Handbook on Marine Environment Protection

The fundamental basis to understand the distribution and variability of abiotic variables within the oceans such as e.g. temperature and salinity are the underlying physical dynamics. These dynamics depend on the setting of the ocean basins and external forcing mechanisms. In this chapter water mass characteristics and their formation processes are described as well as fundamental principles, which set the oceans into motion. These fundamentals are the premise to understand possible future climate changes, the distribution and evolution of marine ecosystems and related economic interests and conflicts.

Two thirds of the Earth’s surface area are covered by the oceans and shelf seas and at first sight this vast marine living space appears ecologically homogenous compared to land. A closer look, however, reveals that the global ocean accommodates very different structurally and functionally complex communities that are formed by a great diversity of plant and animal species. All communities or ecosystems (the term is interchangeably used in the following chapter) are interconnected and depend upon each other. All of them have been providing a wealth of ecosystem goods and services that humans have been depending on and economically benefiting from. The following chapter aims at giving a general overview of the ecological organization of the global ocean, which is needed to understand and evaluate past and current impacts of human activities on marine communities. On the most general level, this chapter divides the marine living space and its inhabitants into the pelagic and the benthic zone. It introduces functionally important and widely distributed communities in both zones and highlights the dynamic biological, physical, and chemical processes or mechanisms that play an important role in the maintenance and functioning of these communities.

Marine ecosystems deliver a number of goods and services, such as food, recreation areas, raw materials or active substances for medicine, which are important to fulfill basic needs and to support the well-being of humans. The concept of ecosystem services is useful to get a better understanding of the benefits humans obtain from marine ecosystems and to improve their communication. There have been several attempts to refine ecosystem services categories in order to establish a common classification system which could simplify the incorporation of ecosystem services into everyday policy-decisions-making and economic accounting systems. The concept of ecosystem services plays an important role in the evaluation of costs and benefits that are associated with the protection of natural capital or ecosystems. But the valuation of natural capital has limitations and pitfalls. Besides the monetary value of marine ecosystem services there are also strong non-economic reasons to protect marine biodiversity from threats from anthropogenic pressures and to preserve it for current and future generations.

Trends in global Fisheries indicate an overall decline in productivity of world fishery resources and almost 30% of fish stocks world-wide are still overfished. In Europe the amount of sustainably harvested stocks strongly increased over the last 10 years. Nonetheless, with a fast growing world population the pressure on fish stocks will remain high. As fish stocks can unfurl high productivity only in healthy marine ecosystems, it is extremely important to minimise the negative impacts of fishing on target species and communities as well as benthic ecosystems and habitats. First of all, fishing exerts mortality on target species and reduces their natural abundance. When a fishery targets more than a single species in mixed fisheries, similar responses may be observed for all species in focus. Fishing can also impact non-target as well as rare and sensitive species via unintended by-catch and has indirect effects on ecosystems and habitats via food web interactions and physical damage degrading habitat quality. In this chapter, we provide a short overview on the specific effects of fishing on target and by-catch species, communities as well as benthos and benthic habitats.

Mariculture is the cultivation of marine species for human-benefit. Mariculture is a rapidly growing sector and is making an increasingly important contribution to global supplies of high-quality food. Mariculture can be divided into high- and low-input categories depending on the extent to which feed and medicines are a core part of the operation. Examples of high- and low-input mariculture operations include the cultivation of salmon and mussels respectively. Mariculture has a number of impacts on the marine environment. These impacts include the spread of non-native species, genetic modification of sympatrics, negative-interaction with predators, local-scale organic enrichment and habitat modification, effects of chemotheraputants on non-target organisms and the transfer of parasites/disease to native stocks. Some impacts of mariculture are relatively well understood, at least in some locations, but research is very much ongoing as new mariculture challenges, demands and opportunities arise. Regulation of mariculture varies widely between nations and there remain questions about the spatial extent, and nature, of unacceptable changes attributable to mariculture and how to incorporate mariculture into marine spatial planning.

Shipping has been an important part of the world economy for at least 4000 years. With the advent of steamships in the nineteenth century, international trade blossomed. Recent developments, particularly in containerization, have increased the economic significance of shipping. As ships have increased in size, and the amount of trade that they carry has increased, the risks to the environment have likewise increased. These risks involve pollution from oil, hazardous and noxious substances, sewage, garbage, antifouling treatments, noise and wrecks. Over the past 40 years, increasing efforts have been made to manage these risks. These have been successful in respect of ship losses and oil pollution, but other areas remain of concern.

In this chapter a brief overview of direct and indirect human impact to coastal systems is given. The concept of coastal morphodynamics as relevant drivers of coastal ecosystems is explained and the interactions of important processes in different spatio-temporal scales are introduced. In several examples it is shown how coastal developments act as perturbations to the dynamic equilibria of natural coastal environments. Important uncertainties in system understanding are identified and their relevance for the interpretation of model predictions is stressed out. Numerical models serve as common tools for coastal development impact assessment, and the more and more user friendly design of modelling systems will increase their use in the future. This calls for an increased awareness and very careful interpretation of model results considering model applicability and model prediction skills. Management should thus follow an adaptive approach, which involves learning and monitoring of the evolution of coastal systems. This also involves regular re-assessments of past predictions and the identification of needs for model development.

