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Developing and testing approaches for Marine Spatial Planning: the case ofaquacultureLauren McWhinnie 1 , Robert Briers 2 , Ian Davies 3 , Matthew Gubbins 3 & Teresa F. Fernandes 11 School of Life Sciences Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH12 4AS, Scotlandlhm3@hw.ac.uk2 School of Life, Sport and Social Sciences, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh EH11 4BN, Scotland3 Marine Scotland Science, Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen AB11 9DB, ScotlandAbstractThis talk will outline the development and application of a new prototype zoning scheme designed specificallyand tested for Scottish waters using a Geographical Information System (GIS). The primary aim was to devise alarge-scale, ecosystem-based zoning approach for managing activities within Scotland’s marine environment. In thiszoning scheme areas are designated within different zones according to a combination of both their ecological featuresand existing management mechanisms for any activities taking place. For each of the different zones a series ofgoals, objectives and strategies have been devised to represent the desired outcomes for those areas. This prototypezoning scheme aims to facilitate the delivery of long-term protection to the marine environment, treating areas aswhole ecosystems while still enabling a diverse array of activities to take place in a sustainable manner.IntroductionA significant proportion of the world’s seas are under pressure from anthropogenic factors and consequently thereis a real need to protect vulnerable species and habitats while ensuring that the marine environment can continue tosupport a range of activities and industries. Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is an emerging process to aid the implementationof an ecosystem based management approach (EMA) (Stelzenmüller et al., 2010). Adoption of such anapproach to future management would require environmental, social and economic interactions to be defined. Developingmethods and approaches that can be implemented using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to analyzethese spatial relationships will allow the principles of an ecosystem approach to be translated into practicalsustainable system management, benefitting all stakeholders.This study is currently developing and testing potential approaches to the implementation of Marine Spatial Planningin Scottish waters, and ultimately aims to propose a decision support tool for sustainable aquaculture development.It is integral to the successful development of such a planning framework that accurate assessments of thespatial distributions of human activities and their associated pressures are carried out, along with extensive mappingof marine landscapes and biotopes (Nath et al., 2000; Kitsiou et al., 2002; Stelzenmüller et al., 2008). Due to theneed to integrate all of these aspects, GIS has been used to capture, organize, analyze and display different types ofgeographically referenced information, e.g. habitat distributions, coastal activities and the locations of wind farms,aquaculture units, shipping lanes, etc.MethodologyThe primary aim of this study was to devise a large-scale, ecosystem-based zoning approach for managing thedevelopment of, and existing activities within Scotland’s marine environment. This new prototype zoning schemedraws upon the findings of two previous studies: the multiple-use zoning scheme developed by Boyes et al. (2007)for the UK and Manx waters of the Irish Sea, and the Marine Planning Framework for South Australian waters devisedby Day et al. (2008).The prototype scheme that has been developed as a result designates areas within different zones according to acombination of both their ecological features and existing legally permitted management mechanisms for any activitiestaking place. For each of the different zones a series of goals, objectives and strategies have been devised torepresent the desired outcomes of these areas.88