Ocean Governance - Germany is committed to protecting the oceans

Germany is committed to protecting the oceans and to the fair use of the sea. Maritime armed forces can also contribute to the enforcement of rules.

A German frigate in the Mediterranean - under the NATO Sea Guardian mandate - could be deployed more easily to ensure comprehensive maritime security and to enforce fair, sustainable use of the sea than is currently the case in the North and Baltic Seas. The deployment of the navy to protect shipping, critical maritime infrastructure or natural resources and the fragile marine ecosystem from criminal and hybrid, i.e. not clearly military, threats would take place in a legal grey area outside of a corresponding international mandate. The tasks that the German Navy has been routinely performing elsewhere for decades are also needed at home and in domestic waters now that we are fully aware of the turning point.