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on
the common fisheries policy COM(2011) 425 final.
European Commission, 2011. Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on
the common organisation of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products COM(2011) 416
final.
European Commission, 2011. Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the
Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions;
On reporting obligations under Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002
on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the common
fisheries policy COM(2011) 418 final.
European Commission - Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (2011).“ “Exploring the potential of Maritime Spatial Planning in the Mediterranean Sea” Framework contract FISH/2007/04 Specific contract No 6 February 2011. Policy Research Corporation.
European Commission - Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (2011). “The
potential of Maritime Spatial Planning in the Mediterranean Sea” Case study report: The Adriatic Sea. Policy Research Corporation.
European Council, 2009. Environment Council Conclusions EUCO 7065/09 3 March 2009.
European Council, 2009. Environment Council Conclusions. A mid-term assessment of implementing the EU Biodiversity Action Plan and Towards an EU Strategy on Invasive Alien
Species. EUCO 11412/09 of 25 June 2009.
European Council, 2010. Environment Council Conclusions 15 March 2010. Conclusions on
Biodiversity post-2010 - EU and global vision and targets and international access and burden
sharing regime. EUCO 7/10 of 15 March 2010.
pag. 212/216
European Council, 2010. European Council Conclusions 26 March 2010. EUCO 7/10 of 26
March 2010.
European Union Council, 2011. Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Programme to support the further development of an Integrated Maritime Policy
EP-PE_TC1-COD(2010)0257 17.11.2011.
European Environmental Agency, 2010, The European Environment State and Outlook 2010
Biodiversity.
Farmer, A.M. (2000). Integrating the EU's water policies. Inland, Coastal and Estuarine Waters. 2: 6-7.
Farmer, A.M. (2001). The EC water framework Directive: an introduction. Water Law, 12: 4046.
IPCC (2007). Climate Change 2007: synthesis report. In: Core Writing Team, Pachauri, R.K.,
Reisinger, A. (Eds.), Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 104 pp.
Long R. (2011). The Marine Strategy Framework Directive: A new European approach to the
regulation of the marine environment, marine natural resources and marine ecological services. Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law 29 (1) pp. 1-44.
Mc Kenna, J., Cooper, A. & O'Hagan, A. M. (2008). Managing by principle: A critical analysis
of the European principles of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). Marine Policy, 32,
941-955.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2003). Ecosystems and Human Well-being. Island Press,
Washington.
Meiner A. (2010). Integrated maritime policy for the European Union — consolidating coastal
and marine information to support maritime spatial planning. J Coast Conserv. 14:1–11.
Kyriaki Remoundou, Phoebe Koundouri, Areti Kontogianni, Paulo A.L.D. Nunes, Michalis
Skourtos (2009). Valuation of natural marine ecosystems: an economic perspective. Environmental Science & Policy: 12 (2009)1040 – 1051.
PAP/RAC, 2007. National Report on Current Policy, Procedures, Legal Basis and Practice of
Marine Spatial Planning in Montenegro, Budva
PAP/RAC, 2007b. National Report on Current Policy, Procedures, Legal Basis and Practice of
Marine Spatial Planning in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mostar.
Peel D. and Lloyd M., 2004. The social reconstruction of the marine environment. Towards
marine spatial planning? Town Planning review 75, 359-378.
Policy Research Corporation (2011). The potential of Maritime Spatial Planning in the Mediterranean Sea. Case study report: The Adriatic Sea.
Robinson, N. A. Ed. (1992). Agenda 21 and the UNCED Proceedings. New York: Oceana,
1992.
Schäfer N. (2009). The Integrated EU Maritime Policy and Maritime Spatial Planning – The
Way Ahead. European Marine Sand and Gravel Group – a wave of opportunities for the marine aggregates industry EMSAGG Conference, 7-8 May 2009 Frentani Conference Centre,
Rome, Italy.
pag. 213/216
Stern, A. (1995). Water in Europe: What to expect from the EU policy review. Club de Bruxelles.
UNCED (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development), (1992). Agenda 21:
Programme of Action for Sustainable Development. The final text of agreements negotiated by
governments 3-14 June, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Suarez de Vivero J.L., Rodrıguez Mateos J.C. (2012). The Spanish approach to marine spatial
planning. Marine Strategy Framework Directive vs. EU Integrated Maritime Policy. Marine Policy, 36: 18–27.
UN, Maritime Space: Maritime Zones and Maritime Delimitation. Ecological Protection Zone and
Continental Shelf of the Republic of Slovenia Act, 22 October 2005
UNEP(DEC)/MED WG. 277/4 Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development. A Frame-
work for Environmental Sustainability and Shared Prosperity.
Vidas D., 2008. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the European Union and the Rule
of Law, What is going on in the Adriatic?
http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_overview_convention.htm
http://www.unece.org/env/eia/eia.html
http://www.unep.org/regionalseas/
http://www.unepmap.org/index.php?module=content2&catid=001001002
http://www.unepmap.org/index.php?module=content2&catid=001017002001
http://asp.rec.org/overview.html
http://www.faic.eu/faic/en/index.html
Chapter 3 – Analysis at the national – regional level
Paragraph 3.2.2. Emilia Romagna Region
Atlante delle Spiagge Italiane, 1985. Fogli 99-Comacchio, 89-Ravenna, 100-Forlì, 101 Rimini,
109-Pesaro. Consiglio Nazionale della Ricerca.
Djohan, S., (2011). Policy Research Corporation, “telephone interview with Katia Raffaelli”.
Dolan, R., Hayden B.P., May P. and May S., (1980). The reliability of shoreline change measurements from aerial photographs. Shore and Beach, 48 (4), 22-29.
