EC presents “Green Paper” to U.S. regulators
John B. Richardson, head of the European Commission’s Maritime Policy Task Force, met with federal regulators in Washington this week to educate them about a recent “Green Paper” that promises to improve Europe’s overall management ocean activities.During his visit, Richardson met with Rear Adm. Joseph Nimmich, assistant commandant for policy and planning at the Coast Guard, and William Brennan, deputy assistant secretary for international affairs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The EC’s paper covers a number of areas, such as sustainable maritime development, quality of life in coastal regions, ocean management tools, maritime governance, and Europe’s maritime heritage and identity.
The paper seeks to show the interconnections and interdependence of ocean-related activities, such as transport, shipping, trade offshore windfarms, fisheries, aquaculture, tourism and recreation.
The United States completed a similar analysis of its ocean policy in 2004.
Richardson said he hopes the United States and other leading maritime countries and regions will agree to cooperate in a global effort to preserve the world’s oceans. “The tentacles of maritime policy spread pretty far,” he said in a meeting with reporters Thursday.
The EC released its Green Paper June 7. This will be followed by 13 months of consultation. The goal is to draft a final policy report for the European parliament’s approval by 2008.
Richardson said the purpose of the policy is not to interfere with individual EU members’ efforts to build and expand port facilities and improve vessel traffic lanes. The impact should be on how EU members consider port development as it relates to sustained marine quality, he said.
Richardson also said the result of the EU’s Green Paper could help international maritime regulatory bodies, such as the International Maritime Organization, in efforts to develop a global surveillance system for shipping. He said this system would help counter illegal activities such as drug smuggling, illegal immigration, terrorism on the high seas and illegal fishing.
Many European shipping groups, such as the European Sea Port Organization and Association of European Shipbuilders and Shiprepairers, support the Green Paper’s agenda.
