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The Celtic Seas Partnership - stakeholder driven integrated management of the Celtic Seas Marine Region.

Funding Programme:

LIFE

Status:

Completion Year:

Contact Person(s):

Jenny Oates

Project Manager

WWF Cymru

Tel: +44 (0) 2920 538513
Email: cspatwwf.org.uk (csp[at]wwf[dot]org[dot]uk)

Implementation Period:
-
Specific Funding Programme:

LIFE +

Budget:

Overall budget: €3,963,025.00 
EU contribution: €1,973,546.00 

About the Project:

The Celtic Seas Partnership aims to draw people together from  across  the  Celtic  Seas  to  set  up  collaborative and  innovative  approaches  to  managing  their  marine environment. Its focus is on supporting the delivery of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) - key European legislation aiming to conserve and protect Europe’s seas while allowing sustainable use of our natural marine resources.

The Celtic Seas Partnership has the following objectives:

  • Increase stakeholder understanding of marine policy and approaches to marine management
  • Build and develop relationships between sectors and countries in the Celtic Seas
  • Influence management practices across the Celtic Seas
  • Increase stakeholder involvement in marine policy and decision making
  • Improve the availability of Celtic Seas scale information to aid MSFD implementation and improve management practices

This has been achieved through the following outputs:

  • MSFD learning resources, including an animation to introduce the MSFD and in-depth interviews with key figures at the European Commission and other organisations such as OSPAR and the European Environment Agency.
  • Workshops, bringing together key people in the Celtic Seas to have constructive dialogue, build good working relationships and develop strong partnerships. These workshops have been held at multi-national and national level within the Celtic Seas countries.
  • Best practice guidelines to support marine stakeholders.  Using case studies from across the Celtic Seas, three sets of guidelines covering: Transboundary marine governance – working across borders; Co-location of marine renewable energy projects with other marine users and interests; Conflict resolution and sectoral interaction between marine stakeholders have been produced.
  • Measures development for the MSFD – through the establishment of Task Groups which have worked to design specific initatives that will help implement the MSFD.
  • Fisheries mediation - The Celtic Seas Partnership is piloting the use of civic mediation processes to build positive working relationships between stakeholders in the fishing sector in Scotland.
  • Dublin Bay Strategic Framework - The Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly (one of the project partners) is developing a strategic management framework for Dublin Bay to assist the implementation of the MSFD. This will include work with a group of Dublin Bay Stakeholders.
  • Terrestrial planning and the MSFD - The project is exploring land-sea interactions and how these affect potential to achieve Good Environmental Status. Scientific workshops, desktop studies and stakeholder consultation will be used to draw out the most critical issues for terrestrial planning and coastal management in support of the MSFD and produce terrestrial planning/coastal management Good Practice Guidelines.
  • Ecosystem services - Tools for evaluating ecosystem services will be developed through the project, alongside a set of recommendations related to the use of ecosystem services valuation for MSFD decision making.
  • Future Trends in the Celtic Seas - The Celtic Seas Partnership is developing a report examining future trends in the Celtic Seas and highlighting the need for integrated management. Growth scenarios will be generated for 6-10 marine sectors over a 20-year period.
  • Availability of information - a Celtic Seas web portal is being developed to provide marine stakeholders in the Celtic Seas with a one-stop-shop for data and information relating to MSFD.

Project partners:

  • WWF-UK - Lead partner (UK);
  • Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly (IE);
  • Marine Renewable Energy Ireland, University College Cork (IE);
  • The University of Liverpool (UK);
  • Natural Environment Research Council – British Oceanographic Data Centre (UK);
  • Seaweb Europe (FR).