Interagency cooperation

By combining skills, experience and resources, EU agencies can build on synergies, providing more complete and more relevant information to selected users. The main objective of these cooperation arrangements is, within the limits of existing mandates, to improve the quality of services offered to the Member States, to the Commission and other agencies. It also brings cost savings by avoiding duplication of effort and overlapping infrastructures, and in terms of economies of scale.

EMSA has been exploring possibilities for sharing expertise, information, and assets with other EU agencies in the field of maritime traffic monitoring in order to improve the quality of services offered and reduce expenditure at EU level. This approach is in line with the Commission’s Integrated Maritime Policy (See Communication from the Commission ‘An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union’, Brussels, 10 October 2007; COM(2007) 575).

Cooperation between EMSA and other EU agencies in the area of maritime monitoring has taken the form of pilot projects which are developed gradually, and some of which eventually become sustainable services. Careful management of data security and user access rights are paramount in this process, and successful collaboration both between agencies and between the different user communities they serve is built on cautious development of mutual trust and confidence with full participation of all stakeholders from early in the process.

Two examples of inter-agency cooperation are provided below:

EMSA-FRONTEX (European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union)

Frontex organises joint operations to address irregular migration and cross-border crime along European borders.

Realising that EMSA’s maritime monitoring services and systems could be used to increase the probability and reliability of early detection of ships and boats used for illegal purposes, Frontex requested operational support from EMSA. EMSA therefore developed a pilot monitoring service to assist and support Frontex in their surveillance operation. The service included data provision and a tailored user interface.

EMSA-EFCA (European Fisheries Control Agency)

The overfishing of Atlantic Bluefin tuna is an issue of concern in European waters, and the European Commission has adopted Regulation (EC) No 302/2009 ‘concerning a multiannual recovery plan for Bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean’. The European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) promotes coordination and pooling of national level resources in order to carry out control, inspection and surveillance of fishery activities both at sea and ashore.

Effective control, inspection and surveillance is based on utilising to the full all possible sources of information, by combining data and presenting it in a user-friendly manner. Using EMSA’s integrated maritime data capabilities, EFCA and EMSA are collaborating to develop a maritime surveillance service for monitoring the Bluefin tuna fisheries’ activities. EMSA provides the main operational ICT platform and relevant maritime vessel position data, while EFCA provides fishing vessel position data and campaign specific information (e.g. fishing areas). The data is combined and displayed in a user-friendly way on a nautical chart, available via a restricted web interface designed for EFCA’s monitoring purposes.