The state of Europe’s seas

Three reports published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) during 2015 shed light on the current state of Europe’s seas and the network of marine protected areas (MPAs).

The state of Europe’s seas, identifies the main sustainability challenges affecting our seas and assesses how the EU is responding to these challenges. It argues that the EU is not currently on the path to achieving sustainability, but that a long-term transition to sustainability can be secured using available policies and knowledge. The Spatial analysis of marine protected area networks in Europe's seas presents an overview of the spatial distribution of the networks of MPAs established in EU waters, while Marine protected areas in Europe's seas — an overview and perspectives for the future assesses progress made to date in establishing MPAs and MPA networks in Europe and discusses how best to assess their effectiveness.