This chapter describes Portugal’s Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services’ multifaceted mandate, its status and organisational set-up, and human and financial resources. It identifies key challenges and opportunities to strengthen co-ordination with other entities and digitalisation processes, with a view to more effectively addressing ocean interlinkages and contributing to a sustainable ocean economy in Portugal and beyond.
Improving Policy Coherence for Portugal’s Ocean Economy
A Strategic Plan for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services
Abstract
Portugal’s Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services (Direção-Geral de Recursos Naturais, Segurança e Serviços Marítimos, DGRM) is a central service of the direct administration of the State, endowed with administrative autonomy. In May 2022, the DGRM was placed under the remit of three ministries: the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food (Figure 2.1. ). This decision was maintained when the new government was appointed in May 2024 (Ley Organica do Governo- XXIV Governo Constitucional). As it is an independent organ, elections do not impact the DGRM’s mandate but can influence reporting lines.
Notes: Marine Spatial Planning (MSP).
Source: Authors’ elaboration.
The DGRM plays a crucial role as an operational interlocutor in shaping and implementing Portugal’s ocean priorities. The tripartite managerial structure is the result of a merger of the Port and Maritime Transports Institute and the Directorate-General for Fisheries and Aquaculture. The DGRM now assumes the responsibilities of both entities and has added environmental and sustainability responsibilities.
Compared to other maritime administrations in European countries, the DGRM has both the advantage and challenges of covering many sectors and domains of the ocean economy under one roof. This diversity of missions offers the DGRM unique perspectives and impetus to align stakeholders around sustainability priorities, such as maritime spatial planning, aquaculture, and flag state, and to strengthen synergies (see Table 2.1).
Source: Authors’ elaboration.
As an intermediate body of the public administration, in accordance with its attributions and competencies, the DGRM develops its activities in three main areas:
maritime administration
fisheries and aquaculture
planning and sustainability.
The organic structure of the DGRM is subordinated to the members of the Senior Management (Director-General and Deputy Directors), and its internal organisation follows the model of hierarchical structure in specialised directorates and divisions. It is made up of seven departments, as illustrated in Figure 2.2.
Source: Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services.
Human resources and capacity needs
Table 2.2 shows the current distribution of human resources within the DGRM. According to the DGRM’s documents, personnel shortages are a cross-cutting issue across all DGRM directorates and divisions, and approximately 90 new hires will be required by 2030 (DGRM, 2023[2]).
Note: The grand total indicates all DGRM employees, not only expert staff in the listed Directorates.
Source: Internal documents provided by the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services (DGRM, 2023[2]).
A reinforcement of teams was projected for 2022 to reduce the existing gap in human resources, but in fact, there was a 2% decrease in the number of professionals between 2021 and 2022 (DGRM, 2023[2]). This is due to the limited capacity of the DGRM to attract talent, given low entry-level salaries and a small pool of workers with the appropriate profile in public administration. The DGRM’s recruiting difficulties compound its workforce’s ageing. By 2030, it is estimated that around 30% of its current professionals will retire, risking the retention and transfer of technical knowledge and the organisation’s overall sustainability.
Human-related challenges emerged during the stakeholder interviews in the different areas. For example:
In the pilot area of maritime spatial planning, given the changing nature of emerging and mature sea activities and the trade-offs and conflicts of interest that arise, hiring capable human resources and upskilling the DGRM’s analysts are needed to reinforce the PSOEM process and the POEMs. Updated knowledge and capacities to use new analytical models and big data are crucial to ensure sustainable use of the sea. Such updated knowledge and capacities could also reduce delays in issuing titles for the private use of maritime space (TUPEMs).
In the pilot area of flag state services, ship inspectors are urgently needed to fulfil fleet-monitoring obligations to avoid non-compliance with the required quota regarding fleet-monitoring obligations. The availability of existing flag state inspectors to train the next generation is also a key issue.
In addition, the DGRM lacks representatives in international fora and personnel who can update national shipping legislation in a timely manner to align with EU and international frameworks. Furthermore, cross-cutting skills are lacking, such as skills to fully contribute to defining and re-evaluating strategies, managing funds, etc.
Aquaculture licensing and monitoring processes are slower due to a lack of agents with adequate skills to carry out these tasks.
Financial resources
In EUR millions
Source: Internal documents provided by the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services (DGRM, 2023[2]).
In EUR millions
Source: Internal documents provided by the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services (DGRM, 2023[2]).
Table 2.4 shows that, on average, 40% of the expenses are on personnel across all areas, suggesting that unless the overall budget increases, new hiring will reduce the general expenditure below the current level of 60%.
Table 2.5 demonstrates that just over half of the DGRM’s revenue stems from its own services, suggesting that its business model seems sustainable, and the DGRM could claim further independence in managerial decisions.
In EUR millions
Source: Internal documents provided by the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services (DGRM, 2023[2]).
Internal challenges as a maritime administration with many missions
Human resources and budget allocations have not been adequately scaled to match the expanding responsibilities and environmental and sustainability functions of the DGRM following the merger of the Port and Maritime Transport Institute and the Directorate-General for Fisheries and Aquaculture. The resulting disproportionate workload arises from both structural and contingent factors. These include:
Structural factors:
Resource mismatch: A disconnect exists between the DGRM’s diverse competencies and the human resources available to meet them.
Co-ordination gaps: Inefficiencies persist both within the DGRM’s internal structure and across other public entities involved in the ocean economy. As the DGRM serves as a central hub for maritime administrative processes, these gaps place additional strain on its personnel, who must consolidate fragmented information.
Decision-making delays: Prolonged delays in managerial and administrative decisions across the three ministries overseeing the DGRM further exacerbate the burden.
