The Spanish approach to marine spatial planning. Marine Strategy Framework Directive vs. EU Integrated Maritime Policy

The coming into effect of the Directive 2008/56/EC (Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)) will induce European Union member States to create mechanisms for managing maritime space in order to comply with the goals set out in this binding legislation. This leads one to think that marine spatial planning in various countries in the EU will be directed at complying with the Directive's environmental goals, as is the case in Spain, rather than undertaking proactive planning for developing the maritime sectors. To put the case of Spain into perspective, a review is conducted of the initiatives taken, especially in Europe and the European Union, exploring the correlations between the main focuses of the maritime sectors and the planning systems. The analysis of the Spanish initiative demonstrates how the maritime economy model and geopolitical factors explain the planning options for the marine environment. In other respects, with the coming into effect of the MSFD, a dual institutional course for marine spatial planning seems to be opening up in the EU: Integrated Maritime Policy vs. the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.     

Small state,maritime great power? Norway’s strategies for influencing the maritime policy of the European Union

In 2007 the EU Commission published the so-called “Blue Book” aimed at developing an Integrated Maritime Policy for the Union. Even though Norway is not an EU member and is usually referred to as a small state, this article shows how the Norwegian government was able to exercise significant influence on EU maritime policy development, positioning itself as one of the key actors. Applying the negotiation theory and tracing the process as it unfolded, this analysis identifies causal relationships leading to increased influence for Norwegian actors—particularly in respect to how issues concerning the Arctic became an integrated part of the policy. The paper concludes that even though the Norwegian actors had a strategic point of departure, utilizing objective advantages to maximize their own utility, their influence may also have been due to competence and sharing of knowledge. The article relies on official documents, but is to a large extent also based on interviews with key EU Commission and Norwegian governmental representatives. On an elevated, substantive analytical level the article contributes to the “small state” research agenda and its interest in how small states in international relations might influence policy outcomes and thrive in the international community.     

Defining standard statistical coastal regions for Ireland

In order to develop a policy framework and guidelines for improving a national approach to the management of Irish coastal regions and associated resources one first needs to be able to define what is meant by ‘a coastal region’ in an Irish context and secondly to know how the socio-economic characteristics of Irish coastal populations differ from the national perspective. This paper is therefore concerned with the coastal economy and the socio-economic characteristics of Ireland's coastal regions. These coastal regions are defined at a number of alternative levels of spatial aggregation. The compilation of coastal economic data is important when one considers the recommendations of the European Council and Parliament concerning the implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management and the requirements of policies such as Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union and the EU Marine Framework Strategy Directive.     

The European vision for oceans and seas—Social and political dimensions of the Green Paper on Maritime Policy for the EU

The EU Green Paper on Maritime Policy is the European response to the new generation of ocean strategies based on science, technology and innovation aimed at new objectives, such as the strengthening of security and access to new resources. The European character of the proposal is found in the presence of social, cultural and historical elements, what is called the “European vision”. The viability of a European vision of the oceans and the idea of maritime empire as an extension of the current concept of empire within the general context of emerging ocean strategies are the elements offered up for debate on this European Union initiative.     

Environmental justice implications of Maritime Spatial Planning in the European Union

This paper examines the implications of environmental justice in the regime for Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) currently developing in the European Union (EU). An ‘ecosystem-based approach’ to marine management is enshrined in the new Integrated Maritime Policy and Marine Strategy Framework Directive and forms the basis of MSP. This concept is intended to encompass all aspects of an ecosystem, including the human element. Yet the modes of including meaningful public participation in the decision-making process for MSP remain undetermined. At the same time, the Aarhus Convention (on access to information, public participation in decision making and access to justice in environmental matters) empowers non-governmental organisations to hold EU Member States to account. Consequently the issue of transparency will gain increased importance, as will linkages between human and environmental rights. Such public interest-based activism on the part of NGOs has the potential to enforce the developing framework for stakeholder engagement within MSP, but it also has implications worth considering regarding the appropriate role of interest-based organisations in the international political arena.     

