As European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen prepares to lay out Europe’s political agenda in her 2026 State of the European Union address she had been urged to put the continent’s seas and oceans at the top of the agenda amid fears for their future.

In all 61 organisations, led by Seas at Risk have written a letter calling on the president to deliver an ambitious European Ocean Act that turns political commitments into concrete, enforceable action to restore Europe’s seas, and turn the EU into a real Ocean Union.

The organisations warn that Europe is approaching a critical moment for the ocean. The European Ocean Act, whose publication will coincide with the upcoming revisions of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (MSPD), amounts to a major overhaul of the EU’s ocean governance framework – and a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get it right.

It stated: “This summer provided yet another warning to decision-makers about the state of the ocean and climate: Copernicus confirmed that July 2026 saw the highest sea-surface temperature ever recorded across the extra-polar oceans. At the same time, the Marine Messages III report paints an alarming picture of European seas under cumulative pressure from overexploitation, notably from destructive practices like bottom-trawling, pollution, habitat degradation and accelerating climate change. This comes one day after many Member States failed to send to the Commission their National Restoration Plans , a key tool to bring back our Ocean to health. “

Dr Monica Verbeek, Executive Director, Seas At Risk, added: “Europe’s competitiveness will be dead in the water along with the fish if we continue to push our seas beyond their limits. We need an Ocean Act with teeth. One that puts ocean health at the heart of European decision-making and ensures EU policy works towards its recovery, not against it. A concrete Regulation can turn Europe’s promise into bold and binding action and deliver a resilient blue economy within ecological limits.”

The 61 organisations are calling for the European Ocean Act to become the legislative backbone of a healthy and resilient Ocean Union, including:

• An overarching and enforceable framework aligning EU policies around one common objective: achieving and maintaining Good Environmental Status of EU seas
• Adoption as a Regulation to ensure consistent implementation across Member States
• Introduction of an Ocean Mainstreaming Principle, ensuring decisions taken on fisheries, energy, transport, environment and other sectors support rather than undermine ocean health.

“The Ocean Act doesn’t need to reinvent ocean policy. It needs to make it work,” the letter explained. “At the same time, the revisions of the  Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (MSPD), must strengthen – not dilute – the foundations of EU marine governance. The MSFD must remain the EU’s central environmental framework for achieving Good Environmental Status, while maritime spatial planning should become a stronger tool for organising activities at sea within ecological limits and delivering those environmental objectives.”

Tiago Pitta e Cunha, CEO, Oceano Azul Foundation, added: “The ocean crisis is now unfolding before our naked eyes. The threats and scientific forecasts of the past have turned into a reality of unprecedented disruption and damage that challenges what we think we know. But what is definitely beyond our understanding is that this has still not been reflected in political action. The Ocean Act is the opportunity to do so.”

Geneviève Pons, president and director general, Europe Jacques Delors, concluded: “The upcoming Ocean Act is the chance to treat the ocean as a strategic asset and make the EU not just a sustainable, but a prosperous and geopolitically relevant Ocean Union. It should support a regenerative blue economy while bringing maritime security, ocean observation and diplomacy into the core of EU ocean policy.”