The Indian Ocean represents the world’s third largest ocean, providing the setting for a very large number of oil shipments. The threats on the maritime routes remain significant, even if piracy and armed robbery at sea have decreased in recent years. Overcoming those cross-border issues at sea requires regional cooperation and inter-agency coordination. The Critical Maritime Routes (CMR) program launched the EU CRIMARIO project, in order to increase awareness about potential risks or threats in the Indian Ocean (known as maritime situational awareness-MSA), together with capacity building, information data sharing, and improvement of maritime governance. The project will support the coastal countries of the Indian Ocean rim in putting together data from various maritime sources such as national and international agencies, the maritime industry, and non-governmental organisations, to achieve a global understanding of the maritime domain, therefore increasing maritime security.