Abstract

Several political and academic arenas have been turning their focus to the seas. In the EU, the need to govern and plan sustainable uses of the seas has primarily been expressed through the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (MSPD). This paper analyses the different sea worlds as well as conceptualizations of the sea, expressed by recreationists on one hand, who experience the sea in terms of connections and as unbounded and alive, and the marine management documents on the other, where the sea is portrayed as a passive utility in need of organization. It argues that using particular frameworks, the process of sea governance provides grounds for cognitive inequality. The paper contributes to ontological politics by empirically portraying how the 'protected sea' mingles with sea realities, such as 'free seas', and '(un)safe seas', whereas the latter two are underrepresented in the policy documents.

Keywords

Marine governance; maritime spatial planning directive; marine strategy framework directive; ontological politics; recreation; sea

Published in

Society and Natural Resources
2022,
Publisher: TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC

SLU Authors

• Leposa, Neva

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels


UKÄ Subject classification

Social Sciences Interdisciplinary


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2022.2065710

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/117252