Marine legislation - the ultimate 'horrendogram': international law, European directives and national implementation

Boyes, Suzanne J.; Elliott, Michael

Abstract

The EU is a pre-eminent player in sustainable development, adopting more than 200 pieces of legislation that have direct repercussions for marine environmental policy and management. Over five decades, measures have aimed to protect the marine environment by tackling the impact of human activities, but maritime affairs have been dealt with by separate sectoral policies without fully integrating all relevant sectors. Such compartmentalisation has resulted in a patchwork of EU legislation and resultant national legislation leading to a piecemeal approach to marine protection. These are superimposed on international obligations emanating from UN and other bodies and are presented here as complex ‘horrendograms’ showing the complexity across vertical governance. These horrendograms have surprised marine experts despite them acknowledging the many uses and users of the marine environment. Encouragingly since 2000, the evolution in EU policy has progressed to more holistic directives and here we give an overview of this change.

Citation

Boyes, S. J., & Elliott, M. (2014). Marine legislation - the ultimate 'horrendogram': international law, European directives and national implementation. Marine pollution bulletin, 86(1-2), 39-47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.06.055

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 1, 2014
• Publication Date: Sep 15, 2014
• Deposit Date: Dec 8, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 23, 2017
• Journal: Marine pollution bulletin
• Print ISSN: 0025-326X
• Electronic ISSN: 1879-3363
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 86
• Issue: 1-2
• Pages: 39-47
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.06.055
• Keywords: EU marine legislation, Sectoral, Holistic, Policy mapping, Governance
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/382206
• Publisher URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X14004354
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Marine legislation – The ultimate ‘horrendogram’: International law, European directives & national implementation; Journal Title: Marine Pollution Bulletin; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.06.055; Content Type: article; Copyright: Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.