European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) – Maritime spatial planning (MSP) Projects – 2024

Objectives

• To facilitate the implementation of Maritime Spatial Planning in the EU, including through the effective application of Directive 2014/89 establishing a framework for MSP
• To reflect and align national maritim saptial plans to the ambition of the European Green Deal
• To cater for cumulative impacts of ocean stressors
• To reinforce the sea basin dimension of MSP
• To make MSP digital and pan-European

Priorities

• Priority 1: MSP as an enabler of the European Green Deal. Developing strategies and approaches to review/revise maritime spatial plans to make them future proof, more integrated and more coherent, especially in a sea basin context
• Priority 2: Facilitate/enable the development of marine protected areas and economic sectors (e.g. tourism and maritime/underwater cultural heritage, offshore energy, fisheries, aquaculture) in the maritime domain
• Priority 3: Applying an Ecosystems Based Approach (EBA) in MSP
• Priority 4: Analysing how maritime spatial plans identified and addressed existing and potential tensions between different sectors

Among financed actions

• Specific activities aimed at implementing provisions set out in the MSP Directive (article 6 to 12)
• Establishment of a Steering Committee (SC) to ensure the overall strategic steering of the project
• Establishment of an Advisory Committee (AC) to provide expert advice on the project’s activities
• Working procedures defining how the project and the SC will operate
• An opening and closing conference

Eligibility

• Be a legal person
• Be a public or private entity
• Be public authorities or bodies in charge of maritime spatial planning of coastal Member States
• Be legal entities endorsed by the public authorities or bodies in charge of maritime spatial planning at national level in the related coastal Member States
• Be established in one of the eligible countries:
  • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories)
  • Non-EU states in the Atlantic Baltic Sea, Black Sea, North Seas and the Mediterranean, or having waters adjacent to EU Outermost Regions
• A consortium composed of at least 2 entities, established in at least 2 different eligible countries, must be constituted
• The coordinator must be established in an EU Member State

Additional information

• Initial duration of the action: between 24 and 48 months
• Contact : CINEA-EMFAF-CALLS@ec.europa.eu

Useful

• Guidelines: Click here
• Other call documents: Click here
• Executive Agency website: Click here
• More information: Click here

• Total budget of the call: 2.5 million euro
• Amount of the grant: 2.5 million euro
• Funding rate: up to 80% of the total eligible costs