Marine spatial planning in Romania: State of the art and evidence from stakeholders

Abstract

During the last decades, increasing demands on marine resources and unsustainable activities taking place in the marine area compromise the future use of the marine environment. In July 2014, the European Parliament and Council established a Guideline Framework for marine/maritime spatial planning (MSP). MSP is a useful and cost-effective tool for sustainable development, together with regulation and protection of the marine environment. Within this context, Romania has started to proceed and incorporate it in the national legislation framework; in 2017, it has also established a competent authority for its implementation so that marine spatial plans can be enacted by 31 March 2021. In this study, a first approach for MSP framework in Romania was developed, enabling the mapping of all current human activities related to shipping, oil and gas exploitation, fisheries, tourism and environmental status, in order to identify overlaps or potential conflicts among users. This paper identifies key challenges and concerns anticipated to emerge from incorporation of MSP in the national spatial planning framework as it is currently organized: a) Romanian stakeholders have a relatively poor understanding of European, national and regional sea planning regulations, b) concerns related to MSP implementation at regulatory level, c) huge need for sharing of MSP-relevant information for a coherent planning, d) challenges of assessing the needs of interconnected ecosystems (including relevant EU and international legislation). In this context, our study covers highly actual aspects concerning the way the marine spatial planning process evolves and will contribute to deliver a coherent approach to reduce conflicts of the Romanian marine environment, a proper MSP implementation, as well as minimizing the pressures and impacts on the marine resources.Keywords: marine resources and sectors; spatial plans; public participation; regulations; Black Sea Highlights:Review of Romania's legal regime on MSP.MSP implementation issues are discussed.It has not shown a tendency to engage public in marine spatial plans design.43% of invited stakeholders did not hear about MSP directive. 2Lack of coherence with legal instruments could be challenging for future of MSP.

Assessment of the Offshore Wind Energy Potential in the Romanian Exclusive Economic Zone

“…By considering these points it is possible to obtain a general picture of the energy potential and the performances of a particular turbine, which can be further extended to a more detailed investigation. As a limitation of this work, the restricted areas were not taken into account, but from the information provided by Văidianu and Ristea [19], we can notice that the entire water strip located close to the shore (<50 m) is defined by shipping activities, while on the north we notice some large protected areas. Figure 1 illustrates also the water depth, and we can notice that the points located close to the shore indicate values in the range 2-24 m. The values start to increase as we go further into the deeper sea, being expected for each step of 20 km (along x axis) an increase in the water depth by 10 m for each reference line until the 100 km limit, while after that the values jump to a maximum of 1747 m (line I-Vama Veche).…”

“…The first sector is more important from an ecological point of view, while the second is related to economical activities, such as ports, but also significant touristic activities. It is estimated that almost 4.50% of Romania's population is located here, which per total covers a share of 5.30% from the entire Black Sea coastline [19]. Figure 1 presents the target area that is delimited by the EEZ borders, including the water depth details processed from GEBCO (general bathymetric chart of the oceans) [ A total of 84 points were defined in a grid (lines from A to J), the distance between each point being constant, approximately 20 km along the x and y directions.…”

“…This suggests that during the most energetic season (December-January-February), a wind project located in this area will obtain the best performances. More than this, the point indicated is located outside the restricted areas where the harbor activities usually take place [19], so this location may be considered a suitable candidate for a wind project. The summer season indicates lower resources, reaching a maximum value of 6.41 m/s, while the spring and autumn seasons are about the same level, reaching values of 7.44 and 7.57 m/s, respectively.…”

A Study on the Wind Energy Potential in the Romanian Coastal Environment

“…The Romanian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is defined by an area of 22,486 km 2 and by a territorial sea of 4084 km 2 , which is associated to 5.3% of the entire Black Sea coastline. It is estimated that almost 4.5% of the Romanian population lives in this coastal region, which can be divided in two sectors: (a) The northern part-the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve and the sector between Musura Bay and Cape Midia (162 km); (b) the southern part between Cape Midia and Vama Veche, mainly known for its touristic and economical activities [29]. More details about the target area considered are presented in Figure 1, where several reference sites are also defined for assessment.…”

Synergistic Perceptions on the Regulations Oriented Towards the Development of Romanian Coastal Tourism in the Context of Maritime Spatial Planning

“…8). Maritime planning, as well as MSP stakeholders, have been addressed in a large number of projects, studies, specialist articles, covering a wide variety of issues and experiences related to this process (Văidianu and Ristea, 2018).…”