ec.europa.eu In Europe, the sea is never far away: the coast is almost 70000 km long, which equals one and a half times the circumference of the earth. Half the population of the European Union lives less than 50 km from the coast. Many sectors of the economy are active in these coastal zones: port operations, transport, fisheries, industry, energy and tourism. As a result, many policies have a maritime dimension, but most of them are still managed sector by sector. Download: ec.europa.eu