EU invests €116 million in 13 projects to restore waters, reduce fisheries impacts, protect habitats, mobilise citizens and develop ocean technology
Thirteen Projects Selected to Tackle Fisheries, Habitats and Community Action
The European Union has announced a €116 million investment in 13 new projects under the Mission Ocean and Waters programme, aiming to restore marine and freshwater ecosystems across Europe’s sea basins and river networks.
The projects, selected from 2024 calls for proposals, will be implemented in the Black Sea, Danube River, Baltic and North Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic and Arctic regions. Each initiative targets a different pressure on aquatic environments, ranging from fisheries impacts to habitat decline.
Among the priorities are the preservation of offshore marine protected areas, the restoration of migratory fish pathways in the Danube, the reduction of bycatch, and the deployment of technologies to monitor marine biodiversity. Several projects also seek to mobilise citizens and communities to participate in marine conservation, while others will contribute to developing the European Digital Twin Ocean, a virtual model to support science and policymaking.
Projects Cover Fisheries, Communities and Technology
The projects include ECO-CATCH, which will trial fishing gear designed to reduce unwanted bycatch, and MarineGuardian, which is developing tools to help fishermen reduce environmental impacts while meeting biodiversity targets. SEAMPHONI will use acoustic monitoring to track offshore marine species, alongside public engagement through storytelling.
Danube-focused projects include DanubeLifelines, which aims to restore fish migration routes, and SWIM, applying eco-friendly restoration methods to fish habitats in the Danube and Black Sea.
Citizen science and community action are also emphasised. CS-MACH1 will link citizen scientists across Europe to share marine data, while CO-WATERS will support waterfront communities in restoring local waters. Other initiatives such as BlueActionBANOS, BlueActionAA, SoS2LearnDBS, and TASC-RestoreMed will strengthen conservation at regional levels.
EDITO2, building on the earlier EDITO project, will expand the European Digital Twin Ocean with more advanced analytical and visualisation tools.
Horizon Europe and the Ocean Mission
The projects form part of the Horizon Europe programme and directly contribute to the EU Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030”. Launched in 2021, the mission seeks to protect and restore aquatic ecosystems as one interconnected system, linking science, citizen engagement and innovation with the goal of achieving climate neutrality and restoring nature.
The mission operates through ‘Lighthouses’ in the Atlantic-Arctic, Mediterranean, Baltic-North Sea, and Danube-Black Sea regions. These sites serve as testing grounds for new approaches and are intended to help scale up successful restoration efforts across the EU.
