General presentation: maritime facts
Algeria is the largest country in Africa and also has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Sea with a total population of 37.1 million.
Algeria’s coastline stretches over 1300 km; it is located between the Gibraltar Strait and Sicily on the maritime road connecting Suez to Gibraltar.
Algeria has not yet developed a holistic or integrated maritime policy.
Nevertheless, a dedicated national maritime governance structure was created at the Government level (Sea Higher Council) in 1998; this structure has not been activated, though it may efficiently support the development of a national integrated maritime policy. There are no conventional governance systems (national forum, national maritime council, etc.) involving maritime stakeholders in decision making and implementation.
Most traditional maritime activities are based on explicit and formal sectoral strategies implemented by specialized sectoral agencies, relying on comprehensive legal frameworks, generally including an environmental assessment study at the level of projects, but rarely constitute strategic environmental evaluations at the level of policies, plans or programs. However, sectoral maritime policies are not entirely coherent at the strategic and operational levels.
There is good cooperation and coordination at the operational level in some specific areas such as maritime surveillance and sea police activities.
No national policy has so far been defined in terms of marine or maritime knowledge or in the control and supervision of the maritime environment and activities. Maritime challenges are considered only partially in the very comprehensive country development plan and in corresponding planning instruments (national territory development plan). Integrated cross-sectional approaches and instruments are currently being developed (ICZM).
Algeria has not created exclusive economic areas. There are agreements to demarcate the continental shelf. Algeria is part of all main international maritime agreements (international maritime organization, Barcelona Convention …)
The Algerian context is very favorable for the development of a national and integrated maritime policy.
There are still some pitfalls in terms of the knowledge of maritime resources and marine environment that still need to be developed and reinforced before making full diagnosis of the national maritime situation in the regional context.
Prospective work at the national level involving all maritime stakeholders will likely be necessary to identify opportunities, threats and possible evolutions, and to enable the design of a mid and long term comprehensive national maritime strategy, that would bring together different sectoral strategies and cope with regional strategies.
Most sectoral and spatial maritime strategies associated with the national integrated maritime policy may be implemented based on the comprehensive national planning instrument referred to as the “National Territory Development Plan” (SNAT).