Sea Change Tai Timu Tai Pari: addressing catchment and marine issues in an integrated marine spatial planning process

Abstract

Abstract Marine spatial planning (MSP) has increasingly been applied around the world to better manage the pressures and conflicts arising from human use of the sea. More recently it has been conceived as an approach to implement an ecosystem‐based management approach to the marine environment. New Zealand was a late adopter of MSP, commencing its first MSP process in 2013 for the Hauraki Gulf (Sea Change Tai Timu Tai Pari), and completing the plan in late 2016. The planning process drew on international experience in MSP and collaborative processes but was adapted considerably to take account of the local context. Most particularly, the plan reflected concerns about the ecological decline of the Hauraki Gulf as well the strong and growing role of Māori in natural resource management in New Zealand. The Sea Change Tai Timu Tai Pari project was experimental and represents an innovation in MSP practice in a number of respects including: establishing a co‐governance structure for the project; tasking a group of Māori tribal and stakeholder representatives with producing the plan on a collaborative basis; addressing both catchment and marine issues and sectors in an integrated manner; and integrating indigenous knowledge with science. A number of valuable lessons from marine planning can be drawn from this project, including: MSP can support ecosystem‐based management; collaborative processes can be powerful in achieving shared outcomes for the community and can create a rich learning environment for scientists; indigenous knowledge can strengthen planning processes by providing more holistic knowledge; and scientists within a MSP project can help frame the planning process and act as a conduit between the scientific and layperson communities.