Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as a 200 nautical mile zone off the
coast of a State, over which it has special rights regarding the exploration and
utilization of marine resources. Thus, the EEZ is a special area—it is not a state
territory even if a coastal state has there somewhat sovereign rights and jurisdiction,
which refers to the coastal state’s rights below the surface of the sea. As a case in
point, in Germany, the EEZ is an area where three legal systems come together:
international law, law of the European Union and national German law.
Indeed, the ocean space of the EEZ has been regulated or allocated in a number
of different ways, but most importantly, this has been done predominantly within
individual economic sectors. Obvious examples of ‘‘sectoral zoning’’ include
waterways for shipping, disposal areas, military security zones, concession zones
for mineral extraction, aquaculture sites, and most recently marine protected areas.
Although the context and outcomes are different because of the dynamic and
three-dimensional nature of marine environments, the land use planning concepts
and techniques can be translated to the marine environment, thus leading to a
contemporary rise in the development of Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) efforts. At
present, there are few frameworks that facilitate integrated strategic and comprehensive planning in relation to all activities taking place in marine areas. This
current stage of development of spatial planning of marine waters can be viewed
somewhat in parallel to the past land use planning efforts. The latter arose in
response to specific social and economic problems and later environmental problems that were triggered by the industrial revolution at the end of the 19th century.
Next to the problematic nature of marine spatial planning, the offshore realm is a
place far off the coast, which bears challenges to the technological development of
aquaculture systems that are able to withstand the harsh offshore conditions, vis á
vis supporting feasible operation and maintenance demands. Candidate species
must be tolerable to these exposed conditions whilst holding sufficient economic
potential. Last, but not least, stakeholders and their interests, concerns, rights and
duties must be taken into consideration.
In the following we illustrate these different aspects and challenges of offshore
aquaculture in multi-use settings employing Germany’s North Sea EEZ region as a
case study. We draw here on research and experience from various research efforts
in this areas since early 2000 until today (see Buck et al. 2008a). Figure 11.1 shows
a summary of the projects conducted in the German Bight all led by the Alfred
Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), which
were related to the four main topics: (A) biology, (B) technology, (C) social science
as well as (D) economics.
All projects are displayed in a chronological order by taking the scientific
coherence into account. Project No. 1, the feasibility study, gave the basis for the
following projects and the entire suite of aquaculture-wind farm multi-use research.
The Coastal Futures Project (No. 4) acted as key node project, in which the other
projects either have contributed to or have been stimulated by its transdisciplinary
approach. Due to their problem-focused approaches and early and continuous
integration of multiple stakeholder groups, these projects initiated and accompanied
several activities and outcomes outside academia. For instance, it called for wind
11 The German Case Study: Pioneer Projects of Aquaculture …
255
coast of a State, over which it has special rights regarding the exploration and
utilization of marine resources. Thus, the EEZ is a special area—it is not a state
territory even if a coastal state has there somewhat sovereign rights and jurisdiction,
which refers to the coastal state’s rights below the surface of the sea. As a case in
point, in Germany, the EEZ is an area where three legal systems come together:
international law, law of the European Union and national German law.
Indeed, the ocean space of the EEZ has been regulated or allocated in a number
of different ways, but most importantly, this has been done predominantly within
individual economic sectors. Obvious examples of ‘‘sectoral zoning’’ include
waterways for shipping, disposal areas, military security zones, concession zones
for mineral extraction, aquaculture sites, and most recently marine protected areas.
Although the context and outcomes are different because of the dynamic and
three-dimensional nature of marine environments, the land use planning concepts
and techniques can be translated to the marine environment, thus leading to a
contemporary rise in the development of Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) efforts. At
present, there are few frameworks that facilitate integrated strategic and comprehensive planning in relation to all activities taking place in marine areas. This
current stage of development of spatial planning of marine waters can be viewed
somewhat in parallel to the past land use planning efforts. The latter arose in
response to specific social and economic problems and later environmental problems that were triggered by the industrial revolution at the end of the 19th century.
Next to the problematic nature of marine spatial planning, the offshore realm is a
place far off the coast, which bears challenges to the technological development of
aquaculture systems that are able to withstand the harsh offshore conditions, vis á
vis supporting feasible operation and maintenance demands. Candidate species
must be tolerable to these exposed conditions whilst holding sufficient economic
potential. Last, but not least, stakeholders and their interests, concerns, rights and
duties must be taken into consideration.
In the following we illustrate these different aspects and challenges of offshore
aquaculture in multi-use settings employing Germany’s North Sea EEZ region as a
case study. We draw here on research and experience from various research efforts
in this areas since early 2000 until today (see Buck et al. 2008a). Figure 11.1 shows
a summary of the projects conducted in the German Bight all led by the Alfred
Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), which
were related to the four main topics: (A) biology, (B) technology, (C) social science
as well as (D) economics.
All projects are displayed in a chronological order by taking the scientific
coherence into account. Project No. 1, the feasibility study, gave the basis for the
following projects and the entire suite of aquaculture-wind farm multi-use research.
The Coastal Futures Project (No. 4) acted as key node project, in which the other
projects either have contributed to or have been stimulated by its transdisciplinary
approach. Due to their problem-focused approaches and early and continuous
integration of multiple stakeholder groups, these projects initiated and accompanied
several activities and outcomes outside academia. For instance, it called for wind
11 The German Case Study: Pioneer Projects of Aquaculture …
255