EC launches consultation to revise rules protecting marine environment

The European Commission (EC) has opened a public consultation and Call for Evidence on revising the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), aiming to strengthen marine environmental protection, simplify implementation and reduce administrative burden. The evaluation underpinning this revision shows that, although the MSFD has built an ambitious and valuable framework for monitoring Europe’s seas, it has not yet fully achieved its goal of Good Environmental Status (GES), and improvements are needed in regulatory clarity, data management and effectiveness. The revision, closely linked to the European Ocean Pact and Water Resilience Strategy, will feed into more integrated ocean governance and align with preparations for the upcoming European Ocean Act. Stakeholders can provide feedback via the Have Your Say portal until 9 March 2026.

For AquaPLAN, this consultation is highly relevant: the MSFD revision places strong emphasis on improving marine monitoring systems, enhancing data flows, addressing pollution pressures, and strengthening Europe’s scientific and technological capacity to understand and protect marine ecosystems—all core themes of AquaPLAN’s work on artifical light at night (ALAN) and anthropogenic noise pollution. The EC’s focus on better environmental status assessments, streamlined data management, and more integrated governance directly aligns with AquaPLAN’s aim to provide robust, interdisciplinary evidence and tools to support EU marine policymaking and improve protection of aquatic biodiversity under evolving regulatory frameworks.

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