About MSP

Human activities in the marine environment range from recreation and transportation, to military defense, resource extraction and energy production.  While multiple uses can overlap without conflict, activities may sometimes detrimentally affect each other or the surrounding marine ecosystem.  Marine spatial planning (MSP) is a comprehensive, decision-making process designed to identify and reduce potential conflicts, and organize marine and coastal activity in a spatial context that best maintains ecosystem functions and services. 

MSP is also a science-driven framework for identifying key ecosystem elements and evaluating the impacts of human activities on those elements. It presents the best available science to stakeholders and decision makers in a visual, accessible fashion, and helps them to manage ocean resources more effectively, efficiently and transparently. 

Guiding ecological principles that inform the scientific framework of MSP include maintaining or restoring native species, diverse habitats, key ecological species and connectivity, which should be managed in a regional context while accounting for environmental uncertainty.