Errani V. Emilia-Romagna Governor, Speech to Simposium “Adriatic-Ionian Macroregion: a
New Framework for Cross-Border Cooperation”, Bologna, Open Days 2011.
European Commission - Directorate General Environment 2004. EUROSION Guidelines for
implementing local information systems dedicated to coastal erosion management. Available
at: EUROSION Portal.
Moore, L. J., (2000) “Shoreline mapping techniques”. In Journal of Coastal Research16: 111124.
http://www.regione.emilia-romagna.it/wcm/geologia/canali/costa/progett.
http://www.ita-slo.eu/programme/basic_information/
pag. 214/216
www.adriaticeuroregion.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68&Itemid=53&l
ang=en
Paragraph 3.3. Croatia
The Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Census 2011.
Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, consolidated text (06. July 2010.)
The Physical Planning Strategy of the Republic of Croatia (1997)
The Physical Planning Programme of the Republic of Croatia (1999)
The Law on Ratification of the European Landscape Convention (NN-MU-12/02)
The Strategy for Sustainable Development of the Republic of Croatia (OG 30/09)
The Strategy and Action Plan for the Protection of Biological and Landscape Diversity of the
Republic of Croatia (OG 143/08)
The Transport Development Strategy Republic of Croatia (1999)
The Pre-Accession Maritime Transport Strategy Republic of Croatia (June, 2005)
The Nautical tourism Development Strategy of the Republic of Croatia 2009-2019 (December
2009)
The National Islands Development Programme (February 1997)
The Physical Planning and Building Act (OG no. 76/07, 38/09, 55/11, 90/11, 50/12, 55/12)
The criteria for planning tourism zones of the coastal area in the Republic of Croatia (June,
2009)
Law on the Territory of Counties, Towns and Municipalities in the Republic of Croatia (OG
86/06, 128/06, 16/07, 95/08, 46/10, 145/10)
The Maritime Code (OG 181/04, 76/07, 146/08, 61/11),
The Maritime Demesne and Seaports Act, (OG 158/03, 141/06)
The Shoreline and Marine Harbours Act (15/03,100/04,141/06,38/09)
The Marine Fisheries Act (OG 56/10, 127/10, 55/11),
The Fresh Water Fisheries Act (OG 106/01,7/03,174/04,10/05,49/05-consolidated text)
The Act on Structural Support and Market organization in fisheries (OG 153/09,127/10)
The Environmental Protection Act (OG 110/07)
The Nature Protection Act (OG 70/05, 139/08, 57/11)
The Regulation on Environmental Impact Assessment (OG 64/08, 67/09)
The Regulation on Proclamation of the Ecological Network of the Republic of Croatia (OG
109/07)
The Ordinance on Nature Impact Assessment (OG 89/07)
The Act on the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage (OG 69/99, 151/03, 157/03,
87/09, 88/10, 61/11, 25/12)
pag. 215/216
The Waters Act (153/09, 130/11)
The Islands Act (OG 34/99, 149/99, 32/02, 33/06)
The Coastal Sea Act (1987)
The Decision on the List of Waters of the First Order (OG 79/10)
The Decision on the designation of sensitive areas, OG 81/10)
The Regulation on Quality Standards for Water (OG 89/10)
The Regulation on Sea Bathing Water Quality (OG 73/08)
The Contingency Plan for Accidental Marine Pollution of the Republic of Croatia (OG 92/08)
The Physical Plan Region of Istria (Official Gazette of the Istria County, No. 2/02, 1/05, 4/05,
14/05-consolidated text, 10/08, 07/10, 16/11- consolidated text)
http://www.dzs.hr
http://www.istra-istria.hr
Paragraph 3.4. Slovenia
Decree on the Types of Spatial Planning of National Significance – Informal Consolidated Version. OG RS, Nos. 95/07, 102/08 and 26/10.
Marine Strategy Framework Directive: Action plan for the planning period 2008-2015, 2009.
Ministry
of
the
Environment
and
Spatial
Planning.
Ljubljana.
http://mop.gov.si/.../morska_strategija_okvirni_program.
Mezek, S., 2007. Slovenia – National report on Current Policy, Legal Basis and Practice of
Marine Spatial Planning, Final report. Interreg IIIB CADSES Programme.
http://www.plancoast.eu/php/plancoast-downloads.php?id=8
Resolution on the National Maritime Development Programme. OG RS, No. 87/2010.
UNEP/MAP-PAP/RAC. 2008. MAP Coastal Area Management Programme (CAMP) Slovenia:
Final Integrated Report. MAP Technical Report Series No. 171. UNEP/MAP, Athens. pp. xi +
244.
Paragraph 3.6. Albania
European Commission Enlargement - Country Strategy and Progress Reports, Available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/countries/strategy-and-progress-report/index_en.htm
Ministria e Mjedisit, Pyjeve dhe Administrimit te Ujrave; Available at: moe.gov.al
http://www.dfishery.gov.al/EN/pdf/FMP.pdf
Sustainable Fisheries in the Mediterranean Area; Available at: http://www.pescamed.it/
Fourth Nationa Report to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity – Albania,
2010, Available at: http://www.cbd.int/doc/world/al/al-nr-04-en.pdf
Kashta et al, The first MPA in Albania, Sazani Island – Karaburuni Peninsula, as a regional
priority conservation area for marine biodiversity, 2011.
Ministria e Puneve Publike dhe Transportit. Available at: mppt.gov.al
Ministria e Mbrojtjes Available at mod.gov.al/
pag. 216/216