Portugal has one of the largest maritime national jurisdictions in Europe, representing 1,727,408 square kilometers, an area 18 times the country’s terrestrial area [12] [13]. If the request for the extension of the continental shelf is approved, Portugal will reach a territory around 4,000,000 km² (Figure 1).

Latest data on GDP shows that blue economy accounts for 3.4% with an estimate of 50% growth until 2020 [14]. Furthermore, 76% of the Portuguese population lives in the coastal area, where some of the most important sectors of maritime activities (coastal tourism, ports and leisure) occur. This reality has dramatically contributed to a political priority in the development of the Portuguese maritime legislation and planning [13].

Portugal, since early and following the 1998 International Year of the Oceans,

promoted by the United Nations and held in Lisbon, began to draw an integrated national policy for the sea, involving several entities and stakeholders. That leads to the approval, in 2006, of one of the very first National Sea Strategy (ENM) within the EU, already paving the way for MSP. That strategy aimed to promote an integrated coastal and maritime policy, following the principles of ecosystem base management, precaution and sustainable development [15] [16]. In 2007 the Interministerial Commission for Maritime Affairs (CIAM) was established, with the main goals of ensuring interministerial coordination, adequate monitoring and coordination of cross-cutting policies and to oversee the implementation of the National Sea Strategy¹.

The first approach for a Portuguese Maritime Spatial Plan (POEM) was launched in 2009, together with the request delivered at the UN for the extended Continental Shelf [17]. This route for MSP was accomplished on the 10^th October 2019 with the formal approval of the national MSP, following a time line showed in Figure 1.

In 2013, the national sea strategy was reviewed, in order to incorporate the guidelines of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive [18] and a new National Sea Strategy 2013-2020 (ENM) [14] was approved. ENM 2013-2020 focus on the Blue Growth communication of the European Union [8] and tries to integrate the different sectorial policies related to maritime affairs, defining the principles for MSP and ICZM [12] [19].

Along with this process, the political and institutional framework for the marine governance suffered a dramatic change to adapt political structures: the XIX Government (2011-2015) included, from the very beginning, a Ministry for the Sea and two new governmental agencies were created: the Directorate General for Maritime Policy and the Directorate General of Natural Resources, Security and Maritime Services (Table 1).

The MSP and Management Law was approved in 2014 (Law No. 17/2014) aiming to “foster economic exploitation of marine resources and ecosystems services, while ensuring the compatibility and sustainability of different maritime uses and activities, accounting for intergenerational responsibility in the spatial use of national maritime space and aiming at job creation” [20]. The Law also determines that the National MSP will consider three sub regions: the area between the baseline and the outer limit of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, the maritime space adjacent to the Madeira archipelago, and the maritime space adjacent to Azores archipelago [21].

The management system for maritime spatial planning considers two instruments: the Situation Plan and the Allocation Plans. The situation plan identifies the areas reserved for the protection and preservation of the marine environment,

and the spatial and temporal distribution of, existing and potential uses and activities, occurring in the maritime area [20]. The allocation plan allocates areas and volumes of the national maritime space, to uses and activities unidentified in the situation plan. Once the approval of one allocation plan is completed, this plan is automatically integrated into the situation plan.

The financial and economic regime applied to the private use of marine space and the evaluation system of MSP, was also considered in the Law 17/2014 and developed in the regulatory decree of the Law No. 17/2014 [22]. The private use of the Portuguese maritime space is allowed, by licence (25 yrs.), authorization (10 yrs.) or a concession (until 50 yrs., mainly for heavy uses such as oil, gas and minerals exploitation). The payment of a user fee (TUEM) is determined aiming a public compensation for the private use, supporting administrative costs of planning, management, maritime safety, surveillance and to feed a Blue Fund to promoting scientific research and blue entrepreneurship. The DGRM is responsible for maritime licensing and APA for the process of environmental licensing through EIA.

One of the most critical areas for MSP is the articulation with existing ICZM, highlighted in the EU MSP Directive. The Portuguese legal maritime framework does take into account the need and basic principles for this articulation, however, the law is very clear stating that the national maritime spatial planning instruments, although taking into account the pre-existing plans and programs, namely POOC (special coastal zone management plans) and special management plans for protected areas (POAP), will prevail if incompatible norms are identified [22]. This highlights a clear prevalence of the maritime planning instruments over the terrestrial instruments [23]. This option, which differs from other case studies, showed to be quite critical as those plans range the 30 m bathymetric. With the approval of PSOEM in 2019, the solution found to avoid this conflict, was to elaborate specific regulations for that area and for coastal MPA’s, incorporating specific norms, particularly related with coastal protection and nature conservation.