An analysis of sources and factors of environmental risk at the various phases of the offshore oil and gas industry (OOGI) is presented. Practically all operations of the OOGI are shown to be accompanied by physical, chemical and biological disturbances in marine ecosystems. The level of impacts, their scale as well as negative ecological effects vary widely depending on local situations and conditions. Environmental impacts of drilling operations as well as platform and pipeline construction in the sea usually result in local and reversible disturbances in the water columns and benthic communities. The most significant sources and factors of ecological risk associated with the OOGI’s activities include accidental oil spills in the coastal zone, operations with tanker ballast waters resulting in introduction of alien species, discharge of produced waters and seismic exploration. Such impacts could produce not only disturbances to local biota but could also lead to ecological catastrophes at a regional level. The most serious economic losses of fisheries result from the restrictions imposed on fishing and mariculture following oil spills in coastal areas.

Offshore wind energy will substantially contribute to future energy generation. However, the use of wind energy in marine areas has implications for marine ecosystems. The results of more than a decade of ecological research concerning offshore wind farms in Germany and abroad have revealed potential negative impacts of offshore wind farms, particularly with regards to seabirds, migrating terrestrial birds, and marine mammals such as harbor porpoises, especially by noise effects during installation of the turbines. Depending on the location of the wind farm, effects on bat populations are also possible. Impact on fish and benthic species are probably less relevant. There are even examples of positive (local) effects on marine biodiversity, for example, due to the introduction of a new hard substrate into ecosystems or the exclusion of fishing from the area of the offshore wind farm. For an overall assessment of the impacts of offshore wind, the effects still have to be investigated on a cumulative and international level over the long term.A number of measures are necessary to achieve environmentally sound development of the use of offshore wind energy. Marine spatial planning is important for guiding human activities in the marine environment, such as the use of offshore wind energy. Marine protected areas are of high relevance for protecting sensitive habitats and species. State-of-the-art mitigation measures against underwater noise are required to avoid hazards to whales. Finally, marine compensation measures can help to counterbalance adverse impacts of offshore wind farms.

Underwater excavation is called dredging. While essential to maintain ports and channels and to meet other needs, such as fighting the impacts of climate change by building sand dunes, such operations can cause severe environmental impacts in the marine environment. This chapter overviews the dredging process and equipment, followed by a presentation of the environmental concerns associated with dredging and disposal or placement for beneficial uses. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the international regulatory regime and remarks on future trends.

The mining of the deep-sea for minerals has been on the horizon for many years with interest increasing rapidly since 2010 following the application for, and approval of, many new contracts for exploration in international waters. Some contracts for exploitation have been granted in national waters with mining expected in the next few years. These activities will impact ecosystems that have not been affected by man’s influence before, and many of them are poorly understood due to their remoteness and complexity. This paper describes the likely impacts for mining the three main deep-sea minerals—manganese nodules, cobalt crusts and polymetallic sulphides and briefly looks at possible mitigation measures.

Chemical weapons (CW) are a legacy of large conflicts of twentieth century. Those of them which were not used in combat were in part dumped to seas and oceans worldwide. Among many sites used for CW dumping, Baltic Sea is an area where high concentration of dumped munitions are located and for which several research programs produced valuable results regarding their environmental fate and toxicity. In case of the Baltic Sea, warfare agents of concern include mostly sulfur mustard and arsenic based agents, such as Adamsite, Clark I and Clark II. Although there are still many gaps in knowledge, we know that dumped CW are point sources of contaminants on the sea bottom, and can produce chronic effects on marine organisms. Dumped chemical weapons are a growing concern for the international community, therefore also management strategies for such areas are discussed in the following chapter.

As a means of countering climate change, some scientists have proposed that climate engineering, which is a deliberate action designed to alter the Earth’s climate, could be done. In this chapter an overview is given of the proposed climate engineering methods that involve the direct manipulation of marine systems. This includes methods that enhance the ocean’s natural physical, chemical, and biological CO₂ sequestration pathways, as well as purely technical ones that either use the ocean as a carbon storage reservoir or alter it’s properties to affect the Earth’s radiation budget. Few methods have been thoroughly evaluated and there are still many unknowns, at both the level of basic understanding and as to whether or not it would even be technologically feasible to implement any of them. Research so far has shown that some CE methods do have the potential to alter certain aspects of the climate system. Some have more potential than others and most of them appear to have significant side effects.

Agriculture is a main contributor of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to the marine environment, and thereby a main cause of eutrophication of marine ecosystems. By the end of the twentieth century, roughly half of the total N and P input into the aquatic environment originated from agriculture. The relative contribution of agriculture has increased by a factor of 8 for N, and by a factor of 1.6 for P during the last century. As a result, the N/P ratio of the inputs have strongly increased. Contributions from agriculture increased especially from the 1960s, following the rapid rise in fertilizer use and manure production. Enlarged areas of agricultural land at the expense of natural areas including forests have also contributed. Leaching and runoff are the main pathways for N losses, while runoff is the main pathway for P losses from agriculture to sea.There are huge differences between countries in N and P use efficiencies and N and P surpluses, and hence in N and P losses. In Sub-Saharan countries, N and P surpluses are small or negative. Surpluses are high and increasing in countries in transition (China, India, Brazil). Many affluent countries (US, EU) have relatively high but decreasing surpluses, following the implementation of good agricultural practices and environmental regulations in practice.Forecasts indicate that global food production may have to increase by 50% or more relative to the production level in 2010 during the next five decades, while N and P losses will have to decrease at the same time, to halt eutrophication and biodiversity losses. For this to happen, N and P use efficiencies in food production have to increase drastically, and N and P from manure, sludge, and wastes have to be recycled and reused more effectively.

