Charles N. Ehler

New perspectives on sea use management: initial findings from European experience with marine spatial planning.

Increased development pressures on the marine environment and the potential for multiple use conflicts, arising as a result of the current expansion of offshore wind energy, fishing and aquaculture, dredging, mineral extraction, shipping, and the need to meet international and national commitments to biodiversity conservation, have led to increased interest in sea use planning with particular emphasis on marine spatial planning. Several European countries, on their own initiative or driven by the European Unions Marine Strategy and Maritime Policy, the Bergen Declaration of the North Sea Conference, and the EU Recommendation on Integrated Coastal Zone Management, have taken global leadership in implementing marine spatial planning. Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany in the North Sea, and the United Kingdom in the Irish Sea, have already completed preliminary sea use plans and zoning proposals for marine areas within their national jurisdictions. This paper discusses the nature and context of marine spatial planning, the international legal and policy framework, and the increasing need for marine spatial planning in Europe. In addition, the authors review briefly three marine spatial planning initiatives in the North Sea and conclude with some initial lessons learned from these experiences.

Ecosystem-Based Marine Spatial Management: An Evolving Paradigm for the Management of Coastal and Marine Places

The development and industrialization of the world’s oceans has evolved rapidly since the 15th century.1 Ongoing population growth, technological development, and growing consumer demand increased considerably the need for more food, energy, and trade. Future outlooks for offshore activities confirm that this evolution has not come to an end and is even likely to accelerate in the coming decades. The share of natural gas production derived from offshore exploitation, for example, is expected to grow to nearly 40 percent by 2030 (compared to 20–25 percent in 1990), as exploration and developments will shift to more lucrative offshore sites, a trend partly stimulated by high oil prices. A substantial contribution is expected from renewable energy (e.g., offshore wind farms and wave parks) by 2030, mainly because of decreasing exploitation costs.2 Future global growth of the cruise ship industry is estimated at an annual rate of 8 percent, while eco-tourism has grown to a multi-million dollar business in nearly 25 years, on an average annual growth rate of 12 percent since 1990.3

Marine spatial planning

Abstract Planning of marine areas is being developed worldwide to foster sustainable ocean management and governance. Marine spatial planning (MSP) is a process that aims to organize the use of the ocean space, as well as the interactions among human uses (e.g., fisheries, aquaculture, shipping, tourism, renewable energy production) and between users and the marine environment. Over the past 30 years, significant progress has been made by governments in their thinking about MSP. The MSP is currently under development in over 66 countries (44% of the nations with marine waters), encompassing six continents and four ocean basins, and the interest in MSP continues to grow. While most countries are still in the early phase of their MSP initiatives, others have already approved, implemented, or even revised marine spatial plans for many years. Despite its acceptance and use, development and implementation of MSP still faces several conceptual and practical challenges, from political to institutional, social, economic, scientific, and environmental sources. The present chapter provides a review on all these topics by addressing three main questions: what is MSP and why is it needed; what is the global distribution of MSP around the world, together with its state of development by region; and what are some of the most prominent and widespread challenges, present and future, that are linked to the development of MSP?