Coastal and Marine Management

Coastal and marine management examines how societies govern the overlapping human uses of ocean and shoreline environments — from fisheries and shipping to tourism and energy infrastructure — in ways that keep underlying ecosystems functional. Because these spaces are shared by multiple industries, communities, and jurisdictions, deciding who can do what, where, and when requires coordinating science, law, and negotiation simultaneously, a challenge captured by frameworks such as marine spatial planning, integrated coastal management, and the broader concept of ocean governance. A central open question is how to account for cumulative impacts, since the combined stress of individually permitted activities can degrade an ecosystem even when each activity appears manageable in isolation. Researchers are also working out how to make the "blue economy" — the drive to extract economic value from marine spaces — genuinely compatible with ecosystem-based management rather than simply rebranding conventional exploitation with sustainability language.

Works

124,682

Total citations

622,030

Keywords

Marine Spatial PlanningEcosystem-Based ManagementIntegrated Coastal ManagementOcean GovernanceBlue EconomyCumulative Impacts