With increasing activities of multiple sectors in marine spaces, management of marine social–ecological systems requires more holistic approaches. Adopting such an approach, however, presents difficult institutional and disciplinary challenges. Here, we use the International Council for the Exploration …

This thesis provides an answer to the question if the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) does fulfil its own objective of supporting Ecosystem-based management by producing Ecosystem Overviews as advice. Against the background of ongoing changes and pressures on the ecosystem, …

While the status of UN SDG14 Life Below Water lags behind in the Netherlands, target horizons for certain targets have been either reached or are fast approaching (2020, 2025, 2030). In 2016, recommendations have been formulated by the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, for adjustments …

Like most ocean regions today, the European and contiguous seas experience cumulative impacts from local human activities and global pressures. They are largely in poor environmental condition with deteriorating trends. Despite several success stories, European policies for marine conservation fall short …

To experience and appreciate the challenges involved in marine spatial planning (MSP), students enrolled in two MSP courses play stakeholder roles in a realistic serious game. The serious game is played with the participatory online MSP tool SeaSketch, and tackles the contemporary Dutch marine renewable …

To limit the pressure on the marine ecosystem, the European Unions’ Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) was developed to ensure sustainable use of the marine ecosystem. The goal of the MSFD is to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES). To achieve this goal, the MSFD prescribes using Ecosystem-Based …

Increased spatial pressures on the marine environment asks for smart use of space in order to safeguard the achievement of environmental, social and economic objectives. Multi-use is seen as a new paradigm for space efficiency and might yield other benefits beyond that. Within the scope of their Policy …

Transboundary conservation has an important, yet often undervalued, role in the international conservation regime. When applied to the legally ambiguous and interconnected marine environment this is magnified. The lack of clear guidance for transboundary marine conservation from the international conservation …

De bijvangst van ondermaatse grijze garnalen (Crangon crangon) vormt een probleem voor de garnalenvisserij in de kustzones van Nederland, Duitsland en Denemarken, die voornamelijk vist in beschermde gebieden. De grote visserijdruk op ondermaatse garnaal heeft geleid tot verschillende problemen, waaronder …

The species blonde ray (Raja brachyura) and thornback ray (Raja clavata) have been selected for the 2.1 InnoRays project, to get more insight about the status of these stocks in the Greater North Sea. Unstained and stained age determination methods were tested and LFQ data analysis are conducted for …