What an interesting week: European Maritime Day (EMD), Natura 2000 day, International Day for Biological Diversity and World Turtle Day all took place within a few days!
If you have read last week’s Map of the Week, you already know that the EMD is an annual event during which Europe’s maritime community meet to network, discuss and outline joint action on maritime affairs and sustainable blue economy. This year, EMD is organised in Cork (Ireland) as an in-person event for more than 1,000 people with live streaming of plenary session. [1] Following pre-conference events on 21 May 2025, the official opening session of the EMD conference took place on 22 May. Keynote speakers Lord Mayor of Cork Councillor Dan Boyle, An Taoiseach Micheál Martin (Irish Prime Minister), Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy Darragh O’Brien, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Timmy Dooley and European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans Costas Kadis highlighted the rich marine heritage of Cork, the value of the ocean and the challenges it faces.
Cork has a tight historic connection with the ocean through seafood, international trade and cultural exchange. Cork is now home to a vibrant metropolitan university, innovative research facilities, a large harbour and much more! Did you know that Cork is the second largest natural harbor in the world? [2] The connection that Ireland has with the ocean was felt deeply, but we were also reminded that this gathering of leaders took place not only to celebrate the ocean, but also to tackle pressing challenges we face today including sea level rise, ocean acidification, plastic pollution and noise pollution.
Key statistics from the 2025 Blue Economy Report, released on 22 May, were shared at the conference. In 2022, the blue economy employed 4.82 million people and generated a turnover of nearly EUR 890 billion. [3] Focus was also given to the upcoming European Union (EU) Ocean Pact that will be presented in June at the third United Nations Ocean Conference, a key initiative that will be setting the EU vision and aims at increasing coherence across all ocean-related policies. [4] Following the opening of the conference, participants were able to attend multiple plenary sessions and workshops on a wide variety of topics and to visit multiple booths in the exhibition, including booths organised by the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) which powers the European Atlas of the Seas and the EU4Ocean Coalition for ocean literacy. In addition to the closing remarks and the handover ceremony between Cork and Limassol (Cyprus), where the EMD will take place in 2026, the closure session on 23 May will include the #MakeEUBlue awards ceremony. These awards celebrate outstanding ocean literacy initiatives in Europe from the EU4Ocean Coalition. Who will the laureates be? Stay tuned!
While the EMD conference closes on 23 May, side events will be organised over the weekend in Cork. Check out the programme of EU4Ocean side events which includes a guided walking tour exploring Cork’s maritime history and soundscape on 24 May!
Furthermore, many ‘EMD in My Country’ event are still planned until 31 October 2025. Read last week’s Map of the Week titled “European Maritime Day in My Country 2025 and a new game!” to learn about the upcoming events.
As pointed out above, marine biodiversity was also high on the agenda this week. Three amazing celebrations took place one after the other this week. On 21 May, the spotlight was put on protected areas in Europe with Natura 2000 day. Explore the Atlas map layer on marine Natura 2000 sites to learn more about them! On 22 May, people around the word focused on raising awareness of biodiversity issues on the occasion of International Day for Biological Diversity. And, on 23 May, World Turtle Day aims to celebrate and protect turtles, tortoises and their habitats!
Speaking of turtles, have you played the new Atlas ‘Hide & Seek’ game? Did you find the image of the marine turtle hidden by the Atlas Team in the map layer ‘European Maritime Day in My Country 2025? You can see it if you click on the event located in Ravenna in Italy! Think you have seen the city of Ravenna in this week’s Map of the Week? You are right, European Maritime Day took place in Ravenna in 2022!
The data in the map are provided by the European Commission.
[1] https://maritime-forum.ec.europa.eu/theme/governance/european-maritime-day_en