EU marine policy on the move: The tension between fisheries and maritime policy

In the past decade, the European Commission has developed the Marine Strategy Directive and the Maritime Policy. Both policies aim at governing the marine environment; yet the two policies have a differing signature in policy formulation and implementation. From a fisher's perspective these policies present a change in institutional setting; major policy measures no longer descend from the EU Common Fisheries Policy alone, but increasingly are derived from general environmental policy developments. In this paper, the policy arrangement approach is used to analyse the differences between the two maritime policies, and the way in which they can affect fisheries management.     

The European Integrated Maritime Policy: The next five years

At the time of writing, the EU has just finished appointing a new cohort of senior representatives for the period 2014–2019. This includes appointing a Commissioner with a newly defined remit for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and the members of the various Committees of the European Parliament with competences related to maritime affairs. These individuals will invariably spend at least part of their first months in office identifying their respective priorities for the coming years. This commentary seeks to contribute to these deliberations by making concrete suggestions for priorities that might be considered as regards the future of the EU’s Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP). Seven years since its launch, the IMP remains very much a work in progress. Drawing on recent academic studies of the EU’s various ocean related policies this commentary argues that two of the greatest weaknesses of the IMP are the sectoral nature of priority-setting and strategy-making as well as the lack of a funding tool to implement its aims. Two concrete proposals are made, specifically aimed at the incoming EU leadership, which seek to address these weaknesses and to realize the aims articulated in the IMP.     

Integrated management of marine biodiversity in Europe: Perspectives from ICZM and the evolving EU Maritime Policy framework

Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is high on the international agenda for nature conservation. Marine and coastal ecosystems account for an important share of the biological diversity on Earth. As a consequence many international conventions, European legislation and national laws refer to marine biodiversity. The protection of marine biodiversity is a complex legal issue as it requires consideration of geographic (between land and sea), political (between conservation and exploitation), and economic (between fisheries, tourism, intellectual property and many other sectors) factors. Like Matryoshka dolls, marine biodiversity is a heterogeneous notion difficult to address as one discrete area in the development of policy agendas or juridical frameworks. In the past decade, the EU has been very active in Promoting Integrated Coastal Zone Management and in developing a framework for an Integrated Maritime Policy. This article reviews the status of marine biodiversity in the policy and legal initiatives of the European Union, a challenging issue to both the objectives of conservation and to the concept of integration.     

Ocean governance and maritime security in a placeful environment: The case of the European Union

Adopting a critical geopolitics approach that accounts for the mutually reinforcing link between geo-informed narratives and projection practices, this article proposes that ocean governance and maritime security have translated into states' and regional organisations' increasing control over maritime spaces. This leads to a certain territorialisation of the sea, not so much from a sovereignty and jurisdictional perspective but from a functional and normative perspective. The article starts by discussing the ways oceans have been represented and shows that they are far from a placeless void, both in practice and in discourse. The article then frames the analysis of ocean governance and maritime security within critical geopolitics, and elaborates on the case of the European Union's narrative and practice. It concludes on the mutually reinforcing link between discourse and practice in the field of ocean governance and maritime security in general, and on the consequences for the EU in particular. Scholars working on ocean governance and maritime security are encouraged to challenge the traditional view that oceans are placeless.     

Towards a ‘new form of governance’ in science-policy relations in the European Maritime Policy

This article seeks to identify the key principles that should guide the definition of the mandate and institutional structure for acquiring scientific advice in support of the European Maritime Policy. The EU has stated that, as concerns the Maritime Policy, the relations between science and policy ought to reflect a ‘new form of governance’. Far from being an easy task, however, the EU has observed that there are problems of credibility and legitimacy in the relations between science and society (including policymakers), which first need to be overcome. Against this background, the article draws on some of the newest conceptual and empirical research on science-policy relations, which has sought to analyse and ultimately provide frameworks for overcoming such challenges. On this basis, the article investigates the principles that need to be applied to constitute a ‘new form of governance’ as a means of paving the way toward a more credible and legitimate use of scientific data, information and knowledge within policymaking and implementation processes.     

Maritime Europe and EU enlargement. A geopolitical perspective

The 2004 enlargement of the European Union (EU), as well as the further enlargements planned from 2007 onwards (Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Turkey), entail changes of a geo-political nature that not only imply an increase in size (a rise in the number of States, new boundaries), but, more especially, also involve a shift in the EU's maritime status, with its projection towards the Atlantic now being checked by a swing towards continental Europe and its inland seas. In view of the new political map being drawn up, two questions beg to be asked: to what extent is Europe's maritime condition being strengthened; and, does the new maritime Europe constitute an opportunity, or does it aggravate the already-existing problems and threats?     