The North Sea is one of the busiest seas in the world with 7 bordering countries (some being members of EU and others that are not). The Dutch part of the North Sea represents 10% of the sea surface (about 58,000 km²) and it is 1.5 times its land surface. The authority of the national government starts 1km out of the coast while the first km is shared with municipal and provincial authorities. Among the economic activities in the North Sea, some are most important for Netherlands: shipping, sand extraction for beach nourishment, gas and oil extraction, military zones, coastal tourism, fisheries and offshore wind energy. Nature conservation is also a priority with 5 marine protected areas, accounting for almost 20% of Dutch sea area.

Netherlands has historically a special focus on the efficient use of the sea and, accordingly, developed a strong legal framework based on the water law, spatial planning law and environmental law. At the same time, policies and strategies regarding MSP, such as the “Dutch maritime strategy (2015-2025)” and the “Policy Document on the North Sea 2016-2021”, following a 1st version (2009-2015) were developed and are in course, as shown in the timeline in Figure 2.

Netherlands also constituted an interminestrial body gathering all ministries with sectorial responsibilities in the North Sea: the IDON (Interdepartmental Directors North Sea Consultative Body) which is the structure where sectoral polices are coordinated and has the responsibility to develop maritime policies. The IDON is coordinated by the Ministry of infrastructure and Water management, and integrates the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water management, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Culture Affairs and Education and executive organizations such as the Coast Guard (Table 2).

The Dutch EEZ does not extend up to 200 nautical miles, due to its proximity to other states of the North Sea. The outer limit of the Dutch EEZ corresponds to the limit of the Dutch continental shelf, which was defined by treaties with

Belgium, Germany and the UK (Figure 3). The maritime area under Dutch jurisdiction is divided into two zones, regarding legal frameworks: the territorial sea (up to 12 nautical miles) where all legal instruments are in place and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), in which area only certain laws and regulations are in force (e.g. the fauna and flora act).

Before 2009, the UK marine legislation was based on a sectorial approach with an inherent complexity and overlapping responsibilities between different agencies and government departments [24]. The need for a more holistic and integrated approach to the marine governance brought the development of new law, the Marine and Coastal Access Act (MCAA) approved by the government in 2009 (England and Wales), the Marine Act 2010 (Scotland) and the UK Marine Policy Statement (MPS) 2011 [25] [26]. The MPS provides the framework for maritime management plans, marine licensing system and for marine ecosystems. The declaration was signed by the English Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers, the Welsh Ministers and the Northern Ireland Environment Department, symbolizing a very important step to the integrated management of the maritime space. The MSP of the maritime space under the UK jurisdiction is accomplished through the Marine Policy Statement (MPS) and maritime plans. The MCAA established a new institution, the Marine Management Organization (MMO) [27] responsible for the development of marine polices for English waters. MMO is the regulator for most activities in the marine environment, controls marine licenses and permits and manages maritime fisheries [25]. MMO is

also responsible for the establishment of a network of marine conservation zones (Marine Conservation Zones, MCZ) and is legally enforced to monitor compliance with legislation on environmental protection. Despite the intention of simplifying the maritime governance system, the management of maritime space engages various sectors, sectoral, national and international policies and, therefore, various government departments are involved [25]. However, the key institution for MSP is the Marine Management Organization (MMO), under the Ministry for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Table 3). A total of 11 Maritime Spatial Plans (Figure 4) were defined by MMO being the first to be developed the East Zone plans (inshore and offshore).

The MCAA and the MPS consider the terrestrial planning system which might affect, direct or indirectly, the maritime space. The two planning systems overlap, since marine plans have jurisdiction until the Mean High Water Spring Tide (MHWS), and terrestrial plans have jurisdiction until the Mean Low Water Spring Tide (MLWS). The MPS states that the overlap will cause the two management systems to assume full management of the area in question, not being restricted to artificial limits on the coast [28]. The geographical overlap will encourage the authorities to cooperate for the management of space, seeking the harmonization between the plans must be achieved, and in case of incompatibility, the land plans should prevail [29].

Norway’s economy is dominated by the weight of oil exploitation and exportation, together with shipping, fisheries, aquaculture and nautical tourism, with almost 80% of Norwegian living in the coastal zone.

The MSP for Norwegian maritime areas and the elaboration of the management plans are coordinated by an Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee, chaired by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change. However, several ministries and government agencies are also involved in the Norwegian marine governance system, with different responsibilities (Table 4). The Management plans provide the framework for the regulation of human activities permitted in the maritime area, leaving the responsibility of licensing on the relevant authorities in each sector as Norway did not develop a dedicated licensing regime for maritime activities.

