Appropriate Scale and Level in Marine Spatial Planning – Management Perspectives in the Baltic Sea

The ecosystem approach has become a common tool in environmental governance over the last decade. Within the EU context this is most clearly accentuated through the adoption of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Directive on Maritime Spatial Planning, that both include requirements for member states to apply the approach. This paper examines how the EU countries in the Baltic Sea Regionhave organised their marine spatial planning (MSP) in terms management levels and geographic delimitations. The examination shows that there is no consistent interpretation of what the appropriate level of management, or ecosystem scale, is. These findings are used to inform a discussion on how the ecosystem approach has been applied in the countries around the Baltic Sea, and how this may affect thepotential of transboundary cooperation initiatives.