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The European coast guard community is one of the major protagonists of the Green Deal – every day the coast guards and authorities deal with the greatest environment on earth – that of marine ecosystems and biodiversity and address the challenge of climate change. The Greening Award Initiative is meant to award those who have risen to the challenge and proposed greening activities in their daily mission, work, and campaigns.
The Greening Award Initiative aims to celebrate the sustainability actions that are carried out and developed across more than 300 authorities that make up the European Coast Guard community.
This initiative recognises projects and activities developed by authorities carrying out Coast Guard Functions which empower a green transition, contribute to a more sustainable future, and which directly or indirectly support the goals of the European Green Deal.
Announced in the framework of the Annual European Coast Guard Event held in Lisbon in 2023, the Greening Award Initiative is open to any entity or institution executing Coast Guard Functions within the European Union, Norway, and Iceland.
The Greening Award Initiative is jointly organised by the three European Agencies tasked with supporting national authorities carrying out Coast Guard Functions: the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA); the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA); and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex).
Award categories
The Greening Award Initiative has three different categories: Greening Operations; Outreach and Awareness; and Greening at Work.
Greening Operations: this category encompasses operational actions and projects that have led to an improved environmental footprint. Actions and projects that have engaged and involved communities internal and external to the submitting organisation are covered by this category, as are collaborative actions which may involve knowledge transfer inside or outside the organisation.
Outreach and awareness raising: this category showcases the public-facing activities that authorities engaged in Coast Guard Functions and have activated on sustainability themes. Public campaigns, open days, events, etc., are all covered by this category.
Greening at work: this category focuses on the practical application of sustainability in the workplace. It can include individual actions (for example, banning single use plastics, offsetting emissions) or larger-scale projects (for example, Eco-Management and Audit Scheme –EMAS registration for an organisation).
How to enter
Entries can be submitted through the Greening Award Initiative entry form before 31 March 2024. For more information on the Awards, the Rules, and the application process, please consult the Greening Award Initiative web page on the European Cooperation on Coast Guard Functions portal.
The Awards
The Awards will be presented at a special ceremony during the Annual European Coast Guard Event 2024, organised by the European Fisheries Control Agency.
"Operation" Sardinelle ", a fishery surveillance operation in which Member States of the Sub-regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC) cooperated to detect Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing, took place from 23 to 26 January 2020.
This fisheries surveillance operation was entirely funded by the European Union via the PESCAO program and coordinated and organized by the SRFC. This operation received technical support from EFCA and operational support from France. Representatives of the Fisheries Committee of the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) and of the Gulf of Guinea Inter-regional Network (EU-GOGIN) project participated to the surveillance operation as observers. All participating SRFC Member States made available their updated national list of authorized fishing vessels.
The technical equipment of the national Fisheries Monitoring Centres (e.g. VMS, AIS, radars) as well as the information from the Integrated Maritime Services and satellite images (Copernicus) provided by EFCA made it possible to direct the patrol means to the suspected vessels. Correlations conducted on images collected from "Open Source" satellite services, were also conducted by the SRFC.
The fishery surveillance operation resulted in 58 vessel inspections with the detection of 9 possible non-compliances which are the subject of an investigation by the competent authorities of the Member States concerned.
Covering an area of approximately 1.1 million square kilometers, including the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of Cabo Verde, Mauritania, Senegal and The Gambia, operation "Sardinelle" was coordinated from Senegal FMC and run by the staff of the MCS structures of the Member States involved.
Each SRFC Member State deployed a patrol vessel that patrolled their respective EEZ. The patrol vessel "FERLO" from Senegal and "CDT BOUAN" from the French Navy surveyed the EEZ of The Gambia. Two fishing inspectors from The Gambia were assigned to each of these patrol vessels.
The operation "Sardinelle" was another action organized under the PESCAO project that meets the broader objective of the project, which is the sustainable development and management of fisheries in the West African region. This fisheries surveillance operation complements those already carried out in 2018 and 2019 in the SRFC area.
Denmark has established a new Real-Time Closure in the North Sea for juvenile fish starting from 13/01/2024 to 02/02/2024 23:59 hrs.
Denmark has established a new Real-Time Closure in the North Sea for juvenile fish starting from 21/01/2024 to 12/03/2024 23:59 hrs.
Denmark has established a new Real-Time Closure in the North Sea starting from 22/02/2024 to 13/03/2024 23:59 hrs.
Denmark has established a new Real-Time Closure in the North Sea starting from 10/03/2024 to 30/03/2024 23:59 hrs.
Denmark has established a new Real-Time Closure in their waters of The Skagerrak starting from 13/03/2024 to 02/04/2024 23:59 hrs.
The Netherlands has established two new Real-Time Closures in the North Sea starting from 08/03/2024 to 29/03/2024 23:59 hrs.