Developing a Comparative Marine Socio-Economic Framework for the European Atlantic Area

Availability and easy access to a wide range of natural and human-activity data on the oceans and coastal regions of Europe is the basis for strategic decision-making on coastal and marine policy. Strategies within Europe’s Integrated Maritime Policy, including the Maritime Strategy for the Atlantic Area, Blue Growth, Maritime Spatial Planning and Marine Data and Knowledge, require coherent and comparable socio-economic data across European countries. Similarly, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive requires member states to carry out economic and social analysis of their waters and the reformed Common Fisheries Policy includes a social dimension requiring socio-economic data. However, the availability of consistent, accessible marine socio-economic data for the European Atlantic Arc regions is limited. Ocean economy studies have been undertaken in some countries (for example, Ireland, France, and UK) but timescales and methodologies are not necessarily comparable. Marnet is an EU transnational co-operation project involving eight partners from five member states of the Atlantic Area (Ireland, Spain, UK, France and Portugal). Marnet has developed a methodology to collate comparable marine socio-economic data across the Atlantic regions. The comparative marine socio-economic information system developed by Marnet could provide a template for other European States to follow that could potentially facilitate the construction of a Europe-wide marine economic information system as envisaged under the EU Integrated Maritime Policy.