The EU is likely to miss its 2030 marine environment protection targets, auditors warn

Auditors warn that the EU is set to miss its marine targets

The EU is unlikely to meet its targets for protecting marine biodiversity by 2030: many designated marine protected areas fail to provide real protection against destructive activities such as commercial fishing, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) warned on Monday. At present, about 14% of EU waters are designated as marine protected areas, yet less than 1% are under strict protection,Euronews reports. The bloc aims to protect 30% of its marine waters by 2030, including 10% under strict protection, but the auditors warn that simply expanding the network of protected areas will achieve nothing without stricter limits on activities that harm marine ecosystems.

Protection 'on paper, but not in practice'

“The EU has made some progress in designating marine protected areas, but our audit shows that the real challenge is turning designation into actual protection,” said Iliana Ivanova, the ECA member responsible for the audit. Protected status does not necessarily mean restrictions on destructive activities: fishing limits, for example, apply only to a small portion of designated areas, despite the threat posed by commercial fishing and other activities that damage the seabed. As a result, the auditors note, it is politically easier to designate a protected area than to impose the restrictions that make it effective. Such restrictions may affect fishing fleets operating across national borders, creating tension between biodiversity conservation goals and the economic interests of coastal communities.

Implementation and funding problems

Implementation is hampered by chronic staff shortages, insufficient funding and lengthy administrative procedures: authorities may identify harmful or illegal activity but lack the resources or powers to stop it. Funding is fragmented — nature protection relies on national budgets and various EU funding instruments, leaving protected areas struggling with staffing, resources and long-term planning. According to the ECA report, the process of adopting conservation measures affecting the fishing fleets of several member states can be complex and lengthy, as it requires negotiations between states with fishing interests and various stakeholders; it can take many years, and few conservation measures have been adopted since 2013. The experience is nonetheless uneven: countries such as France and Sweden have made progress through community engagement and new bans on bottom trawling, while Ireland is held back by major data gaps and legal delays.

Calls and reactions

The auditors call on the European Commission and EU countries to move from national approaches to more harmonised and enforceable conservation rules. “For marine protected areas to function effectively, we need the European Commission and member states to join forces, as well as engagement with local stakeholders,” Ivanova added. Monica Verbeek, executive director of the NGO Seas At Risk,said that Europe lacks neither policies, decisions nor scientific knowledge: “Where measures are implemented consistently and at sufficient scale, nature responds. But restoration at scale is still not happening. We cannot afford another decade of ambitious targets with insufficient implementation,” Euronews quotes her as saying.

Why it matters

The state of marine ecosystems across the bloc and the economies of coastal communities, whose fishing fleets may face new restrictions, depend on meeting these targets. The facts presented suggest that practical progress requires not expanding the network of protected areas, but introducing real bans on destructive activities, harmonised rules across EU countries, and addressing the funding and staffing problems highlighted by the auditors.