Paying heed to research on the sea

The EU paid more than €600 million to maritime research projects between 2002 and 2006, under the sixth framework programme for research (FP6). The projects funded came under a range of themes, from energy and environment to fisheries and space observation.

It is not yet known how much of the €50 billion allocated to the seven framework programme (FP7) will go to maritime research, but the Comm-ission predicts that the budget will be increased.

The Commission’s research department hopes that any future EU maritime strategy will help improve the way the money is spent.

"One of the main challenges that policymakers face when developing an integrated maritime policy is co-ordination between different policy sectors," says a statement on the issue circulated by the Commission’s directorate general for research. "The same challenge is valid [for] research activities." Because of this, Research Commissioner Janez Potoc?nik is asking everyone discussing the maritime policy green paper to consider the need to make a ‘strategy for European marine-related research’ part of the overall maritime strategy.

This research strategy would make sure EU research projects do not duplicate each other and would help researchers share their results.

It would also promote better science commun-ication. "Communicating [maritime] research and engaging with the public is more than a priority," says the statement. "It is an obligation, in order to put the potential of the oceans at the right level of public perception."

EU-funded research revealing "the potential of the oceans" is not in short supply. The Commission hopes a maritime strategy will make it easier to appreciate.

Maritime projects funded under FP6 include research into cheaper offshore wind energy, the health benefits of seafood and the monitoring of maritime chemical pollution.

The Commission has identified as two priorities for FP7 the development of environmentally friendly maritime technologies and cleaner shipping fuels. It will also be increasing attention on ‘blue biotechnology’: the use and manipulation of marine organisms. Possible uses for this emerging science include the development of new medicines.

Whatever maritime research emerges from a maritime strategy, the Commission will be hoping it is paid more attention than one of the major existing marine research groups.

Each year the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) produces a scientific report on the state of fish stocks, together with recomm-endations on the fishing quotas that should be established to prevent species dying out. But the fisheries ministers then do their best to ignore it.

Environmental group WWF last month announced it was taking EU governments to court over their repeated failure to agree tough catch quotas, in line with the scientific advice.

The EU paid more than €600 million to maritime research projects between 2002 and 2006, under the sixth framework programme for research (FP6). The projects funded came under a range of themes, from energy and environment to fisheries and space observation.