Abstract
The North Sea offers numerous opportunities and resources, yet both physical and ecological space are limited. Additionally, the distribution of resources for various activities is uneven. These constraints lead to competition among different activities for the same space. The aim of this paper is to investigate how the various offshore human activities and marine protected areas can coexist within the same space, a concept referred to as ‘offshore multi-use’. When there is a symbiotic relationship among the various sectors of offshore human activities or among the human activities and marine protected areas involved, this paper has called it synergistic multi-use. This paper addresses the following questions to examine multi-use in the North Sea:
- What is the current state of multi-use in the North Sea?
- How synergistic are the current multi-uses in the North Sea?
- What would happen if the North Sea’s current multi-use patterns are projected into the future?
- What are some examples of synergistic multi-uses in the North Sea and what can we learn from them?
- How can synergistic multi-use become the norm in the North Sea?
The spatial data obtained from the North Sea Energy Atlas were used to analyze the degree of multi-use in the North Sea. The (in)compatibility of co-located activities and assets was assessed through literature review and expert interviews, enriched with examples of marine spatial c