Ocean governance in a competitive world. The BRIC countries as emerging maritime powers—building new geopolitical scenarios

Owing to their style and economic impact, Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRIC countries) are destined to become relevant actors in the new ocean governance. The following working hypothesis is sustained: the BRIC countries, due to the potential of their maritime territories, can be considered to be emerging maritime powers capable of displacing some of the historical maritime powers. This would also entail a shift of strategic maritime space towards the southern hemisphere. Other emerging maritime scenarios associated with the BRIC countries include the Russian Arctic, and the Indo-Pacific ocean belt, or “string of pearls”, as it is known. Factors such as competitiveness, maritime leadership and ocean governance are thus placed in a new economic and political context where they might be redefined and adapted to the circumstances of the BRIC block and other emerging countries, the majority of which are subject to demographic pressure and a high degree of poverty. The most relevant conclusions point to the emergence of a new type of neo-navalism, on the one hand—a BRIC version of traditional sea power and, on the other, a possible threat to the EU's Integrated Maritime Policy under pressure from strong competitiveness in a highly internationalised environment, forcing changes in its original approach with its distinct social profiles and commitment to latest generation rights.     

An index to assess maritime importance in the European Atlantic economy

Successive marine policies set by the European Union identify the maritime sectors as crucial drivers for growth and jobs in the EU economy. The design of marine policies and the assessment of the importance of the maritime economy need empirical support that provides the basic data to help the decision-making process. This paper proposes a metric, in the form of a synthetic index, to measure and compare the importance of the maritime sectors in the European Atlantic area. The index scores can be used to assess the position of each Atlantic region so that it is possible to compare its performance to the rest of the area. The results show the relative weight of the maritime sectors in the European Atlantic regions and the high heterogeneity among them. Analyzing the maritime economy with this index can provide guidance for the design of economic policies to identify and revitalize the regions with greater potential for Blue Growth in the Atlantic area. This may help to put into perspective the importance of the maritime economy and can serve to improve the socio-economic dimension of the use of marine waters.     

The Portuguese maritime spatial plan

Numerous national governments and supranational organizations such as the OSPAR Commission, the European Union and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have underlined the importance of maritime spatial planning (MSP) for balancing and solving conflicts between the needs of different sectors and conservation in the marine space. In the last decade, many maritime spatial plans have been developed around the world. The drivers to develop these plans and the approaches to find solutions for the particular problems differ significantly. The Portuguese national marine jurisdiction is one of the largest in Europe. For the continental part, a maritime spatial plan was initiated in 2009, and entered in 2010 in the final stage of approval. One of the driving forces for this MSP initiative was the claim to extend its continental shelf. The development process was led by a multidisciplinary team. Despite the challenges, the existing as well as potential future marine resources and activities were characterized, mapped and categorized. To overcome conflicts resulting from the many overlapping uses and to assure sustainable development of all sectors, a conflict analysis and evaluation of potential future uses were necessary. The applied zoning scheme represented an exercise of conflict solving and proved to be a powerful tool to promote discussion and participation among stakeholders. The successful implementation of Portuguese MSP will rely largely on its ability to provide efficient management, financial and legal mechanisms to achieve the integration of all strategies and spaces under the Portuguese maritime jurisdiction.     

Geopolitical factors of maritime policies and marine spatial planning: State,regions, and geographical planning scope

This article sets out to explore the extent to which the maritime policies that have been formulated in recent years are public policies on a par with other State-level policies, or whether the geographical domain where they are applied makes them exceptional. Maritime policy and territorial structure are very closely related, and it can be seen that maritime policies are beginning to shift towards the domain of State internal affairs, necessitating the rethinking of the way powers are distributed between territorial bodies that have the legal power to be involved in the formulation of these policies and some instruments, such as marine spatial planning.     

