Marine spatial planning: risk or opportunity for fisheries in the North Sea?

Abstract

The North Sea is one of the busiest marine areas in the world. It is also a major fisheries ground. Bordered by seven countries with their own spatial uses and claims, the stage is set for complex and demanding governance challenges. Recent decades have also seen user groups multiply, competition for space and resources increase, and the pressure on the marine environment and its living natural resources grow. As governments strive to balance conservation and economic development needs, they also have to deal with inter-as well as intra-national user conflicts. Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) has arrived as a new approach to these issues. It is argued that for North Sea fishing people and their communities MSP holds risks as well as opportunities, depending on which institutions are formed and what role they are allowed to play in the planning process.

Exploring the winners and losers of marine environmental governance/Marine spatial planning:Cui bono?/“More than fishy business”: epistemology, integration and conflict in marine spatial planning/Marine spatial planning: power and scaping/Surely not all planning is evil?/Marine spatial planning: a Canadian perspective/Maritime spatial planning – “ad utilitatem omnium”/Marine spatial planning: “it is better to be on the train than being hit by it”/Reflections from the perspective of recreation

“…MSP is an instrument whose time has come (Jentoft & Knol, 2014). As a fishery industry representative once argued in an interview with our colleagues (Degnbol & Wilson, 2008, p. 197) "it is better [for stakeholders] to be on the [MSP] train than being hit by it. "…”

Spatial management units for industrial demersal fisheries in southeastern and southern Brazil

“…This is especially true when moving from a singlespecies to an ecosystem approach in fisheries, in which a coherent space delimitation is of paramount importance. The increasing uses of the ocean and the problems faced by many fisheries (Norse, 2010;Jentoft & Knol, 2014), have increased the focus on spatialbased fisheries management, including, the formulation and enforcement of no-take areas, spatial zoning of fleet access, spatial restrictions of gear use and spatial user rights and/or catch quotas (Wilen, 2004;Pipitone, 2012;Rassweiler et al, 2012). In general, such strategies restrict the unlimited mobility of fishermen, a feature that fosters sequential overfishing (Berkes et al, 2006;Norse, 2010), and indiscriminate habitat exploitation (Bax et al, 1999).…”

Mapping inshore fisheries: Comparing observed and perceived distributions of pot fishing activity in Northumberland

“…Displacement of fishing activity may incur additional costs for smallscale fishers, and may disrupt informal social arrangements concerning use of fishing grounds by failing to take account of how fishing grounds are linked to communities [4,19]. Small-scale fishers are also likely to lack political influence needed in negotiations with other stakeholders competing for use of the marine environment [20].…”

“…If the interests of inshore fisheries are to be fully considered, integrating the spatial representation of their activity into planning processes is critical. Credible maps that support fishers' claims to fishing grounds have potential to help mitigate against negative impacts of MSP [20].…”