Contingent factors:
Excessive non-recurrent requests: The DGRM faces a significant volume of one-off tasks, such as managing funds, developing strategies and implementing EU mechanisms (e.g. its Recovery and Resilience Plan, “Fit for 55” funds). These demands compete with the skills and capacity required to address routine responsibilities.
These combined challenges lead to operational inefficiencies, including:
low execution rates for critical operating expenses
delays in awarding and executing investment projects
limited national and international institutional representation.
Moreover, these issues have eroded stakeholder satisfaction, as evidenced by stakeholder interviews indicating a progressive decline in confidence.
Table 2.6 highlights the division of maritime tasks across OECD countries, showing that Portugal and France operate the most centralised maritime administration models.
Source: Authors’ elaboration based on comparative desk research.
Challenges in co-ordinating with other entities
The DGRM aims to act as a one-stop-shop for the ocean, centralising requests by stakeholders representing different areas of Portugal’s blue economy to the public administration. While stakeholders recognise the DGRM’s crucial role as co-ordinator, they express concern about the accessibility to its administrative services, worrying that this leads to investors abandoning the projects in favour of other destinations with more streamlined bureaucratic processes. The main constraints the DGRM and interviewed stakeholders mentioned were the large number of entities involved, insufficient communication and articulation, and lack of predictability, resulting in a lengthy licensing process.
Specific processes in relation to the three pilots that would benefit from increased co-ordination include:
Maritime spatial planning: Simplifying the process to obtain the titles for the private use of maritime space (TUPEM), with the exception of research and development (R&D) activities at sea.
Flag state: Mainstreaming processes for ship inspection operations and training of seafarers and technical experts.
Aquaculture: The administrative processes for establishing APAs1 and issuing TAAs.2
Challenges related to digitalisation
Digitalisation is the cornerstone of the centralised administrative services that the DGRM offers. Recent digitalisation improvements, e.g. the establishment of the Sea Electronic Counter (Balcão Eletrónico do Mar, BMar) platform in 2017 for licensing private uses of the marine space (BMar, n.d.[3]), can strengthen synergies across administrative procedures and data analysis, as seen across all three pilot areas. In particular, the management of flag state was digitalised with the introduction of new measures with Decree-Law No. 92/2018. In addition, the online platform BMar successfully contributed to streamlining and simplifying the process related to aquaculture activities.
A more comprehensive digitalisation process could significantly alleviate the administrative burden faced by the DGRM and other entities, freeing up capacities to further integrate sustainability and policy coherence objectives in their day-to-day work. Gaps that could be addressed through a more comprehensive approach to digitalisation include:
Inadequate technological infrastructure: There is limited internal technological infrastructure for desk work and information management.
Incomplete digitalisation of documents: This causes delays and inefficiencies in services. Some processes have not yet been fully digitalised; for instance, electronic records of ship mortgages have not yet been introduced. This could improve how maritime assets are financed, traded and managed.
Weak electronic data compilation and management.
Weak interoperability between different information technology (IT) systems: Currently, the BMar does not function as a true one-stop-shop, partly due to weak interoperability between databases used internally by the DGRM’s different departments as well as in co-ordination with other entities (e.g. BMar; Sistema Nacional de Embarcações e Marítimos/National Ship and Seafarer System, SNEM; Sistema Integrado de Licenciamento do ambiente/Integrated Environmental Licensing System, SILiAmb); and Capitania online).
Challenges in assessing policy and financing impacts and monitoring, reporting and evaluation
The DGRM also faces several challenges related to its monitoring and analytical capacities:
Weak indicators to monitor the sustainability of aquaculture establishments, in particular regarding their impact on marine biodiversity.
A wealth of data is collected through BMar. Yet, this information is not stored electronically by the DGRM, which causes bottlenecks in the measurement and monitoring of activities carried out via BMar. This wealth of data could strengthen interactions with other entities and contribute to monitoring the National Ocean Strategy (NOS).
Limited interaction with the scientific community hinders the development of adequate monitoring systems and indicators.
To counteract these challenges, the creation of a collaborative network, SEAMind, is promising. SEAMind identifies economic, social and environmental indicators to measure the results of ocean-related policies (DGPM, 2019[4]). These indicators are based on data collected through various strategic frameworks, such as the NOS, the PSOEM, the Ocean Satellite Account (OSA), and the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).
References
[3] BMar (n.d.), Balcão Eletrónico do Mar, https://www.bmar.pt/BMAR_Geral/faces/userauth/LoginX.xhtml?ssoOrigApp=BMAR_Pedido.
[4] DGPM (2019), SEAMInd – Monitoring and Indicators, https://www.dgpm.mm.gov.pt/_files/ugd/eb00d2_c62a855fc27649be87004ced5ecd4242.pdf.
[2] DGRM (2023), Institutional and Stakeholder Mapping.
[1] Government of Portugal (2019), Plano de Situação do Ordenamento do Espaço Marítimo Nacional, https://www.psoem.pt/o-plano-de-situacao/.
[5] Government of Portugal (2008), Regulatory Decree Aquaculture Production Offshore, https://www.dgrm.mm.gov.pt/documents/20143/0/DECR_9_2008.pdf/3d94abaf-ba46-6463-2198-0395ed3ad524.
← 1. The Regulatory Decree 9/2008 (Government of Portugal, 2008[5]) defines the fundamental rules for the establishment of APAs in the open sea (offshore).
← 2. In order to obtain a TAA, applicants have to provide the necessary documents through the BMar portal. When there are multiple activity requests for the same area (APA), a jury evaluates the application and grants the TAA to the best applicants.