The release of pollutants to the marine environment poses an extreme threat to oceans and seas worldwide. Toxic substances are found in seawater, sediments and marine organisms and excess organic substances and nutrient input threatens aquatic life. Land-based industries are significant contributors to this pollution. Looking at data from the North-East Atlantic, the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, the relevant contaminants and main industrial sectors become evident. It can be shown, that implementing pollution control measures for relevant industrial activities leads to substantial reduction of their emissions and discharges. Therefore regulating land-based industrial sites is a central issue for the protection of the marine environment.

The marine environment not only receives direct wastewater discharge from marine outfalls and shipping activities but also has to cope with wastewater emissions from land-based wastewater facilities transported via inland waterways. As a general rule, wastewater treatment plants actively contribute to the protection of marine environment by removing organic compounds and nutrients from the wastewater. However, if wastewater is untreated or insufficiently treated, the wastewater management sector definitely contributes to the eutrophication of the marine environment. In addition, the wastewater industry has to face the problem of the pollutants of rising concern and especially those compounds which undeniably originate from wastewater treatment plants such as organic micropollutants, pathogens, microplastics and engineered nanoparticles. It is quite crucial to find convincing responses to these still outstanding issues.

With the coming of mass passenger transport, tourism has become an important part of the economies of many States. The scale of this is discussed. Concentrations of tourist activity can create pollution problems from sewage. Tourism makes many demands for infrastructure, which can change coastal zones, and adversely impact on coastal biodiversity. The activities of tourists can affect sites of importance to coastal wildlife, and in some forms can interfere with its reproductive success. With proper management, however, a sustainable balance can be achieved. Such management systems need to address all the aspects concerned, and to win the support of all stakeholders. The chapter finally discusses the main elements needed for such systems.

In this chapter, the effects of temperature change—as a main aspect of climate change—on marine biodiversity are assessed. Starting from a general discussion of species responses to temperature, the chapter presents how species respond to warming. These responses comprise adaptation and phenotypic plasticity as well as range shifts. The observed range shifts show more rapid shifts at the poleward range edge than at the equator-near edge, which probably reflects more rapid immigration than extinction in a warming world. A third avenue of changing biodiversity is change in species interactions, which can be altered by temporal and spatial shifts in interacting species. We then compare the potential changes in biodiversity to actual trends recently addressed in empirical synthesis work on local marine biodiversity, which lead to conceptual issues in quantifying the degree of biodiversity change. Finally we assess how climate change impacts the protection of marine environments.

Roughly one third of anthropogenically emitted CO₂ has been taken up by the oceans. When this CO₂ combines with water to form H₂CO₃, a weak acid, water acidity increases in a process referred to as ocean acidification (OA). From the preindustrial era until present time the average pH has decreased by 0.08 units on average and it is projected to decrease a further 0.15 to 0.50 until year 2100 (IPCC RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 projections). Increased acidity hampers calcification in shell forming invertebrates, but OA also acts on a wider range of physiological processes, especially those related to cellular ion regulation, and most often non-calcifying species are equally affected. Meta-analyses show severe effects on many species of corals, echinoderms, molluscs, crustaceans, and fish at levels predicted for year 2100. Nevertheless, generalizations are presently hampered by our lack of knowledge on the variability of effects among life cycle stages, variability among taxa, how evolutionary adaptation and transgenerational effects may alleviate OA effects, and effects of OA on entire communities. Even closely related species react differently, and differences among populations of the same species separated geographically have been recorded. Also, specific life cycle stages seem to be more sensitive. In general, planktonic larvae and juveniles seem more affected than adults. Knowledge on evolutionary adaptation to OA is scarce, but the few studies that do exist indicate possible fast adaptation and buffering of OA effects by transgenerational exposure. Studies show that future OA may shift the biodiversity of entire communities. Two marine communities are of particular concern. Model studies indicate that coral reefs could be pushed beyond sustainability be the end of the century, and OA is progressing fast in the Arctic where many species are physiologically lesser capable of countering OA. OA works in concert with many other environmental stressors and knowledge on OA should be incorporated into decisions on suitable areas to protect so as to minimise effects of other stressors in habitats most vulnerable to OA.

This chapter provides a short overview on the historical background of marine environmental pollution by hazardous substances and the measures implemented to minimize its amount and impact. In order to better understand the problems involved with contaminants in the marine environment, the basic common principles, e.g. their physico-chemical properties, persistency, behavior, and environmental impacts are described. Sources and fate of chemicals as well as their way into the environment also belong to the factors which are needed to know in order to assess the environmental risks of contaminants and protect the environment from its exposure and effects.Examples are given for selected contaminants synthetized and used during different periods, starting in the mid of 1900 until the first decade of 2000, representing different classes of compounds: organochlorines (PCBs), organometals (TBT), and pharmaceuticals. For those examples, also information about the current status in areas of the Northeast Atlantic or the Baltic Sea is provided together with references and sources for further reading. The chapter ends with a summary on challenges and future perspectives.

Our world is radioactive since the beginning of the universe. Life has learned to resist against highly energetic radiation from natural sources originating from so-called primordial and cosmogenic radionuclides, but in addition the presence of natural radioactivity, man has introduced artificial radionuclides into the environment by various nuclear technical activities, e.g. nuclear weapon tests, by radioactive wastes, controlled releases from nuclear facilities, and accidental releases of huge amounts of radioactive substances. The marine environment is one of the major recipients of these radionuclides, but oceans have the property of dispersion and dilution by ocean currents into the giant water masses. However, we learned in the meantime that the ocean capacity and resilience against pollutants is not unlimited. The following chapter will enlighten some basic knowledge about radioactivity in the environment and processes of the adverse effect of radioactivity in the oceans.

