Study to support impact assessment of marine knowledge 2020 - interim report

(1)

Do potential operators of licensed activities mentioned in point 2.2 pay for meteorological, bathymetric or geological data when preparing their application for a licence?

It seems that in about half the Member States data have to be purchased. Their costs are however relatively minor compared to overall licence costs.

(2)

Would they request more data (i.e. higher resolution in time or space) if it were substantially cheaper or easier to access.

The replies indicate that the licensees only collect the data necessary for the preparing the application so there is no indication that further data would be requested if data where either cheaper or easier to access.

(3), (4) (5)

Is the licensee obliged to hand over to public authorities the data collected or acquired in order to plan, develop or engage in the licensed activities mentioned in point 2.2.?

No general answer can be given on this question. The obligation to hand over to public authorities, marine data collected or acquired in relation to licensed activities varies greatly across sectors and Member States. Of the ten countries for which information was received, in 7 there is an obligation to hand over marine data in at least some of the marine sectors. In most cases this obligation covers all phases of marine projects, i.e. siting, planning, construction and operation.

(6)

How much effort will Member States spend up to 2020 on data acquisition, management and dissemination (including enabling access to the Commission and the European Environment Agency) in meeting the requirements of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive?

A scale up of the reported costs for existing and new monitoring programmes in seven Member States indicates a total costs for all EU coastal states plus Croatia of 64 Million € for the period 2014-2020.

(7)

How much of this cost is assembling existing data (i.e. data already collected, or being collected for other purposes)?

The total data costs in relation to the initial assessment and reporting under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive lie at around 19 million € for the 22 EU coastal states and Croatia (based on a scale up of reported costs from 7 Member States).

(8)

How much will be spent on collecting new data (i.e. data from new monitoring and survey programmes that would not have been collected without the Marine Strategy Framework Directive needs)?

Four Member States have provided estimates of the costs for new monitoring/surveying programmes for collecting data under the MSFD. These costs lie in the range of 1.7 Million to 10 Million €.

(9)

What marine data will be required for planning, building and operating offshore wind farms in Europe up till 2020?

Based on consultation with the off shore wind sector supplemented by literature reviews and expert assessments, the different types of data are described in chapter 4.

(10)

How much will be spent collecting, purchasing, assembling and processing these data?

Using the same approach as for Question 9, the costs of data have been estimated. For an "average" offshore wind farm of 200 MW, the total data costs for planning, construction and operation could amount to 5-6 million €. With projections of new capacity in the order of 40-50 GW in the period up to 2020, total data costs for the sector could amount to 1 to 1.6 billion €.

(11)

What legal basis could be used for a Directive or Regulation on marine knowledge that meets several objectives? Are there any examples?

Both the issues of legal basis and legal instruments have been assessed and key aspects are present in this interim report. No clear options and recommendations have been identified and the assessment will continue.

(12)

Assuming that historic and real-time data were available on parameters such as chemical pollution, non-native species, coastal erosion, storm intensity etc what services based on these and other data:

› Might reduce risks for aquaculture producers?

In total 10 case examples have been identified and assessed with regards to: description of problem/opportunity, the effect of additional data and the link to Knowledge 2020 and finally a description of the innovative service and an estimate of the potential economic benefits.

The 10 case studies covering the four sectors demonstrate that additional marine data can promote innovation and suggests that there are significant economic benefits.

(13)

› Might enable insurance companies in coastal regions to provide a better assessment of risk?

(14)

› Could support a longer season for coastal tourism?

(15)

› Could help the bio-economy discover new products (pharmaceuticals, enzymes, cosmetics etc)

(16)

The contractor should provide three more examples of the economic benefits of reduced uncertainty in the behaviour of the sea or the state of the seabed and marine life.

In total 5 examples of reduced uncertainty have been identified and assessed. They demonstrate that there could be significant economic benefits from reduction in uncertainty of the state of the oceans and seas.

(17)

How would such an arrangement work? Are there any examples (other than EU Agencies)?

Different organisation options have been assessed including descriptions of examples from other areas.

(18)

Could it be done through the Joint Programming Initiative on Healthy Seas and Oceans? Or through the Joint Research Centre? Or through an executive agency? Or through a public-private partnership? What would be the costs and benefits in each case?

The organisational options have been assessed and the advantages and disadvantages of alternative options are presented and described.