Our coastal areas are used by many, often with conflicting interests. A new management mindset can help to highlight nature's importance to us, but a new research report shows that it will take time to establish in coastal zone planning.

How can the marine industries coexist in a good way along the coast? Nofima is now launching a new multidisciplinary research initiative focusing on the coexistence of different coastal industries. The objective is to gain increased knowledge and find better tools for ensuring steady industrial development in Norway.

During this project, the researchers shall gather new, multidisciplinary knowledge about how the marine industries can coexist in a good way along the coast, and develop new methodologies and models for such coexistence.

ECCO aims to explore the potential and implications of integrating the concept of ecosystem services in impact assessment methodology. The project focuses on knowledge production in impact assessments for new industrial activities in the coastal zone, as well as the potential for and implications of applying cultural ecosystem services as a conceptual tool.

The coast is prized as a playground in which leisure as well as business activities can be enjoyed. During the Coreplan project we have examined how the authorities can manage our coastal zone while taking into account the value provided by our natural environment and safeguarding the various interests concerned.

In many municipalities, the coastal zone has become a significant arena where there are different and conflicting interests. Nofima has been given the task of finding how municipalities approach planning the coastal zone, and identifying what affects the quality of planning processes and the time spent on these.

How does fish farming affect wild fish, and why do fishermen experience the quality of wild fish near aquaculture facilities differently from what scientists have documented?

Coastal planners in Norway and in Canada have recently been visited by social scientists. The objective of the interviews is to gain insight into how municipal planners work on coastal zone plans and impact assessments.

The aim of the project is to map and identify criteria that affects the duration and quality of coastal zone planning processes.

Many of the benefits that people get from nature are priceless. Others represent large monetary values. How do you measure all these values when plans are to be made for management of the coastal zone? And based on which criteria do you prioritize between divergent interests?