A European Maritime Day that puts people first

Every year on May 20, European Maritime Day is celebrated across the European Union to showcase the importance of the sea and oceans for our everyday life. The previous editions were held in Brussels (2008), Rome (2009) and Gijon (2010) respectively. This year, Gdańsk, Poland hosted the 4th edition of the European Maritime Day Conference on 19-20 May.

The title of this year's European Maritime Day was "Putting People First" - because the conference centred on the many benefits that an integrated approach to Maritime Policy brought to European citizens.

This is the main event where stakeholders from a large range of maritime sectors meet and discuss the opportunities and challenges currently facing maritime regions and sectors across Europe: from tourism and fisheries to maritime transport and climate change. European Commissioners Maria Damanaki and Siim Kallas joined Polish and European ministers and personalities at the event. Numerous maritime stakeholder events, workshops and exhibitions took place.

The Conference took stock of the different initiatives which were underway, especially those related to a more stable and transparent maritime planning system, closer international cooperation on surveillance across the borders as well as search and rescue operations, etc. 'Putting People First' included a specific focus on generating jobs in maritime sectors. The panels discussed how to make maritime careers more appealing to young people, and how to promote mobility between jobs and sectors. The Baltic Sea Strategy was another focus of the event. By interconnecting the players of a dozen countries and countless sectors, it has imparted unprecedented dynamism to the region and given rise to some 80 projects.

Other topics included: a wide range of policy initiatives that relate to the sea, the benefits of Maritime Spatial Planning for the sustainable use of sea space, the Commission's e-Maritime initiative (DG Transport) to enhance berth-to-berth navigation and services in Europe, means to improve the Baltic's marine environment by reducing the eutrophication due to ship waste, identifying vulnerable habitats and providing examples of good governance in the basin.