Copernicus supporting the EU blue economy

The Mediterranean Sea sustains a vibrant blue economy, supporting sectors ranging from maritime transport and coastal tourism to renewable energy, aquaculture, and fisheries, providing livelihoods to millions of people. 

This image, produced using data from the Copernicus Marine Service, shows the distribution of chlorophyll a in the Mediterranean Sea on 3 March 2026. 

Chlorophyll a is one of the ocean variables monitored by the Copernicus Marine Service. These data allow to describe marine conditions and support a wide range of applications linked to the blue economy, while also enabling the observation of environmental variability and climate change.

At the 2026 European Ocean Days, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced the launch of the OceanEye initiative. Building on existing flagship EU initiatives such as the Copernicus Marine Service, OceanEye will strengthen Europe’s ocean observation and prediction capabilities, supporting international efforts to improve the monitoring and protection of the ocean.