The European Commission announced on Wednesday a sweeping €92 million maritime initiative aimed at positioning the European Union as the global superpower in ocean patrolling and intelligence, citing “malicious actors” increasingly exploiting grey-zone tactics.
The ocean covers 70% of the planet’s surface, but only 5% of it has been explored. The Commission’s goal for the ocean observation plan announced by Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans Costa Kadis and Research Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva is to capture 35% of the global ocean observing market and technology infrastructure by 2035, backed by €92 million in EU funds.
“This is about using science and good governance to understand our ocean and secure our future,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said about the new ocean observation plan, framing the initiative as a strategic imperative for climate forecasting and defence, shortly after the United States announced the dismantling of its own ocean observatory system.
But perhaps the underlying message of the Commission’s new bid to discreetly patrol the deep sea lies in its “maritime security and defence” ambitions, with subtle references to seabed warfare and the critical geopolitical reality of protecting subsea energy and data systems.
“Robust maritime observation capabilities — from space to the seabed — are essential for detecting, deterring, and mitigating risks before they escalate into systemic disruptions,” reads the Commission’s initiative.
Critical undersea cables — responsible for 95% of international internet traffic and billions in economic transactions — are under constant threat of hybrid sabotage, with the Baltic Sea becoming a hotspot for such attacks.
While not telecommunication cables, the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, a series of underwater explosions and subsequent gas leaks that occurred in 2022, still remains unresolved today, despite the profound political havoc that ensued.
By deploying “autonomous systems, sensors and artificial intelligence (AI)” under the guise of observation, the EU seems to be quietly building an underwater surveillance net. Adding to that, the deployment of “multi-sensor fishing vessels,” autonomous gliders, and specialised drone-carriers, suggests that Brussels is effectively establishing a permanent, distributed surveillance web across European exclusive economic zones.
Moreover, academics argue that mapping the deep sea and the Arctic for “environmental reasons” simultaneously provides the military with crucial data for active sonar calibration, sub-surface navigation and hiding stealth assets.
Lawmaker Paulo do Nascimento Cabral (Portugal/European People’s Party), vice chair of the fisheries committee in the European Parliament, said that given the growing geostrategic importance of the Atlantic and the greater presence of powers such as Russia and China, Europe must strengthen investment in non-discovery, monitoring and protection of its maritime space.
“Strengthening ocean observation and deep-sea research will allow us to increase our knowledge about marine ecosystems and the protection of critical human submarine infrastructures, such as global communications,” Nascimento Cabral told Euronews.
Monica Verbeek, executive director at the NGO Seas At Risk said that reinforcing the understanding of the ocean is more important than ever.
“But observation alone is not enough. The real test is whether this information is used to support stronger conservation and restoration efforts and to ensure effective protection of marine ecosystems,” she told Euronews.
Centralised system for maritime data
The EU executive plans to unify the continent’s fragmented maritime data into a centralised system expected to culminate in a sophisticated virtual simulation of the sea.
The goal is to leverage real-time AI and autonomous tracking to predict everything from weather patterns to geopolitical shipping risks.
While the EU executive states it will be a “public service”, control over the formatting and access to this data enables Brussels to unilaterally mandate global regulatory standards for maritime shipping, fishing quotas and offshore zone planning.
A new legislative proposal to be announced by the end of the year, will likely introduce strict, legally binding data-sharing policies engineered to balance environmental openness with strict “security-related constraints” to protect sensitive maritime positions.
Stringent technical standards for maritime equipment are also foreseen, according to the Commission, which will lock out non-EU manufacturers — especially Chinese and American tech providers — from European public tenders to ensure its surveillance net cannot be compromised from within.