Atlantic Forum - Bilbao, 11 and 12 th November 2012

MARITIME  SPATIAL PLANNING  AND  CLIMATE CHANGE MIGRATION UNDER          THE     ECOSYSTEM  APPROACH

In Bilbao, last 12 th November, took place the Atlantic forum, at the Euskalduna Palace Conference Center.

The opening session had the contributions and speaches of Mr Guillermo Echenique, External Action miniter of the Basque governement, mme S+egolaine royal, President of

Piotou- Charantes Regional Council, Mr andr'es  Trastoy, general Director of Fisheries and Resousrces of the spanish Ministery of Agriculture and Food,  Mr Izvbaskun

Bilbao, Member of the european Parliament, Mr Miguel Pariza, EESC Member  and Mr Matthew King, General director for maritime Affaires and fisheries of the European Commission.

The main speaches touched the Maritime spatial Planning and Climate Change Migration under the Ecosystem Aproach

first of all, the ecosystem aproach in fisheries management, something very crucial for this part of the iberian peninsula, mainly for portuguese and spanish fishermen and industries.

The ecosystem aproach kies at the heart of the EU's Marine Strategy framework directive, the objective being to achieve  a good environmental status,  in each sea  basin.

The conference had a review  of the basis to for aplying  the ecosystem aproach and the experience acquired so far, in order to identify needs and actions for its implementation

in european Atlantic waters, with a particular emphasis on fisheries.

During this Conference a very important subject was offshore aquaculture, as well,  as an opportunity and a strong technological challenge in a perspective of upgrading from the 

current status  to a possible future of the european aquaculture sector . The technological needs and the state of the arts were discussed by the industry representatives and      all 

stakeholders  from Atlantic Member States.

As a  conclusion, we can say  that it  was that there are potential at local, national  and regional levels to increase projects in the aquaculture sector  that need to be identified.

Another main subject, as well, was the socio-economic impact of Renewal Energies in the industrial development.

The  so called socio-economic impact, clustering and indicators were reviewed  with the experience of different Member States in setting up an industrial sector  around marine 

renewable energy. 

The question is, now, how to accelerate the the development of this sector to make it a significant player in electric generation, job creation and economic growth, next generations.

(The port of Bilbao seen by air)

Intermodal transport services and maritime safety was an important point.

Services at ports, supply connections, pollution prevention, improving prevention and response to accidental maritime pollution, cooperation between public administrations and the 

private sector,  maritime surveillance as a pillar for maritime safety and environmental protection and, mostly, the Member States experience dealing with those matters, was a  very 

topic discussion.                     ( The port of Bilbao  seen by air)