Changes from plenary report to adopted text

55. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to systematically and scientifically assess the potential for co-use of maritime zones, including marine protected areas or offshore renewable energy, and to avoid treating different maritime zones as mutually exclusive; emphasises that the active involvement of all stakeholders and especially fishers in the design, management and evaluation of marine protected areas contributes to greater environmental effectiveness, greater acceptance of conservation measures and better integration of these areas into MSP; stresses that climate change and shifting fish stock distributions must be taken more fully into account, to ensure a flexible approach to zoning that reflects the dynamic nature of fisheries;

56. Calls on the Commission to support a more cross-border and sea-basin-based approach to MSP by promoting existing initiatives, such as the Greater North Sea Basin Initiative; calls on the Commission and Member States, together with coastal neighbouring states, to engage in joint management regional platforms, drawing on the example of the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (also known as the Helsinki Commission or HELCOM), including with a view to identifying shared fisheries corridors;

57. Calls on Member States to complement national plans with plans focused more on sea basins and to develop, where relevant, macro-regional planning strategies, including joint maritime spatial plans; urges Member States and non-EU countries, particularly neighbouring coastal states, to deepen their cooperation on MSP, particularly in the basins adjacent to the United Kingdom, the Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea; supports a stronger sea-basin approach to MSP, ensuring that fisheries are fully integrated into cross-border planning frameworks and not disadvantaged by fragmented national decisions;

58. Calls for enhanced cooperation on MSP between the EU, its Member States and non-EU countries; stresses the need for better coordination between the coastal states in the Channel; highlights specifically the case of the Channel regions, where cooperation with the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands must be improved, particularly with regard to the designation of marine protected areas; believes that cooperation in this regard must include obligatory and transparent stakeholder consultation processes; calls for the EU, the UK and other relevant parties to establish a regional management plan for the Channel and the North Sea in order to ensure sustainable exploitation of resources and multi-annual management of fisheries;

59. Emphasises that such cooperation with non-EU countries must ensure a level playing field and avoid displacement of fishing effort to the detriment of EU fleets and fishing communities; calls on the Commission, therefore, to pursue a structured approach to dialogue and cooperation with neighbouring coastal countries in an effort to promote similar environmental, management and social standards and to be ready to take any measures necessary to protect EU interests;

60. Calls for the integration into MSP of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures and other relevant environmental measures, in order to tackle issues affecting fisheries and aquaculture, such as coastal erosion, rising water temperatures, invasive species, ocean acidification, pollution from both land-based and marine sources, and cumulative impacts; stresses that these solutions must be proportionate, adapted to local conditions and assessed in advance in terms of cost-effectiveness, avoiding one-size-fits-all approaches that do not take into account the realities of each sea basin; underlines that fishers can play a key role in monitoring, early detection and conservation efforts, provided that they are properly involved, trained and supported;

61. Emphasises the effects of coastal erosion and shoreline retreat on coastlines, especially on areas where aquaculture activities are established and developed; calls, in this regard, for an EU plan for coastal resilience, incorporating integrated coastal zone management, climate change mitigation and adaptation, land-sea interactions, marine and land pollution, coastal adaptation measures and targeted support for aquaculture; believes that Member States play an important role in this regard and that these effects must be taken into account in Member States’ maritime spatial plans;

62. Is deeply concerned about the reform proposed by the Commission of the various structural funds and the new multiannual financial framework, which will significantly reduce the resources allocated to fisheries and thus jeopardise improvements in the implementation of the MSP Directive;

63. Stresses the need to allocate significant resources to data collection and scientific research, as well as to enhancing data sharing and coordination between Member States; believes that more standardised and harmonised data and methodologies will help to secure the place of fisheries and aquaculture in MSP; emphasises, in this regard, the need to develop and update scientific data on the impact of climate change on marine aquatic resources, particularly in terms of changes in the geographical distribution of fish stocks, spawning grounds or the displacement of fish stocks;

64. Calls for improved and harmonised data collection and the systematic mapping of fishing activities as a precondition for fair and evidence-based MSP; calls on the Commission and Member States to use the best available and updated data and information;

65. Considers that the future European Ocean Observation Initiative, ‘Ocean Eye’, should strengthen and harmonise marine data collection, thereby contributing to improved MSP; calls, furthermore, for the potential of the European Digital Twin Ocean to be used to better understand and anticipate the effects of climate change on the state of the seas and marine resources, and to develop appropriate maritime planning strategies;

66. Stresses the need to dovetail MSP with the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and Horizon Europe, including under the future multiannual financial framework, in order to foster research and innovation, including in areas specifically designated for sustainable and innovative uses; believes that the Commission and Member States should encourage the use of digital technologies such as European artificial intelligence tools to support MSP;

67. Calls on the Commission to rigorously monitor the implementation of the MSP Directive; considers that the next MSP Directive evaluation report should focus on the spatial implications for fisheries and aquaculture, stakeholder involvement and cross-border cooperation, and provide recommendations on how the MSP Directive could deliver better results in terms of environmental, social and economic sustainability; considers that MSP should be assessed in terms of spatial equity, understood as the equitable distribution of benefits and constraints among stakeholders, territories and generations, and not solely in terms of its economic or administrative efficiency;

68. Calls on the Commission to consolidate the European Maritime Spatial Planning Platform by providing examples of MSP projects, mapping tools and good practices; urges Member States to make greater use of this platform when developing their maritime spatial plans in order to facilitate transparent policy decisions without ruling out genuine consultation in the resolution of conflicts of use and interest;

69. Supports the revision of the MSP Directive as part of the ‘Ocean Act’ expected in late 2026; notes that the MSP Directive is being revised in parallel with the Marine Strategy Framework Directive; considers that this revision should establish a coherent framework to improve coordination between the existing legislation and regulatory framework, by streamlining overlapping regulations, aligning objectives, streamlining existing targets and introducing minimum targets to be reached in maritime spatial plans, improving coherence between marine and terrestrial spatial planning, and establishing shared governance tools; believes that this revision should, in particular, make the provisions on the participation of stakeholders, especially fishers and coastal communities, legally binding, with more harmonised application by all Member States; believes that the proposed act should create synergy among the different regulations and sectors in a genuinely holistic coordination of policy, without imposing new sector-specific obligations; believes, furthermore, that minimum standards for securing space for fisheries and aquaculture must be introduced in order to contribute to food sovereignty strategic autonomy and the sustainability and competitiveness of the blue economy;

70. Considers that the revision of the MSP Directive should also strengthen the cross-border, multi-use approach to mitigate cumulative impacts and to improve the involvement of stakeholders; considers it also important to use the revision to reduce fragmentation and uncertainty for the EU fishing fleet;

71. Considers that the Ocean Act should involve all EU territories and take into account their specific characteristics, particularly in the case of the outermost and island regions; stresses the importance of the involvement of Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries in the elaboration of the upcoming proposal, especially in relation to food sovereignty, the strategic role of fisheries and aquaculture and the effective implementation of the common fisheries policy;

72. Considers that the forthcoming review of the MSP Directive should be closely linked to the implementation of the Ocean Pact, to the provision of sufficient financial resources, particularly within the next multiannual financial framework, and to concrete actions, in order to ensure its effective implementation and avoid negative impacts on Member States and stakeholders; stresses that such resources must be sufficient, predictable and easily accessible, and that their use must prioritise measures with a tangible impact;

73. Calls on the Commission to fully integrate MSP into the development of its Vision 2040 for fisheries and aquaculture and to link these initiatives to the outcome of the evaluation of the common fisheries policy;

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74. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission, and to the governments and parliaments of the Member States.