Peter J.S. Jones

TL;DR: Ecosystem based marine spatial management (EB-MSM) is an approach that recognizes the full array of interactions within an ecosystem, including human uses, rather than considering single issues, species, or ecosystem services in isolation.

TL;DR: Given the divergent values of different stakeholders, the high degree of scientific uncertainty, and the high marine resource management decisionstakes, it is concluded that a key challenge is to adopt a ``middle-ground'' approach which combines top-down and bottom-up approaches, and which is consistent with the post-normalscientific approach.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the reality of marine spatial planning, drawing on 12 case studies around Europe, employing a structured qualitative empirical approach, concluding that top-down processes tend to dominate, more participative platforms tending to be disconnected by design from executive decision-making, despite growing indications that the target for Good Environmental Status (GES) by 2020 is unlikely to be met.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide a synthesis of the ecological effects of existing European marine reserves and the factors underlying their effectiveness, and show that existing marine reserves foster significant positive increases in key biological variables (density, biomass, body size and species richness) compared with areas receiving less protection.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide 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.