Abstract
The MSP Challenge Simulation Platform helps planners and stakeholders understand and manage the complexity of Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP). In the interactive simulation different data layers covering an entire sea region can be viewed to make an assessment of the current status. Planners can create scenarios for future uses of the marine space, over a period of several decades. The different plans for energy, shipping and the marine environment are then simulated and the effects are visualized in indicators and heat maps. To support in the implementation of the EU MSP Directive principles of evidence-based and ecosystem-based MSP, the authors created a link between the MSP Challenge and the food web modelling approach Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE). For each regional edition of the MSP Challenge, such as the North Sea or the Baltic Sea, a food-web model for the sea basin needs to be integrated. In this paper, the authors explain the integration of EwE into the MSP Challenge and evaluate the behavior of the food web model for the Baltic Sea from historic data, a baseline scenario and in shipping and offshore energy scenarios developed by planners from the region in a game session. The conclusion is that the current integration of the Baltic Sea food-web model into the platform gives ecologically realistic feedback and that this makes the players more aware of the effects of their plans on the entire ecosystem.
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Acknowledgements
MSP Challenge Simulation Platform was developed by Breda University of Applied Sciences co-funded through the NorthSEE project (2016–2019), (Interreg North Sea Region program of the EU-RDF), the Baltic LINes project (2016–2019), (Interreg Baltic Sea Region program of the EU-RDF); The Scottish Government, Marine Scotland and the Scottish Coastal Forum through SIMCelt (2015–2018), (EU Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries). The design and development of MEL was funded by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management/Rijkswaterstaat, the Nether lands.
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Appendices
Annex 1
Human Activities/Pressures Matrix (e.g. Baltic Sea Edition)
Pressures | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Activities | Artificial substrate | Noise | Bottom disturbance | Surface disturbance | Protected Sites (Fishing fleets) | ||
Active demersal | Passive demersal | Pelagic | |||||
Shellfish farms | 0,3 | 0 | 0 | 0,2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Finfish farms | 0,3 | 0 | 0 | 0,2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Dredging sites areas | 0 | 0,8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Dredging de posit sites | 0 | 0 | 0,8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Sand and gravel extraction | 0 | 0,8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Cables | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Cables (construction phase) | 0 | 0,3 | 0,2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Oil Gas Plat forms | 0,5 | 0,3 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Ports | 0,8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Pipelines | 0,2 | 0 | 0,2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Pipelines (construction phase) | 0 | 0,3 | 0,5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Total ship ping intensity | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Wind farms | 0,3 | 0,2 | 0 | 0,2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Wind farms (construction phase) | 0 | 1 | 0,8 | 0,5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Military Areas | 0 | 0,2 | 0 | 0,2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Fisheries closure | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Cod fisheries | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Closure MPA | No protection against fishing | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Active demersal fleet | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||
Passive demersal fleet | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Pelagic fleet | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||
Annex 2
Functional Groups in the Baltic Proper and Bothnian Sea Food-Web Model
Group name | Biomass in habitat area (t/km2) |
|---|---|
Cyanobacteria | 3.4 |
Spring phytoplankton | 2.8 |
Other phytoplankton | 4.8 |
Microzooplankton | 3.1 |
Temora sp | 1.9 |
Acartia sp | 1.35 |
Pseudocalanus sp. | 4.39 |
Other mesozooplankton | 4 |
Mysids (estimated) | 5.3 |
Meiozoobenthos | 4.8 |
Macrozoobenthos | 27.3 |
Sprat Juvenile | 0.347 |
Sprat Adult | 4.086 |
Herring juvenile | 11.592 |
Herring adult | 6.302 |
Herring BTS juvenile | 1.153 |
Herring BTS adult | 2.346 |
Cod juvenile | 0.544 |
Cod adult | 0.502 |
Seals | 0.0006 |
Detritus water column | 3256 |
Detritus sediment | 4651 |
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Goncalves, M. et al. (2021). Food-Web Modeling in the Maritime Spatial Planning Challenge Simulation Platform: Results from the Baltic Sea Region. In: Wardaszko, M., Meijer, S., Lukosch, H., Kanegae, H., Kriz, W.C., Grzybowska-Brzezińska, M. (eds) Simulation Gaming Through Times and Disciplines. ISAGA 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11988. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72132-9_25
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