The North Sea: Sea use management and planning

The development of sea use management and planning in the North Sea is concerned with three main themes. First, the foundations of management are based upon technical management functions which include scientific and technological inputs and environmental and social assessment techniques. Upon these based general management functions including organisational aspects which can be regionally distinguished in terms of complexity of organisation, including sea areas adjacent to urban areas on the one hand, and remaining ‘rural’ sea areas on the other. The overall development of the system is likely to include increasing integration of current management functions, together with a contrast in use types and intensity between the ‘metropolitan’ southern North Sea on the one hand, and the rural central and northern regions on the other.