From sea sharing to sea sparing – Is there a paradigm shift in ocean management?

Abstract

During the past decade, the apocalyptic rhetoric of dwindling ocean resources and the destruction of aquatic habitats in the ocean and along our coasts has motivated conservationist, scientists, international Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and several coastal states to advocate the separation of ever increasing ocean and coastal areas as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to allow for the restoration of the ocean and its resources. At the same time, and analogue to what is happening with industrial agriculture, large industrial fishing fleets are operating in the Economic Exclusive Zones (EEZ's) of foreign countries, extracting a substantial part of their valuable ocean resources for the world market. The sparing of ocean and shelf areas for both, MPA implementation and Distant Water fishing (DWF) has impacted (positively and negatively) the concerned ecosystems and has often caused use conflicts with local stakeholders. I argue that current ocean use and conservation strategies are favouring these ocean-sparing (“blue grabbing”) measures as necessary means for ocean protection and sea food production over the science-based sustainable fisheries management approach, which is based on participatory fisheries assessment and the inclusion of local stakeholders in the management process. I perceive this change from sea sharing to sea sparing approaches as a paradigm shift in ocean management.