Coastal zones have experienced an increased nutrient load during the past decades. In most cases, strongest increases took place since the 1950s. First signs of consequences of the increased nutrient loads were increased phytoplankton blooms, an increase in Harmful Algae Blooms, a decrease in seagrass and an increase in green macroalgae blooms. As a consequence of the increased production and accumulation of organic matter hypoxic conditions may develop with detrimental consequences for the benthic and pelagic ecosystems. The global extent of hypoxic areas has doubled since the 1960s. Relatively few time series exist, that document the early stages of eutrophication. With new data becoming available, it is now clear that the effects of eutrophication are very complex and in many cases site specific. Moreover, other aspects of human induced global change like temperature increase, or the introduction of non-indigenous species interact with phytoplankton dynamics, posing a challenge to future coastal research. A case study for the Wadden Sea, a coastal sea that is under severe pressure by continental Westeuropean rivers, is presented that shows the eutrophication history, and recent improvements after management decisions lead to decreasing nutrient loads.

The pollution of the marine environment as a result of the introduction of plastic and other waste is one of the major global environmental problems. Life cycle assessments of plastic products so far do not consider the fact that the oceans are a sink for plastics. It is estimated that 6–10% of the global annual plastic production, currently 315 million tons, end up as marine litter. Being bioavailable to many species, micro-plastic particles smaller than 5 mm in size, which originate from the breakdown and use of bigger items as well as from their direct application in products, are of special concern. Plastics are highly persistent and often contain toxic or hormonal effective chemicals or adsorb them from seawater. At present, around 800 species have been shown to have detrimental interactions with marine litter, the majority relating to entanglement in and ingestion of plastic litter items. Additionally, marine litter causes socio-economic costs and may impact the wellbeing of society at large. Analyses of the composition and amounts of marine litter as well as the materials litter items are made of are important because they provide vital information on the land- or sea-based sources marine litter originates from. Even though some uncertainty remains with regard to specific pathways of introduction and the impacts of marine litter, which is due to the complex set of potential sources of marine litter, it is evident that the issue needs to be addressed so as to urgently implement prevention and complementary removal measures. In this regard, harmonized monitoring and sound assessment schemes play an important role in informing decision-makers about suitability and effectiveness of measures taken. Regional Action Plans on Marine Litter for the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR), the Mediterranean (UNEP/MAP) and the Baltic Sea (HELCOM) demonstrate the wide scope of required potential solutions to combat marine litter and are powerful instruments for cross-regional cooperation, which is ongoing between the Regional Seas Conventions.

Underwater sound is ubiquitous throughout the world’s oceans. Evaluating its impact and relevance for the marine fauna is highly complex and hampered by a paucity of data, lack of understanding and ambiguity of terms. When comparing sound (an energetic pollutant) with substantial pollutants (chemical, biological or marine litter) two notable differences emerge: Firstly, while sound propagates instantaneously away from the source, it also ceases immediately within minutes of shutting off the source. Anthropogenic noise is hence per-se ephemeral, lending itself to a set of in-situ mitigation strategies unsuitable for mitigation of persistent pollutants. Secondly, while pollution with hazardous substances can readily be described quantitatively with few parameters (concentration as the most important one), the description of sound and its impact on aquatic life is of much higher complexity, as to be evidenced by the issue’s multifaceted description following hereinafter.

With the commencement of anthropogenic transcontinental movements followed by a continually increasing global traffic and intentional transfer of organisms, a diverse array of human-mediated pathways appeared responsible for transporting numerous marine species between different eco-regions. World-wide shipping increased dramatically over the last centuries emerging now as the most important vector for un-intentional artificial range-extensions of marine organisms thereby causing a steady raise in the introduction rate of non-indigenous species to most coastal regions of all oceans. Such neobiota pose a high functional risk if they develop stable populations and turn invasive with often detrimental effects on diversity and foodwebs of the indigenous ecosystems, even imposing high social-economic damage. Science is advancing in the attempt to understand the mechanisms of introduction and invasiveness which are crucial for further management approaches on national as well as international levels. Non-indigenous species have to be understood as a major pollution problem connected to every-day activities on all levels of society. Since the establishment of invasive species is nearly irreversible and attempts to eradicate populations of invasive organisms are mostly futile, a stringent prevention management on a global scale has to be anticipated.

The history of ships and shipping technologies reveals the history of use and perception of the sea by human beings. It also serves as an example to reveal a paradigm shift in terms of sustainable management of seas and oceans. Utilization of the sea has always been strongly motivated by the basic needs of human beings. People have been obtaining resources from the sea since the Stone Age, and beginning in the early Middle Ages and continuing especially in the early modern era, there has been increased frequency of trading contacts, at first limited to coastal areas and ultimately crossing oceans. If large sea battles that led to ships being used as floating “battle positions” can be said to have dominated the stage of the sea in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in the late nineteenth century and especially the twentieth it was pleasure trips and research issues that turned ships into hotels and laboratories on the water. Ships and shipping have always operated in interaction with human benefits, technologies, and the environment.Over the past four decades, there have been decisive discussions about how to deal with our seas and oceans in the context of finite natural resources. As seen from a larger historical perspective, concern about sustainable use occupies a comparatively brief interval in human history. Nevertheless, in what follows the current concerns are not interpreted as a passing fashion but rather as being representative of a new societal consensus borne through paradigm shift. In the field of shipping, this has been expressed internationally as “green shipping”, i.e. environmental protection in maritime transportation. The goal of green shipping is to bring about a change in attitude in order to advance the sustainable use of seas and oceans as part of a responsible approach to nature despite similarly growing demands for greater economy, greater safety and adaptation to new tasks for transportation.

