Blue Azores

Accomplishments:

• – Legal proposal for offshore MPA network revision developed, providing the framework for 30% offshore MPAs, of which 15% fully protected;
• – Decision-making process being supported by the best scientific knowledge available and co-created with local stakeholders in a structured participatory process, build-up during more than 40 meetings;
• – Coastal MPAs revision already kicked-off; scientific support studies being finalised, and participatory process started, with public sessions and work sessions in 3 out of 9 islands;
• – Ocean literacy promoted in the region: more than 430 teachers trained, more than 6.600 elementary school students involved in more than 100 schools, in all islands;
• – Civil society engagement has been built since the beginning of the programme and is still running: meetings with more than 175 local entities, more than 2.750 participants in beach clean-ups, 65 “Blue Voices” featured on social media, more than 4.000 signatures in urgent MPA implementation public petition;
• – Ocean sustainability training for fisheries associations and fishing communities (6 sessions, 57 participants, 3 islands).

Three Partners, One Vision

Blue Azores is the result of an international partnership between the Regional Government of the Azores, the Waitt Institute, and Oceano Azul Foundation, uniting a single vision of a healthy Azorean Sea and a thriving ocean society.

Working closely with the scientific teams at the University of the Azores, this close partnership brings decades of scientific knowledge and expertise from the region to inform each aspect of the programme and the implementation of the implementation of the marine protected areas.

Programme objectives:

• – Protect 30% of the Azorean Sea through marine protected areas with at least 15% of fully protected marine areas;
• – Prepare and implement management plans for all marine protected areas, including existing ones and those to be designated;
• – Contribute to marine spatial planning;
• – Support the restructuring of the fishing sector.

The programme will also create new opportunities for sustainable economic development in the Azores, supporting Portugal and the Azores to achieve international objectives set by the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (ODS) 14, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature).

To kick off the programme, two scientific expeditions were carried out in the Azores. The first took place in 2016 and evaluated the state of the marine ecosystems in the eastern group of islands. The second, Oceano Azul Expedition, provided an overview of coastal, open ocean, and deep-sea ecosystems in the central and western areas of ​​the archipelago. In addition to other ongoing scientific studies, the scientific reports on the health status of these marine ecosystems from these two expeditions provide an important scientific basis to support the process of defining and establishing these new Azorean Marine Protected Areas.