Realising the potential of Outermost Regions for sustainable Blue Growth EU and Outermost Regions

DG MARE Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (European Commission) - Project Dates:
June 2016 - February 2017

Description of Project:
The Framework Contract for "Support to the implementation of the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP)" was aimed to support implementation of Integrated Maritime Policy across the EU, including its Outermost Regions (ORs). The aim of this specific contract was to find opportunities in terms of sustainable Blue Growth for OR, taking into account the status of their blue economies and their specific assets and challenges.

The specific objectives of the study were to assess:

State of play: the study provided a clear picture of the state of play of in qualitative and quantitative terms, of what is included at present in the blue economy, showing interesting flagship projects in all ORs.
Potential new activity areas: the study provided indications of which new industrial activities could potentially contribute to Blue Growth in a sustainable manner.
Gap analysis: the study provided a gap analysis of required skills, infrastructure, research and data, as a basis to determine which new policy interventions in the ORs are necessary to bridge those gaps.
Blue growth trends: The study deepened the understanding of the process of economic and social development in the ORs from the maritime perspective, identifying strategies to improve competitiveness and reduce dependence on imports and transfers. This analysis will be the basis for identifying new maritime patterns of growth founded on unexploited potential and new sectors in the ORs.

Services Provided:

Poseidon contibuted to thefollowing tasks:

1. Mapping the ORs maritime scene:

Mapping the economic activities in the blue economy in each OR and sea basin

Deepened the analysis by drafting structured fiches that show the main data and findings for the OR blue economy.
Described the synergies and tensions between maritime activities, and their contribution to a sustainable development policy of the ORs towards a more independent and self-sufficient growth.
Identified good practices and flagship projects.
Conducted a gap analysis of required skills, infrastructure, research and data, as well as other factors that stand on the way of sustainable Blue Growth.
Proposed an update of DG MARE website, OR information section,

Mapping the main actors of the OR's blue economy:

Mapped the main relevant public authorities and summarise the existing maritime strategies, being at the level of the MS (with OR impact), of each geographical basin (Caribbean-Amazonia, Macaronesia, Indian Ocean) and each OR.
Maped the main stakeholders for each OR and sea basin (such as umbrella organisations, sector associations, clusters, main socio-economic actors, etc.).

2. Recommendations for sustainable ORs blue growth

Analysed growth drivers and barriers of the ORs blue economy sectors.
Assessed the future potential covering the mature economic activities.
Provided sector reviews of the 6-8 most relevant maritime economic activities, by focussing on a geographical basin perspective on workforce and hiring characteristics, administrative burdens, restrictive practices and sources of finance.

Identify public intervention

Provided an analysis on potential measures (with their policy rationale) that the EU, MS and ORs could take to stimulate growth, both in terms of financial and legislative measures, in the fields of infrastructure, research, education and others.
Identified ORs potential contributions to the IMP & BG transversal initiatives, such as Marine knowledge, Maritime Spatial Planning, Integrated Maritime Surveillance and Maritime Security Strategy.
Identified potential projects to be submitted in the broad context of the financial framework 2014-2020, through the Atlantic Assistance Mechanism

Contribute to the external dimension: Identified the potential roles and contributions of the ORs in the:

Transatlantic Ocean Research Alliance (for Atlantic ORs)
EU neighbourhood actions
Ocean governance