This chapter provides an introduction to the main factors behind increasing ocean use, which—more often than not—tend to lead to increasing pressure on the marine environment. In this way, it aims on a very general level to account for the root causes of the different developments that have led to the need for specific management and governance intended to protect the marine environment. With reference to a few selected examples related to fishing, which is one of the main anthropogenic stressors of the marine environment, it is illustrated how increasing ocean use—and associated pressure on the marine environment—can be seen as rooted in a combination of increasing population and human development. In doing so, the chapter departs from the IPAT equation, which is a classic way to explain changes in the environmental impacts of human activities as a product of three factors: population, affluence and technology.

The article gives an overview of environmental conflicts in the marine realm. It also explains the central challenges and elements of sustainable international resource management and environmental conservation in this area. Overall, it is intended to provide an analytical frame for the many existing ideas, theories, and arguments from political and legal sciences as well as economics that embark on the quest for the elements of effective and sustainable ocean governance.

This chapter provides an overview of the various actors and institutions that play a role in the protection of the marine environment. These actors and institutions can be classified into three categories, namely (1) those that are established and operate within the law of the sea regime, (2) those that operate under the auspices of the United Nations and effectuate marine environmental objectives, and (3) those that operate within other specific regimes that interrelate with the oceans and send impulses which guide the direction of marine environmental governance. This chapter aspires to identify the various roles played by these diverse actors and institutions and examine how they interact with each other in striving to protect the marine environment.

This contribution starts with clarifying the role principles play as a form into which propositions of environmental protection are brought. It is submitted that the role principles play in political-legal practice, in legal reasoning and in positivist texts should be distinguished. On this basis various contents of international principles of marine environmental protection are discussed, including cooperation, “neminem laedere”, precaution, environmental impact assessment, marine scientific research, transparency/participation, sustainability, and common heritage of mankind.

The rapidly increasing demand for marine space for different purposes, such as offshore wind farms, oil and gas exploitation, fishing, aquaculture, shipping and tourism and the cumulative impact of the various activities on the marine and coastal environment have led to a growing recognition of the need for sustainable management strategies and legal governance. There is a broad variety of regulatory tools and the choice of instruments depends on the nature of the activity concerned and its potential effects on the marine environment. Direct regulation of marine uses may encompass the setting of restrictions and prohibitions as well as the establishment of licensing and permitting requirements. Integrated policies and cross-sectoral planning and management approaches like marine spatial planning are required to deal with conflicting uses and cumulative effects. Monitoring, surveillance and reporting obligations are important tools to acquire information on the state of the marine environment and the effects of various activities upon it. Besides the more traditional forms of direct regulation, market-based instruments like environmental taxes, charges or eco-labelling may provide incentives to consumers and businesses for environmentally friendly behaviour. This chapter gives an overview of various management strategies and instruments and their application to human activities in the marine environment.

This chapter provides an outlook on the future of sustainable ocean governance with a particular focus on environmental protection. It identifies fragmentation, knowledge gaps, lack of international cooperation and coordination, as well as ineffective enforcement as some of the pressing challenges. These will likely increase both quantitatively and qualitatively in the future, as new and emerging ocean uses will be added to the list of stressors. This chapter discusses a number of options for the improvement of marine environmental governance into the future.

The record and ever-present danger of overfishing of living resources requires there to be a legal framework for the international management of these oceanic resources. The chapter opens with a history of the legal fisheries regime as it has developed since the late nineteenth century when the negative impact of overfishing on stocks was first noticed, highlighting how the remedial measures have had limited success because they have been biologically rather than economically grounded, including the pivotal concept, maximum sustainable yield. It then turns to an examination of the fisheries regime in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, both in the exclusive economic zone, where the bulk of fisheries take place, and on the high seas. The following section then deals with six major innovations by which the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement attempts to overcome these problems for stocks that straddle the boundary between national zones and the high seas or are highly migratory; this is complemented by the 1993 FAO Compliance Agreement covering some of the same ground. Non-economic uses have in recent decades become dominant as regards marine mammals. The framework for these is briefly introduced. Finally, a concluding section on current issues and future developments concentrates on the perennial problem of allocation among States of limited participatory rights in international fisheries and on the composite concept of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, which, because it is usually treated as a single undifferentiated phenomenon, threatens to obscure the important distinction between fishing that is unlawful and fishing that is merely unregulated.

This chapter presents an overview of some of the main issues facing the development of aqua- and mariculture, and provides a framework for improving sustainability from socio-economic and ecological perspectives. We review present global trends in productivity and the institutional and legal frameworks that may affect policy and trade in the coming years. Focus is placed on summarizing recent trends in socio-ecological approaches, such as the “Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture”, which emphasizes development within the constraints of ecosystem functioning and social well-being. A framework of best practices for long-term sustainability is proposed, which is comprised of steps involving risk assessment, monitoring, and adaptive management. From this holistic perspective, we discuss the future prospects for aquaculture development in terms of its promise of improved food security, nutrition and income.

