Licensing Toolkit - Latvia

• Identify candidate sea-space areas consistent with Latvia’s Maritime Spatial Plan (MSP, 2019).
• Screen for Natura 2000 / MPAs and co-uses (navigation, defence zones, fisheries).
• Undertake a high-level assessment of environmental sensitivity and species suitability.

• Use MSP as guidance but rely on case-by-case decisions; start dialogue with authorities early.
• Avoid conflicting uses and protected habitats; prepare a constraints / opportunities map.
• Useful resource: MSP info (English) .

• Engage the Ministry of Agriculture and State Environmental Service (SEA).
• Confirm whether an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is likely and what baseline data are expected.
• Clarify tender pathway and expected documentation.

• Clarify documents needed for Cabinet of Ministers tender initiation.
• Ensure capacity for Latvian-language submissions.
• See also: CBB Common Licensing Framework (Latvia section) .

• Prepare an application dossier for the Ministry of Agriculture to propose a sea area for tender.
• Draft a technical concept (farm layout, species, moorings, navigation marking).
• Compile a stakeholder list for upcoming consultation.

• Quality and clarity of the dossier strongly affect timelines.
• Consider alternative sites in case the preferred area is contested.
• Cite legal bases and provide maps in national coordinate systems.

• Submit EIA screening documents to the State Environmental Service, if required.
• Define baseline and monitoring programme (benthos, birds, mammals, water quality).
• Plan navigation safety measures with the Maritime Administration where relevant.

• Design a conservative baseline and monitoring plan to support later consultations.
• Highlight the low-trophic, non-fed character of macroalgae to frame impacts.

• Ministry of Agriculture validates the application (about 30–60 days).
• Cabinet of Ministers adopts a decision to open the tender (around 30 days).
• Tender is announced and opened for bids (about 30–60 days).

• Plan around the Cabinet agenda; delays at this stage affect the critical path.
• Ensure the tender bid clearly presents EIA status and mitigation commitments.

• Authorities evaluate tenders and announce a winner.
• The winner submits a full EIA, if required, to the State Environmental Service.
• Ministry of Agriculture prepares an order allocating the sea area; Cabinet approves it.

• Coordinate EIA progress so that permitting and licence drafting proceed without idle periods.
• Keep communication channels with authorities open for clarifications.

• Pay state fee for the licensed area.
• Ministry of Economics issues the sea-use licence.
• Align with food safety authorities if producing edible products.

• Ensure licence conditions reference MSP, Natura 2000 findings and navigation marking.
• Negotiate monitoring and reporting duties that are proportionate to project scale.

• Coordinate buoyage and lighting with maritime / navigation authorities.
• Publish a Notice to Mariners where required.

• Install markers before moorings and lines to reduce collision risk.
• Keep the layout within the licensed polygon and provide AIS contact details where applicable.

• Install anchors, moorings, backbones and droppers; check geolocation of structures.
• Seed lines and implement environmental and safety measures.

• Document the as-built layout and maintain a logbook of works.
• Respect any seasonal restrictions set out in EIA decisions.

• Start baseline and operational monitoring in line with permit conditions.
• Set up incident and complaints registers; plan for adaptive management.

• Share monitoring results with authorities and local stakeholders to build acceptance.
• Prepare for audits and inspections over the lifetime of the licence.

Contact us to be featured as a fellow farmer

Are you a Latvian seaweed farmer, or in the last steps of establishing your seaweed farm? If so, we would be interested in featuring you here as an inspiring example for future seaweed farmers. If you would like to be showcased, please contact us at: contacteu4algae [dot] eu (contact[at]eu4algae[dot]eu)