Marine Governance in an

Industrialised OceanA case study of the UK’s emerging

Marine Renewable Energy industry

Glen Wright

Australian National University College of Law

www.GlenWright.net

PhD presentation

11 November 2014

Overview Context

NZ Kaipara Harbour project – a story

Marine governance

Policy context – ‘Blue Growth’

Research question

Marine Renewable Energy

Research Aims

Questions

Approach

Findings

Publications Published papers

Current projects

Marine Governance

Rights and ownership (seabed leasing/tenure)

Resource management (managing access to marine

resources)

Environmental interactions (sustainable development of

resources)

Managing ocean space (conflicts between users)

The ‘Blue Growth’ agenda

"harness the untapped potential of Europe's oceans, seas

and coasts for jobs and growth... whilst safeguarding

biodiversity and protecting the marine environment" (EU)

How can evolving marine governance

frameworks support development of

innovative new marine industries, while

also protecting an increasingly fragile and

crowded marine environment?

Offshore wind

Wave and tidal

Full-scale prototype devices and testing

Commercial projects, e.g.:

Meygen - 86 x 1MW, 1.1km2

Pelamis - 15-20 devices, 1km2

Marine Renewable Energy

Why marine renewables as a

case study of modern marine governance?

At the intersection of a number of discourses

Renewable energy/climate mitigation

Innovation/technology & law/regulation

Marine governance/ocean industrialisation

Challenges all aspects of marine governance

Requires exclusive use of large areas - conflicts

Limited resource, competition over access

Uncertain environmental impacts

Research Aims Advance marine governance

Exploring key issues as they apply in practice

Providing a framework for assessing national marine

governance reform efforts

Advance the MRE industry

Assessing the UK as a leading jurisdiction

Detailing & disseminating good practice

Contributing to the growing social sciences literature

Feed into ongoing policy processes, particularly in EU

Rights & Ownership Rights = the basis for projects

'Enclosure' of marine space

‘Privatisation’ of the marine environment

Public vs. private rights

Rights of public, communities,

indigenous people

Resource management Who can access the resources?

Under what conditions?

What is the process for distributing these rights?

1. Underlying principles

2. A sound process

Environmental interactions Encourage innovation, protect the marine environment

Precaution vs. Risk/Uncertainty

“marine energy attracts a depth of scrutiny from environmental regulators and statutory nature conservation bodies that more established marine industries such as fishing and shipping have managed to escape.”

(Merry 2014)

Rochdale Envelope

Deploy & Monitor

Adaptive Management

Managing ocean space Marine Spatial Planning vs. ocean zoning

What is the role of planning tools?

What role do emerging industries play?

Approach to Research

Desktop research – application of existing literature to MRE context/using MRE to consider governance issues

Primary research – interviews with MRE developers

Participation in ongoing processes

Marine Scotland MSP workshops

ISSMER

DG-MARE MSP project

PhD ‘by publication’

Outline paper

Paper on each theme

Publication of primary research findings

Published papers

‘Ocean energy: a legal perspective’ (2013) 8(1) Journal of Ocean Technology

‘Marine governance in an industrialised ocean: A case study of the emerging marine renewable energy industry’ (2014) Marine Policy (in press)

Rights and Ownership in Sea Country: a case study of marine renewable energy development in indigenous and island communities’ (2014) Marine Policy (collaborative paper, in press)

‘Regulating the Marine Renewable Energy Industry: a preliminary assessment of UK permitting processes’ (2014) 32(1) Journal of Underwater Technology

‘Strengthening the Role of Science in Marine Governance through Environmental Impact Assessment: a case study of the marine renewable energy industry’ (2014) 99 Journal of Ocean and Coastal Management

'The Rochdale Envelope Approach to Environmental Impact Assessment: A review of use and challenges in the context of renewable energy project development’ (under review)

‘A tidal power project’ (2011) New Zealand Law Journal

In progress

A legal research agenda for MRE – collaborative paper

with 8 international researchers

Publication of interview results

‘Sustainably advancing the Blue Economy: EIA of

Marine Renewable Energy projects in the UK’ (invited

book chapter, in progress)

Thank you!