Country information
Basic facts on marine waters
- Territorial sea (12 NM): 163 697 km²
- Exclusive Economic Zone: 1 498 821 km²
Technical resources related to MSP
Relevant MSP projects
- REGINA-MSP – Regions to boost National Maritime Spatial Planning (2022-2024)
- MSP-Green – Maritime Spatial Planning as enabler of the European Green Deal (2022-2024)
- MSP-OR – Advancing Maritime Spatial Planning in Outermost Regions (2021-2024)
- MSP-MED – Towards the operational implementation of MSP in our common Mediterranean Sea (2020-2022)
- SIMAtlantic – Supporting the Implementation of Maritime Spatial Planning in the Atlantic (2019-2021)
- MSPglobal – Transboundary pilot in the Western Mediterranean (2018-2021)
- MarSP – Macaronesian Maritime Spatial Planning (2018-2019)
- SIMWESTMED – Supporting Maritime Spatial Planning in the Western Mediterranean Region (2017-2018)
- SIMNORAT – Supporting the Implementation of Maritime Spatial Planning in the North Atlantic Region (2017-2019)
- TPEA-MSP – Transboundary Planning in the European Atlantic (2012-2014)
Overview of MSP related maritime uses
Current main uses:
| Aquaculture | Oil and Gas |
| Cables and pipelines | Ports |
| Coastal protection | Radars |
| Fisheries | Scientific research |
| Military | Shipping |
| Nature conservation | Tourism and Leisure |
| Offshore renewable energy | Underwater Cultural Heritage |
Which marine spatial plans exist?
Name of the plan (year) |
Maritime Spatial Plans of the five Spanish Marine Subdivisions (2023) |
|---|---|
Scale of the plan |
National |
Pre-planning |
Status: Complete |
Assessment for planning |
Status: Complete |
Plan development |
Status: Complete |
Plan completion |
Status: Complete |
Plan approval |
Status: Complete |
Plan implementation |
Status: Underway |
Plan review |
Status: N/A |
National authority in charge of MSP |
Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge – DG of the Coast and the Sea |
Governmental funding |
National budget |
External funding |
Only for Pilot Projects (DG-MARE /CINEA) |
Public-private funding |
N/A |
Size of planning area |
1 000 000 Km2 (Aprox.) |
Time required to complete the planning document |
Approximately eighteen months |
Main issues that led to the adoption of MSP (drivers) |
Directive 2014/89/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning |
Stakeholder engagement activities |
Public consultations in the framework of the approval and the strategic environmental assessment of the plans. Additionally, one of the measures included in the approved plans is the development of a specific strategy for stakeholders involvement |
Sectors included in planning |
Current and future uses and activities |
Articulation between MSP and coastal zone management |
Land-sea interactions analysis, including existing coastal management tools in the different Autonomous Communities. Specific section about land-sea interactions within the diagnosis of each marine subdivision |
Articulation between MSP and marine protected areas |
Specific section within the diagnosis of each marine subdivision (MPAs and management plans). The planning includes current MPAs and also the areas with the potential of becoming MPAs in the future |
Articulation between MSP and sustainable blue economy |
MSP plans include a measure for the elaboration of a National Blue Economy Strategy |
Plan approval process |
Each department involved (at national and subnational level) must send the relevant information to the competent authority, which elaborates the MSP plans (the DG of the Coast and the Sea). Once public consultation is finalised, this DG sends the plans to the Interministerial Commission for the Marine Strategies (CIEM) for its assessment and report. It is also mandatory the assessment of the plans from the Delegate Commission of the Government for Economic Affairs. The CIEM submits the proposal of the plans to the Secretariat of State of Environment for the submission to the Council of Ministers, and the consequent approval and publication in the Official State Gazette |
Legal status of the plan (guiding or legally binding) |
Legally binding |
Plan review process |
Every 6 years, within the revision of marine strategies |
Performance monitoring and evaluation |
The plans establish specific indicators and monitoring programmes (some of which are common with those established for the marine strategies). The plans also foresee the elaboration of a more detailed monitoring and performance assessment plan |
Legal framework
Contact
Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge
DG of the Coast and the Sea
Marta Martínez-Gil Pardo de Vera – Deputy Subdirector of the SG for the Protection of the Sea