The extraction of oil and gas resources—both onshore and offshore—still serves to meet the major share of global energy needs. For decades, exploring and exploiting hydrocarbon resources offshore ranks among the traditional commercial uses of the continental shelf of coastal States. However, this activity creates significant potential threats to the marine environment, as evidenced, in particular by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico but also by the 2009 Montara oil spill which heavily affected Indonesia although the blow-out occurred in Australian waters. Nevertheless, and surprisingly, the offshore oil and gas industry is not regulated by a global multilateral framework even though there are some generally applicable rules of public international law and of regional organizations. Rather, the offshore oil and gas industry is predominantly regulated by national laws. Furthermore, it is subject to a largely self-regulating industry which traditionally applies its own contractual solutions in a highly capital-intensive sector. This article intends to give a bird’s-eye view and a more “hands on” (i.e. less academic) approach to discuss the somewhat unique regulatory framework for offshore oil and gas operations and of the contractual system under which this industry performs its services.

Shipping is responsible for a substantial part of the oceans’ pollution through, for example, the discharge of CO₂, SO_x and NO_x air emissions, the operational and accidental discharge of oil and other hazardous substances into the sea, bio-fouling and the spread of Non-Native Indigenous Species. Sustainable shipping is therefore a priority of the international community. This chapter will examine sustainable shipping in the context of International Law and relations and will explain the principles of flag, coastal and port State jurisdiction, and the actions taken by the relevant international organisations in pursuit of this goal. The chapter will provide a brief overview of the system of Port State Control and will refer to the example of the European Union to demonstrate the regional legislative action that can be taken to consolidate and further international law. A case study of the regulation of the spread of invasive aquatic species through ballast water will show the tensions at play at international level that can act to prevent effective action. Finally, the chapter will provide an exposition of the main liability and compensation regimes.

While modern society is highly dependent on chemicals, numerous substances also turn out to be hazardous and many give rise to severe risks and problems in the marine environment. In response, national, regional and global chemical policies, often focusing on the land-based sources to marine pollution, have been developed, as outlined in the article. As a result, the levels of some pollutants have decreased, but the vast majority of substances are not controlled in line with the internationally stated objectives of sound management of chemicals. An environment-oriented development of present policies, implementing the precautionary principle, is considered needed in order to improve the situation, and the question is raised in the article whether the present main international chemicals agreements would not also gain from being merged into a global framework convention.

Artificial radioactive substances have been introduced into the marine environment by various human activities since the beginning of the nuclear age in the 1940ties. Sources are atmospheric nuclear weapon tests, dumping of radioactive wastes, authorised discharges from the nuclear industry, as well as accidental releases, such as the Windscale fire in 1957, the accident at Chernobyl in 1986, and Fukushima Daiichi in 2011. Military activities and losses of nuclear submarines are also an important input of radioactive material to the marine environment. The following chapter will give a short introduction to some of the most relevant sources and discuss the radiological consequences to biota and man. It will also give a brief overview of pertinent management measures.

Marine litter is seen as one of the most threatening types of pollution to our marine ecosystems. Recently, this issue has been gaining increasing recognition in international and regional fora, as exemplified by the resolution on marine debris adopted by the first United Nations Environmental Assembly in 2014. The reasons for this are the persistence of marine litter that might last for centuries in the oceans as well as its potential to cause harm to the marine environment, marine animals, society at large and potentially also human health. Whereas the potential impacts of marine litter are broadly identified, the management approaches to address this issue have been almost exclusively targeted towards specific sources of marine litter. The different approaches towards land or sea-based sources of marine litter have their limitations with regard to interconnected and cumulative character of marine litter or unknown or as of yet underestimated sources of marine litter. In order to provide comprehensive and coordinated approaches to overcome these challenges, regional actions plans on marine litter have been developed. These constitute a paradigm shift in marine litter management as they propose actions targeted at diverse sources of marine litter and address knowledge gaps with regard to these sources and the impacts of litter while being framed by common principles and approaches. The challenge remains to use the current political momentum to effectively implement and develop the envisaged measures on a national and regional basis.

Coastal and marine environments attract hundreds of millions of tourists every year, and in regions including the Mediterranean or the Caribbean, tourism is a mainstay of the economy. Given that a considerable share of tourism is ‘sun, sand, and sea’ focused, the sector is dependent on the integrity of coastal resources such as unpolluted beaches and waters. These resources are increasingly threatened: External and tourism-related pressures on coastal zones include land conversion and industrial developments, water pollution, loss of mangroves, introduction of invasive species, and overuse of resources (e.g., fresh water or marine species used as seafood and souvenirs). Climate change is exacerbating these problems through sea-level rise, changing rainfall patterns, or higher water temperatures linked to coral bleaching and algal blooms, all of which affect the viability of coastal tourism destinations. In this situation, the management of coastal ecosystems for tourism is paramount. Yet, even though a wide range of management tools is theoretically available, there is evidence that coastal governance is limited and hampered by economic interests and unequal power relations. Considerable political effort will be needed for tourism in coastal zones to become more sustainable and to adapt to on-going environmental change.

Ports are key players to implement the global policy of sustainable development. Indeed, ports are critical assets in the global economy, because they are essential to shipping and in turn, shipping is essential to trade. As such ports are not only required to “green” themselves, but they are also helping “greening” the planet. In Europe, the overwhelming majority of ports are actively engaged with environmental policy and legislation. They routinely monitor environmental issues on their grounds such as waste, energy consumption, water and air quality. Despite the very broad spectrum of types of ports (types of cargo, location, size, structure, etc.), and the financial challenge raised by the sustainable development agenda, ports are at the junction of global environmental policy and of the international legal framework of shipping and marine and coastal protection. Globally and locally, they have an enormous responsibility in the protection of the marine environment from potentially environmentally harmful activities such as shipping, marine and atmospheric pollution, IUU fishing and climate change. Examples of the role of ports in combating environmental degradation include Port State Control, which allows the operation worldwide of a harmonised system of control of international standards of safety of life, environmental protection and security. Another important role for ports relates to land use, and how they carry out development and expansion works, particularly when land reclamation, dredging and impact on protected nature reserves are involved. Other issues include climate change, Non Indigenous Aquatic Species and reception facilities in ports.