The planning system and management of the maritime area in Norway are achieved through a set of authorizations and parliamentary resolutions, commonly known as “white papers” which set the goals and targets for MSP. The resolution of the Norwegian Parliament “Protecting the Riches of the sea” 2002 announced the development of the first maritime spatial management plan for the area of the Barents-Lofoten Sea, due to the natural richness of the area and its growth potential. The Norwegian maritime space was divided into three areas, according to geographical characteristics: 1) Barents-Lofoten Sea, 2) Norwegian Sea and 3) North Sea and Skagerrak (Figure 5).

The maritime area management plans cover all maritime areas, from baseline to the limit of the EEZ. The marine area that extends beyond the line of 125,000 km² is governed by the Planning and Building Act 2008, which also covers terrestrial planning. There is an overlap of 1 nautical mile between the two planning systems but, in case of overlap the competent authority must ensure the prevalence of pre-existing policies. The differences in regulation are due to a number of reasons: differences in scale and geography (existence of large areas of open water outside the baseline, compared to smaller areas and enclosed within the baseline); property regimes (areas outside the baseline are managed by the government, while the areas covered by the Planning and Building Act can be managed by the state, by municipalities or private); type of management regimes (the maritime space is managed by the state through management plans, whereas the terrestrial space is managed by the Planning and Building Act; state management vs municipal/local management), number of stakeholders (the maritime areas have few, but powerful stakeholders, compared to terrestrial areas, that have a greater number of stakeholders and sectors). In this overlap area, in order to achieve the articulation between the two regimes, the collaboration between land authorities and maritime authorities, is strongly encouraged.

The resolution “Integrated Management of the Marine Environment of the Norwegian Sea” published in 2009, approved the management plan for the area of the Norwegian Sea, followed in 2011 by the management plan for the Barents-Lofoten sea area and, in 2013, the North Sea and Skagerrak plan.

Germany has two main maritime areas, one in the Baltic Sea and the other in the North Sea. The size of internal waters (to the baseline) and territorial sea (12-nm zone from the baseline) in the Baltic Sea is approximately 10.900 km² and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Baltic Sea is about 4.500 km². In the case of the North Sea, the size of internal waters (to the baseline) and territorial sea (12-nm zone from the baseline) is approximately 12,500 km² and the EEZ is about 28,500 km². The Federal states have responsibilities out to the limits of

territorial waters at least since 2001. The Spatial Planning Act 2017 attributes to the Federal Government the responsibility for MSP in the EEZ [30].

The maritime industry is a very important sector for the German economy. Estimations place the annual turnover at up to 50 billion euros and the number of jobs which are directly or indirectly dependent on the maritime industry at up to 400,000 [31].

Germany developed a maritime spatial plan for the EEZ of the North Sea and Baltic Sea and one for the territorial sea areas under jurisdiction of the three coastal federal states: Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Figure 6). The national legal basis for MSP is the Federal Spatial Planning Act (ROG), in force since 2004 which was amended in 2017, in

order to comply with the EU MSP Directive. According to this Act, the Federal Government is responsible for the MSP in the German EEZ being the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community responsible for MSP (Table 5). As Germany is a Federal State the territorial sea of Germany includes spatial plans of the coastal federal states under the specific legislation of each state, such as:

· Schleswig Holstein: The State Development Plan for the Schleswig Holstein area (last amended in 2015). The plan sets binding rules and regulations for authorities, mainly regarding the licensing regime for the use of space.

· Mecklenburg Vorpommern: This was the first coastal federal state of Germany that integrated designations for single use in the 12-nm zone into its regional development program. The Spatial Development Plan of Mecklenburg Vorpommern was adopted in 2005, between 2013-2015 it was updated and became a legally binding act in 2016.

· Lower Saxony: The Spatial Planning Programme of Lower Saxony (LROP) has been revised and amended in 2008 and 2012. This plan includes provisions concerning wind power production and nature conservation, offshore electricity transmission and shipping. The programme covers both sea and land (i.e. the whole territory of Lower Saxony, including shares of inland waters, the islands of Ostfriesland and territorial sea within the 12 nm zone in the North Sea).

Mostly, the activities considered for the implementation of MSP in Germany were: renewable energy production, shipbuilding, shipping, fisheries, nature conservation, tourism, ports, aquaculture, maritime safety and security, submarine cables and pipes and mineral exploitation.

In order to co-ordinate the growing conflicts of maritime uses, particularly regarding offshore wind farms vs. marine environmental protection goals, as well as traditional maritime uses, Germany opted for an integrative and sustainable

approach for the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). Maritime Spatial Plans for the EEZ of the Baltic Sea and North Sea consider designated priority and restricted areas for those sectors. For the North Sea, priority areas are shipping, cables/pipelines and offshore wind farms and for the Baltic Sea the priority areas are shipping and offshore wind farms.

The institutional framework in Germany [32], regarding MSP is: