The project of Marine Strategy aims to achieve Good Environmental Status of the EU's marine waters by 2020 and to protect the resource base upon which marine-related economic and social activities depend. Seas in Good Environmental Status are clean, healthy and productive. The Directive enshrines in a legislative framework the ecosystem approach to the management of human activities having an impact on the marine environment, integrating the concepts of environmental protection and sustainable use. 
According to the Directive, each Member State must implement a marine strategy for its marine waters, in cooperation with other Member States sharing the same marine region, reviewed every 6 years. 

Those strategies include 5 steps: 
1. an initial assessment of their marine waters,
2. the determination of the good environmental status of their marine waters,
3. the setting of environmental targets,
4. the establishment and implementation of coordinated monitoring programmes, and 
5. the identification of measures or actions that need to be taken in order to achieve or maintain good environmental status.