The Earth is endowed with a bounty of natural energy sources. So far, fossil fuels have simply proven the simplest to exploit on a large scale. But we have reached a point where the governments of most developed countries have recognised the perils of fossil fuel reliance—for both energy security and environmental reasons—and responded by (to varying extents) consciously diversifying national energy portfolios. Globally, wind generation is a small but growing source of electricity, and offshore wind is making great strides. This chapter considers offshore wind energy specifically, the management and regulatory challenges it poses, and emerging best practice in this relatively new area. It concludes that strategic marine spatial planning, an ecosystem approach to environmental impact assessment, and the precautionary approach are becoming three vital tools in striking an appropriate balance between the need to deploy offshore wind generation on the one hand, and the need to safeguard the marine environment on the other.

Wave and tidal energy is a visible expression of the power of nature. Ambition to convert the natural energy bound up in marine systems into something useable by mankind goes back a long way and practical measures date from at least the 1940s. In the twenty-first Century efforts have increased enormously in response to the search for clean energy sources, a reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases and the mitigation of the effects of climate change. Hundreds of millions of Euros have been invested in research and development and much has been learned. However, the solutions to a viable Ocean Energy industry remain elusive. The outstanding challenges are daunting in scale:1.The engineering challenge in the search for a device technology which will convert marine energy to usable energy with a degree of operational and economic efficiency.2.The operational challenge of installing, servicing and maintaining thousands of floating and fixed structures in high energy marine environments.3.The environmental and social challenge of understanding and managing the ecosystem and spatial impacts of such a heavy industrial intrusion into mainly coastal waters.There have been recent setbacks with the failure of companies promoting what seemed to be promising technical solutions. However, the level of investment in research remains high involving ten or more nations including China, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom. It must be expected that the ambition will be realised in the medium term. This chapter explores the state of the industry and the management challenges it reveals. The central challenge for the planning and management of a future wave and tidal energy industry is to move from a very early developmental stage in the lifecycle to a mature activity in a measured and sustainable way. Best practice in management and the step by step approach to precaution is examined.

Deep-seabed mining (DSM) is an emerging marine industry that presents particularly complex challenges due to its multi-faceted political, economic, technological, scientific, environmental, social, industrial and legal aspects, all of which must be addressed to achieve commercially viable results. Furthermore, these aspects are either governed by or must take into account the burgeoning regulatory regime promulgated by the International Seabed Authority under the auspices of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which also governs regional and national DSM regimes. This chapter briefly reviews the international DSM management regime and identifies innovative approaches to these myriad challenges that may also assist in informing the responsible development of other new deep-sea industries.

Marine biodiversity has been declining globally due to overexploitation, habitat destruction and alteration, pollution, increased pressures from climate change and ocean acidification. A number of legal instruments are in place to address marine biodiversity pressures through appropriate conservation and management measures, with the most notable ones being the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This chapter provides a brief overview of the relationship between UNCLOS and the CBD with respect to marine biodiversity management through the lens of a promising integrative and emerging tool—the CBD ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs). It argues that the EBSA process—a global exercise to describe marine areas of ecological importance—can inform decision-making and assist in the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity. In this connection, the categorisation of EBSAs can provide a first step towards the identification of management options, which can be further developed through the use of cumulative impact assessments of biodiversity pressures for each EBSA and respective EBSA features.

In the last 15 years considerable progress has been made regarding the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and the implementation of a worldwide MPA network, despite of great regional differences and the long way still to go to reach the targeted 10% coverage of world’s oceans by MPAs set by CBD for 2020 for all seas.This article gives an overview of the latest developments within MPA networks, the state of play on global level, some examples stemming from Regional Sea Conventions and a national case study of the establishment of MPAs.Most promising advances in global MPA establishment are the current “UN Prep Com-Process” that may lead to a stronger commitment of the United Nations within the framework of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and, possibly even more “fruitful”, the achievements of the global Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The CBD has established a process to identify so-called “Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas” (EBSA) in the global oceans in 2008 to inform states and international institutions. In the meantime these efforts have covered a high percentage of the global ocean and a total number of 280 EBSAs could already be identified and globally agreed by 2017. These are situated both in international waters as well as waters under the jurisdiction of individual states. At the same time very promising MPA activities are conducted by a large number of nations and under several Regional Sea Conventions, one of which, the Helsinki-Convention for the Baltic Sea, has already met the 10% MPA-coverage target.

The rules governing marine environmental protection and climate change are diverse and range from direct regulatory approaches addressing the effects of climate change on the marine environment to rules targeting their mitigation. Nonetheless, it is remarkable that most rules addressing marine environmental protection and climate change, especially the most recent, tackle this issue indirectly, from the viewpoint of marine environmental protection. This chapter illustrates this “environmental protection approach” by assessing current and emerging regulations targeting marine climate change, as well as some of its limitations. Discussing the rules addressing the major causes of climate change, as well as those mitigating its effects, the chapter argues that climate change has become a major and cross cutting issue of the international rules addressing environmental protection. While this may be a viable and legitimate way to address the major effects of climate change, it is still questionable whether the established framework is far reaching enough to address the root causes of climate change and its impacts on the global marine environment.

