Description
"The objective of the project is to support social participation in the process of developing maritime management plan that is prepared in Poland for the first time by the maritime administration. The project is aimed at encouraging public discussion and engaging in the process the main local stakeholders, with particular emphasis on challenges connected with planned expansion in sea wind power generation. Under the project, in selected seaside localities multistage public consultations in the form of seminars will be organised with participation of local groups, experts and maritime administration, additional educational activities will be conducted, and a report in the form of comments to the plan will be prepared, as well as the final report containing recommendations on experiences and planning practice in the context of public participation. Partners in the project - maritime research institutions from Poland and Norway - will give relevant know-how support. Norwegian partner will be also responsible for transfering the methodology of maritime spatial planning from Norway to Poland."
Summary of project results
"The aim of the project was to support social participation in the process of developing, for the first time in Poland, the plan for sea areas management. The project was an extension of the activities of the sea administration to include and additional level of local social consultations conducted directly in selected seaside localities. The most important achievement of the project was providing support for local stakeholders in the process of filing comments to the sea management plan and raising awareness of local communities in the hitherto unknown in Poland planning process. 21 consultation meetings were conducted with local stakeholders and experts, including: eight local information seminars in Gdynia, Władysławowo, Łeba, Ustka, Darłowo, Kołobrzeg, Świnoujście and Szczecin, eight local consultation seminars in the above mentioned localities, three local debates in Gdynia, Słupsk and Szczecin, and two expert seminars with participation of the project Partners, invited experts and the representatives of the sea administration. Over 300 persons from all groups of stakeholders (fishers groups, local government, businesses from the sea sector, institutions responsible for natural and environmental protection, social and ecological organisations) took part in the local consultations. Under the planning workshops over 150 comments and proposals were gathered concerning the plan for sea areas management, and they were forwarded to the sea administration in the form of a report prepared in cooperation with the project Partners. The participation of Partners - the Sea Institute from Gdańsk and the Sea Research Institute from Bergen - helped the participants of the project to acquire expert knowledge on sea areas management and on the existing state and methods of using sea areas. The Norwegian partner presented their experiences in public participation during developing sea management plans in Norway."
Summary of bilateral results
"Main achievements on a bilateral level include first of all an effective and in-depth exchange of knowledge and experience gained within the process of implementation of the maritime spatial planning in Norway by the Institute of the Marine Research in Bergen as well as the other Norwegian public entities, which were consulted during the study visit. The scope of the obtained information covers both the technical and organizational findings concerning the planning process itself, but also refers to a wide range of experience in mobilization of the public engagement in the planning procedure. Especially, several examples of local consultation processes concerning the use of marine resources were inspiring. It was expected also to observe within the project some similarities in interactions between the offshore oil&gas industry and other marine oriented sectors in Norway to the relations between offshore wind sector planned in Poland and fishery. Though not many direct references were finally found, some findings and conclusions concerning the necessary dialog between the wind energy and fishery sectors were discussed and elaborated. The project enabled also to widen the Polish-Norwegian contacts even beyond the project itself, mostly thanks to the extra meeting organized in Stavanger and participation in the “Science meets industry” seminar at the Stavanger University. This unique experience inspired significantly the OFFSHORE Academy seminars organized in Poland by PTMEW and opened the organization for wider cooperation with the Norwegian partners in future."