Exploring the Potential for Performance Zoning Within the Practice of Marine Spatial Planning

Abstract

The practice of zoning, long employed on land, has more recently been applied to the marine environment to regulate where and when human activities can or cannot occur. Zoning is employed to minimize conflicts between human and natural ‘users’ of ocean spaces. This paper identifies key benefits and limitations of conventional zoning practices that affect planning and management outcomes in a marine context and reveals urgencies and opportunities for a wider suite of objectives-based or standards-based marine spatial planning tools. This paper argues that one such planning instrument, performance zoning better fulfills the objectives of ecosystem-based marine spatial planning (EB-MSP) than conventional, use-based marine zoning practices widely used today. The compatibility between EB-MSP and marine performance zoning (MPZ) occurs in their common ability to: 1) focus compatible uses; 2) reduce of conflicting uses; 3) protect ecosystem function; and 4) promote resilience in marine spaces