Ocean Threats
Europe's oceans are both environmentally and economically
valuable. They are highly productive ecosystems that support
an abundance of marine life. The seas around Europe also
support valuable fishing, oil and gas, transport. leisure and
tourism industries, making many people directly or indirectly
dependent on the ocean's for their livelihoods. 
However, these activities are placing unprecedented pressure on European marine ecosystems, with overfishing, excess nutrient inputs, and pollution having a detrimental effect on the ocean's health. These human-induced (anthropogenic) threats are exacerbated by climate change.
Understanding and differentiating between the impacts of anthropogenic and natural threats is critical to sustainable development and an ecosystem approach to management. This requires an understanding of how the ecosystem responds to the various threats, which, in turn requires monitoring and regulating the level of the threat posed, as well as monitoring changes in the ecosystem. This information can be used to improve understanding the ocean's response to changes in the level of threat and, ultimately advise decision makers and managers.
RSS News & Events
- Scientists revamp open ocean observatory
- The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and the UK Met Office have joined forces to revamp the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO) in the northeast Atlantic.
- ODAS buoy fit out and deployment with Cefas Payload
- A combined effort from staff at Cefas and the Marine Institute are temporarily re-fitting a spareODAS (UK Met designed Ocean data Acquisition System) deep field weather buoy to carry an alternative payload to go on trial at the M1 location.
- New Western Shelf Observatory Launched
- The Western Shelf domain encompasses the Western UK and Irish shelf and its adjacent sea areas and catchments.
- More news & events »
EMECO Data Tools
