North-east Atlantic coast (6 to 12 nautical miles)

(a) continuing to build on national plans, OSPAR processes and Natura 2000 sites to help develop a coherent network of Marine Protected Areas for Europe's Atlantic coast by agreeing on good practices and shared evaluation processes that could also benefit Macaronesia and the Outermost Regions in the Caribbean;

The Union has acceded to the following instruments, establishing regional organisations, whose activities are also covered by the Agency’s objectives: the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area (Helsinki Convention as revised in 1992) ; the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution (Barcelona Convention) , and its 1995 revision and to a number of protocols thereto; the Agreement for cooperation in dealing with pollution of the North Sea by oil and other harmful substances (Bonn Agreement) ; the Convention for the protection of the marine environment of the N ...[+++]orth-East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention) ; the Cooperation Agreement for the protection of the coasts and waters of the north-east Atlantic against pollution, signed on 17 October 1990 (Lisbon Agreement) , with the Additional Protocol thereto, signed on 20 May 2008, which have not yet entered into force .

The Union has acceded to the following instruments, establishing regional organisations, whose activities are also covered by the Agency’s objectives: the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area (Helsinki Convention as revised in 1992) (10); the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution (Barcelona Convention) (11), and its 1995 revision (12) and to a number of protocols thereto; the Agreement for cooperation in dealing with pollution of the North Sea by oil and other harmful substances (Bonn Agreement) (13); the Convention for the protection of the marine environment of the N ...[+++]orth-East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention) (14); the Cooperation Agreement for the protection of the coasts and waters of the north-east Atlantic against pollution, signed on 17 October 1990 (Lisbon Agreement) (15), with the Additional Protocol thereto, signed on 20 May 2008, which have not yet entered into force (16).

[31] According to Article 4, the north east Atlantic marine region is divided in the following sub-regions: (i) the Greater North Sea, including the Kattegat, and the English Channel; (ii) the Celtic Seas; (iii) the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian Coast; (iv) in the Atlantic Ocean, the Macaronesian biogeographic region, being the waters surrounding the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands.

For this historical reason, we are aware that the life cycle of our eel is very long, that it is a migratory species and that the females, before dying, travel for a year to spawn in the Sargasso Sea, in the Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda and Puerto Rico, where they lay up to 20 million leaf-shaped eggs which float freely in ball-shaped groups and are carried by sea currents, taking a year to reach the North American coasts and up to three years to reach European coasts.