EU Oceans Pact — time for commission to be enforcer, not just architect

As ocean advocates and former stewards of Europe’s marine policies, we recognise the familiar tension facing EU commissioner for fisheries and oceans, Costas Kadis, this month: the final countdown before launching a major European Union initiative — this time, the EU Oceans Pact.

We’ve stood where he now stands.

One of us led the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), making sustainability a legal cornerstone of EU fisheries management. The other introduced the EU’s first Marine Action Plan, setting out a vision for healthy seas at the heart of maritime activity.

These were bold steps forward at the time — and they remain essential parts of the foundation that today’s pact must build upon. But foundations alone are not enough.

The state of Europe’s seas has worsened.

More than 90 percent of EU marine waters are affected by overexploitation. Traditional pressures like industrial fishing and shipping have been joined by a growing list of human activities: offshore oil and gas, intensive coastal development, seabed mining, and a rapid expansion of offshore infrastructure.

All this is unfolding as the ocean reels from climate-driven change — rising temperatures, acidification, and deoxygenation that threaten to unravel entire marine ecosystems and the communities that depend upon them.

At the heart of these coastal communities are fishers, whose knowledge and daily work make them indispensable partners in both sustaining marine resources and driving effective ocean policy; they must not be left to face these challenges alone, as their engagement is key to the success of any lasting solution.

This is not just an environmental challenge. It is an economic and social challenge as an unhealthy ocean can jeopardise the basis of the blue economy sector and the prosperity of European citizens, especially in coastal regions. It is also a security challenge, an important element in the current geopolitical context. 

The Oceans Pact must respond to this reality with action as strong as the threats we face.

Lessons from being in office

One clear lesson from our time in office: ambition on paper must be matched by accountability in practice. The CFP and Marine Action Plan contain the principles and tools needed for sustainable marine management.

But they were not perfect, of course, especially in the field of securing implementation, control and enforcement.

Too often, weak leadership and political hesitation have allowed member states to bypass or delay implementation. EU member states cannot be left to pick and choose which rules to follow. It’s time for the commission to step up as enforcer, not just architect. That’s the responsibility — and opportunity — commissioner Kadis now carries. 

Nowhere is this more evident than in marine protected areas (MPAs) — widely recognised in EU law, yet still open to damaging practices like bottom trawling in the vast majority of sites.

The pact must go further than previous frameworks by introducing binding rules to ban bottom trawling in MPAs, with clear deadlines and real consequences for non-compliance. This is not about rewriting the past — it’s about using the lessons we’ve learned to finally turn commitments into results.

Should the final pact fail to address clear issues such as bottom trawling in marine protected areas, it would risk falling out of step with both public opinion and scientific consensus.

Bottom trawling remains one of the most destructive and least defensible practices taking place in areas designated not only for conservation, but for securing the long-term health of fisheries and the survival of small-scale, low-impact fishers. An effective pact must recognise this reality and provide a credible path toward phasing out such practices where they do the most harm. Anything less would weaken the pact’s credibility at a moment when global leadership from the EU is urgently needed.

Commissioner Kadis faces additional pressures that we did not. The political climate has shifted. Populist forces have weaponised environmental policy, blaming green rules for social and economic hardship.

Meanwhile, the EU’s internal agenda is increasingly dominated by a new one-sided competitiveness — a narrative that often frames ecological protections as obstacles rather than opportunities. The commissioner must navigate these currents carefully — and we believe he can.

There is also opportunity.

The release of the Oceans Pact, just ahead of the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, will place Europe at the centre of the global ocean agenda. With other major powers faltering, the EU has both a responsibility and a rare opening to lead by example. To do so, we must pair our ambitions with the regulatory power to achieve them. 

Commissioner Kadis will be judged not only on bringing good ideas into the content of the pact, but on whether it marks a turning point in how the EU approaches ocean governance, aiming to secure good results in real life. Can we shift from well-intentioned plans to enforceable progress? Can we finally protect our seas and our people’s prosperity as we’ve long promised to?

We believe he can — and must. The Oceans Pact is the EU’s best chance in a generation to reset our relationship with the ocean, to defend its biodiversity, and to support the coastal communities and millions of European citizens who depend on healthy seas for their future.

Commissioner, we offer not only our full support, but our experience. This moment demands boldness — not just in vision, but in law. Now is the time to act.

This year, we turn 25 and are looking for 2,500 new supporting members to take their stake in EU democracy. A functioning EU relies on a well-informed public – you.