WORKING GROUPS

AQUAMARINA (2007-2011)

Since the Aarhus General Assembly, (October 2011), Aquamarina refers to all the initiatives carried out by the CPMR Member Regions in the maritime sector.

The current phase of the CPMR action follows the lobbying that greatly contributed to the creation of a European integrated maritime policy. After submitting a report to the Commission on Europe of the Sea (2005) and putting forward their contributions during the consultation phase that followed the publication of the Green Paper (2006 and 2007), the CPMR’s Regions maintained their commitment in this area during the delivery phase of the Blue Book and its action plan. Chaired by Jean-Yves Le DRIAN, President of the Region of Brittany, the Aquamarina group, created in autumn 2007 and having membership of around forty Regions covering all of Europe’s regional sea areas, has regularly monitored the implementation of the Blue Book.

In the current phase of its action, and in line with the monitoring of the Blue Book and the definition of the post 2014 European policies, the CPMR is pursuing two objectives :

- Promote, in the framework of negotiations of European policies post 2014, a new cycle based on an ambitious and integrated approach to maritime issues at European level, through a strong integrated maritime policy that is able to generate an imitation effect vis-à-vis other European policies.

- Promote a series of priority maritime issues such as, currently, maritime training (Vasco da Gama initiative), integrated coastal zone management (ICZM)/Maritime spatial planning (MSP), maritime safety (Erika IV), marine and maritime research, marine energies, shipbuilding and maritime industries, maritime transport and fisheries.

The organisation of the CPMR’s activities in the maritime sector (Aquamarina)

The CPMR acts through:

- Policy positions, technical papers and cross-cutting political seminars, in terms of an integrated maritime approach and the integrated maritime policy and the maritime basin strategies.

- Policy positions, technical papers and political seminars in terms of priority maritime issues for the CPMR. Each priority maritime issue for the CPMR is managed within the scope of a specific working group:

• Maritime training (Vasco da Gama initiative), led by Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Germany)
• Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)/Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP), led by the Region of Noord-Holland (Netherlands)
• Maritime Safety, led by the Region of Brittany (France)
• Marine and Maritime Research, led by Land Schleswig-Holstein (Germany), in line with the CPMR’s Research working group, led by the Region of Midi-Pyrénées (France)
• Marine Energies, led by the Region of Navarra (Spain)
• Shipbuilding and Maritime Industries, led by the Region of Pays de la Loire (France)
• Fisheries, led by the Region of Shetland (United Kingdom)