Progress report for
A Maritime Strategy for the sustainable development of the blue economy in Catalonia
Achievement at a glance
The process of the implementation of the 2030 Maritime Strategy of Catalonia is progressing. The first strategic plan (2018-2021) has been finalized and an evaluation of its implementation is currently ongoing. However, a mid-term evaluation of its implementation by December 2019 was published in 2020 . The main results of the report reflect that more than 88% of the total of the 89 strategic lines included in the first Strategic Plan were already initiated, 60% of the 277 actions integrated in these lines have already been fulfilled, and 30% were being executed.Previously to the development of the second Strategic Plan, an independent evaluation of the design of the first one was carried out in order to identify strengths, weaknesses and elements to be improved. This evaluating is currently being used as a guide in the development of the 2022-2025 Plan.
Various achievements have been reached within the first period, all of them being essential to advance in the process of the implementation of the Strategy. Regarding one of the scopes of action of the Strategy, the governance, during the year 2021 took place the constitution of the Catalan Maritime Co-Management Council (CCCM), the body responsible for co-designing the Integrated Maritime Policy of Catalonia, for reviewing and adapting the Maritime Strategy, and also for its implementation and monitoring. This body allows the functioning of a new governance model, based on the principle of co-management, at the level of the Catalonian Maritime Policy. Co-management originated in Catalonia in 2012 in the field of professional fishing and was later successfully expanded to aquaculture and the maritime uses of a specific area. The model involves the participation of all concerned stakeholders in decision-making, creating a system of co-responsibility. The Catalan Maritime Co-Management Council is integrated by the regional and local administrations, scientists, the economic sectors that make up the blue economy in Catalonia, civil society, trade unions and business organizations.
The first statistical evaluation of the Blue Economy of Catalonia, done in the framework of this Strategy, was carried out in 2020, following the methodology of the EU Blue Economy report, based on official data from 2017. The study, published in the 2020 edition of the EU Blue Economy report, revealed that the traditional economic sectors in the Blue Economy directly employed 214,496 people (5.8% of the total employment in Catalonia) and reached €7.3 billion of Gross Value Added (GVA) (3.4% of the GVA of Catalonia). These values place Catalonia among the European states with the highest weight of the maritime economy within their national economy as a whole (Portugal, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Malta and Cyprus). This statistical evaluation has been already updated in 2021 and from now on will be continue being updated and improved annually.
The Strategy has made also an important contribution in tackling pollution and marine litter at sea. In this context, the Catalan Research Institute for the Governance of the Sea (ICATMAR), created in the framework of the Strategy, has developed the first classification and quantification of the marine litter present in the fishing grounds along the Catalan coast. The study reported and alarming presence of plastics, mostly represented by wet wipes, at the central region of Catalonia, with a density of 13,7 kg/km2. Those results (from 2020 and 2021data) has been published in the 2022 edition of the EU Blue Economy report . This sampling and characterization campaigns will be continue being done annually as part of the program of the ICATMAR.
http://agricultura.gencat.cat/web/.content/08-pesca/politica-maritima/enllacos-documents/fitxers-binaris/Informe-EMC-2018-2019.pdf
https://ruralcat.gencat.cat/web/guest/oficina-de-la-mar/economia-blava
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/156eecbd-d7eb-11ec-a95f-01aa75ed71a1
Challenges faced in implementation
One of the main challenge faced has been the design and functioning of the Catalan Maritime Co-Management Council, including the selection of representatives of all the sectors involved. As a new model of governance that includes multiple actors from different scopes of actions and sectors, the integration and collaboration among all of them is a complex and long process which is being essential for the validation of the new strategic plan.Next Steps
There are three principal future actions that have to be developed:- The completion of the evaluation of the first strategic plan in order to analyze the progress of the Strategy
- The development of a proposal of the new strategic plan for the period 2022-2025
- The validation and approval of the Plan by the Catalan Maritime Co-Management Council.
Beneficiaries
The Strategy through its four scopes of action is very comprehensive and aims to benefit society as a whole trough the sustainable development of the blue economy while preserving the ecosystem health and services.