The Council of Ministers approved this Thursday a proposal to amend the law on maritime planning and management policy, empower autonomous regions and establish marine protected areas as a regulatory instrument.
“A bill has been approved for submission to the Assembly of the Republic, which amends the law establishing the basis for the policy of planning and managing the national maritime space,” announced the Secretary of State for the Presidency of the Council of the Republic. Ministers, André Mauz Caldas.
The Minister, who spoke at the end of the meeting of the Council of Ministers, added that this proposal creates a new level of order in the maritime space, “giving administrative powers to the autonomous regions.”
On the other hand, it establishes marine protected areas as an instrument for maritime ordering.
In the same “briefing”, Secretary of State for Maritime Affairs José María Costa emphasized that this amendment to the legislation aims to “guarantee the organization and sustainability of marine resources, the implementation of the situational plan for the national maritime space”, to promote the achievement of a national network of marine protected areas, as well as its national management plans “with the aim of achieving 30% of the national maritime space by 2030”.
As he clarified, the executive branch creates “a second level of streamlining, corresponding to management plans”, which are also approved by the autonomous regions.
The changes currently being made are intended to make the planning and management system “capable of adapting the order more effectively to the evolution of the use of various contexts relevant to planning.”
On the other hand, the power of autonomous regions in ordering maritime space is being strengthened, “giving them autonomy for appropriate management.”
José María Costa also said that this diploma will change the “configuration of the figure of management plans”.
Added to this is the adaptation of the procedures for granting rights to private use of the national maritime space to new usage paradigms, as well as the differentiation of procedures in accordance with the activities and uses under consideration.