The emerging policy landscape for marine spatial planning in Europe

This paper provides an overview of the emerging policy landscape for marine spatial planning in the European Union, which consists of four main categories of policy drivers: environmental legislation, legislation on marine renewable energy, fisheries regulations and the Integrated Maritime Policy. The weak links between these categories of policy drivers, underpinned by a lack of clarity regarding the vision for sustainability, pose major challenges for the emergence of ecosystem-based and integrated marine spatial planning in Europe. In addition, there is still uncertainty arising from on-going reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, and discussions on the need for a new marine spatial planning directive. This paper concludes with the view that better integration of environmental concerns into the Common Fisheries Policy is needed to strengthen the link between environmental legislation and fisheries regulations, and that the existing policy landscape, particularly the Marine Strategic Framework Directive, already provides a legal framework for ecosystem-based marine spatial planning. Such a framework is consistent with the recognition that ecosystem conservation underpins other pillars of sustainable development and provides the foundation for cross-sectoral marine planning and management.     

Maritime health of Chinese seafarers

Seafarers make a critical contribution to civil society, but seafarers’ health has received comparatively little attention in the maritime world. China has the largest population of seafarers, and Chinese seafarers are working on board merchant ships flying different flags. The Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 entered into force in China in November 2016, and it has already generated significant impact in terms of policy, legislation and maritime practice. However, while seafarers’ treatment has been improved significantly in many countries, in particular in developed countries, Chinese seafarers are still facing some challenges relating to health issues, such as long working hours, insufficient nutrition, lack of recreation and poor mental health. Based on existing knowledge and scholarship available in the public domain, together with primary data collected in several phases of fieldwork, this paper critically examines a number of major issues relating to maritime health of Chinese seafarers.     

Measuring the maritime economy: Spain in the European Atlantic Arc

Despite the importance of the socio-economic dimension of the use of marine waters, there has been little research in the field until recently, when interest has grown in the concept of ‘blue growth'. This paper aims to contribute to filling this gap with a socio-economic assessment of the main maritime sectors, focused on the Spanish part of the European Atlantic Arc. To this end, it first proposes a theoretical structure for the maritime economy and then collects and classifies comparable and reliable maritime socio-economic indicators. The data obtained allows us to assess the size of the Spanish maritime sector and the position of the Spanish Maritime Cluster in the wider context of the maritime economy of the European Atlantic, as well as discuss the appropriateness of a strategy of forming clusters at the national level vs. a transnational approach. The results indicate differences between regions in the European Atlantic Arc that complicate the development of integrated policies to stimulate blue growth. Extending our knowledge of the maritime economy of the European Atlantic Arc will make it possible to design strategies that address the real issues, increasing the likelihood of these being effective.     

Implementing Integrated Coastal Zone Management in a national policy vacuum: Local case studies from Ireland

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) is widely advocated at all levels of governance as a means of delivering sustainable development in coastal areas. This paper explores the status and characteristics of various forms of ICZM at the local level given that it is at this level that most ICZM activity currently takes place. In this context, local level ICZM includes agency-led initiatives, local pilot projects and bottom-up approaches. Providing empirical evidence about the relative strengths and weaknesses of these various models for local delivery, this paper presents an overview, critique of and lessons learned from approaches in Ireland, where there is no over-arching national coastal management policy to provide any steer for management. The potential for local government involvement in these approaches is emphasised, particularly in bottom-up and local projects which foster strengthened management capacity within local government with limited resource implications. Whilst the paper highlights difficult jurisdictional issues in the Irish context, the potential for improved coastal management, through continued local government involvement in ICZM networks and local projects, as well as through the implementation of the European Integrated Maritime Policy and Marine Strategy Framework Directive, is outlined.     

‘Whose science?’ Precaution and power-play in European marine environmental decision-making

This paper explores the science–policy interface in environmental decision-making in the European Community as it moves towards its stated aims of implementing a precautionary and ecosystem-based approach to marine environmental management. Whilst recent EC case law has clarified some questions of Member State responsibilities under international environmental obligations, recent case studies at the crossing point between marine nature conservation and fisheries management in EC waters raise questions about the role of science in policy-making in Brussels. This has important implications for the developing EC Integrated Maritime Policy and Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and the concept of Maritime Spatial Planning as a whole. A new paradigm for bridging the science–policy gap is required in light of the developing legislative framework and given the complex nature of the marine environment.