When seeking to manage the risks to marine ecosystems and other marine assets arising from the introduction of invasive alien species by human activities, there are two challenges to be surmounted: first, how to avoid the unintentional introduction of non-indigenous species and, second, how to prevent the intentional introduction of such species which, according to both scientific knowledge and practical experience, are “invasive”.This contribution to the Handbook outlines the legal framework for dealing with the complex challenge to the marine environment posed by non-indigenous species. The chapter focuses on two main vectors—aquaculture and ballast water—and summarizes recent developments at the international level, with a particular focus on the Ballast Water Management Convention. In doing so, it identifies gaps and inconsistencies at the various regulatory levels and illustrates potential development options for the future legal framework. Given the fact that, in almost all cases, the establishment of invasive species is irreversible, the precautionary and the preventive principle must play a key role in managing the impacts of non-indigenous species on the marine environment.In addition to looking at the specific regulations, strategies and plans designed to protect the marine environment from the risks associated with the introduction of non-indigenous species, the article also deals with the general legal provisions regarding IAS at the level of the Convention on Biological Diversity and, in particular, at the EU level. With the adoption of Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 of 22 October 2014, a foundational legal instrument now exists at EU level for dealing with IAS. Its most important achievement is to establish a legally binding list of IAS based on risk assessments; this list is to be continuously developed further, its purpose being effectively to prevent the intentional introduction of IAS.

Oceans and seas are adversely affected by a large number of anthropogenic pressures. The need to better integrate the policies of different sectors, which impact the oceans is generally seen. Different countries strive to implement a more integrated approach for the management and protection of their marine areas. Important tools which can support this process are marine spatial planning and marine protected areas. If a single administrative body is made responsible for the entire task of sustainable marine use and conservation, this could help to bundle responsibilities. Existing approaches often do not meet expectations. Reasons for this are diverse, ranging from insufficient governmental and scientific resources, lack of political will or a federal political system that complicates cooperation and coordination.

Though not necessarily the case, there is increasing recognition that some marine scientific research activities may have adverse effects on the environment. This chapter examines recent developments in regulatory and management measures aimed at the environmentally sustainable conduct of marine scientific research. It begins by laying out the central management challenge of this emerging issue, which entails striking an appropriate balance between the promotion of marine scientific research to advance understanding of the marine environment and minimising environmental impacts of research in light of uncertainties. The next section provides an overview of the legal framework laid down in Parts XIII and XII of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which govern marine scientific research and protection and preservation of the marine environment respectively. It then describes progressive developments in law and policy, outlining sources of emerging norms and standards and analysing the content and scope of principles and best practices that are taking hold in this area. Finally, it analyses the effectiveness of current measures and points out some next steps for developments in this field.

Marine disposal of mine tailings is being viewed by a significant number of new and existing mines as a potential disposal technique, given the serious local technical, economic, social, and environmental concerns related to land disposal options. Mine tailings storage dams used by existing mines are filling up, and for some of these mines, other land-based sites are not available. Mining operations that currently use marine disposal of mine tailings discharge via a pipeline at final deposition depths of 30–1000 m. Disposal of mine tailings presents a unique issue in that both on-land disposal and marine disposal result in significant environmental risks and damage to habitats as well as fish and wildlife. This chapter provides information on the rationale for marine disposal of mine tailings, disposal techniques, potential environmental impacts, best management practices, and the issues associated with land versus sea disposal.

Over the last decade the issue of underwater noise pollution has received increased attention from scientific bodies, the media, NGOs, and institutions at the national, supranational and international levels. This in turn, has led to the development of several regulatory initiatives that seek to mitigate the negative impact of this source of pollution. This article outlines and analyses existing legislation and management regimes that govern marine activities that generate noise. Best practices and specific mitigation measures are also addressed and assessed.

In this chapter an overview is given of the existing international regulation of marine geo-engineering techniques. Two techniques—ocean fertilization and the sequestration of carbon dioxide in sub-seabed geological formations—have been either experimentally studied or even deployed, whereas all other forms of marine geo-engineering have remained in their early infancy. Both techniques could pose a significant risk to the environment. In 2008 Contracting Parties to both the London Convention and the London Protocol and the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted a non-binding moratorium on ocean fertilization activities with the exemption of small-scale research projects. In 2010 this non-binding moratorium was extended to all climate-engineering activities by Parties to the CBD. In 2013 a—legally binding—amendment to the London Protocol with regard to the regulation of marine geo-engineering activities was approved. The amendment could serve as a model for the regulation of other climate-engineering activities (e.g. solar radiation management in the stratosphere) in many respects.

Marine spatial planning (MSP) is considered a key instrument for managing the conflicts resulting from the increasing utilization and industrialization of the world’s seas and oceans. MSP is a public process by which the relevant authorities analyse and organise human activities in marine areas to achieve ecological, economic and social objectives. Even though environmental interests do not generally enjoy priority over economic and social interests, it must not be overlooked that MSP is a tool which substantially contributes to the protection of marine ecosystems. From the beginning of its evolution, MSP has been intrinsically tied to the concept of ecosystem-based management. Ecosystem-based MSP is promoted by the EU MSP Framework Directive (2014) which can be considered an important initial step towards an EU-wide harmonized and consistent comprehensive spatial planning approach for the European maritime waters.