Sustainable use of marine resources requires a set of capabilities for effective governance of this shared domain. Through their individual actions or in collaboration with others, actors in business, policy, civil society, and academia can shape developments to facilitate change and innovation in marine governance. The ability to act independently or collaboratively is determined by stakeholder capacity to frame and interpret complex problems (reflexivity), adapt to structur

Institutional barriers can take many forms, from power imbalances and overlapping responsibilities, to inadequate coordination and misaligned scales (spatial, temporal, institutional). If left unchecked, persistent barriers can undermine marine governance by making it less collaborative, innovative, and resilient. But change and innovation is possible. A practical first step is to map institutional barriers and enablers, including collaboration dynamics, to understand how the

The Baltic Sea is the youngest but one of the most intensely used seas on the planet. Pressures on the Baltic Sea have increased over the years, largely driven by human activities on land and at sea. Seabed habitats and marine life are endangered by seabed disturbance, pollution and ghost nets, aka Abandoned, Lost or otherwise Discarded Fishing Gear (ALDFG). New governance strategies are needed to address these issues and make the Baltic Sea healthy again. In this episode, R

Our maritime expert Nelson F. Coelho of Aalborg University attended the recent MRA Research Festival organized by Maritime Research Alliance. Green transition and digitalization were among the festival's main themes; two topics we also extensively cover in PERMAGOV. In our case study on the European Maritime Space, we are investigating how port-level logistics and emissions can be improved through interoperable digital systems. Another maritime case study led by Moses Adjei,

Two workshops were held to get input on how to achieve the future vision of there being no major co-existence conflicts between offshore wind and nature in the allocation of areas and licenses for offshore wind in Norway. At the two workshops the stakeholders worked in groups and came up with several measures that could be implemented from today until 2040 to achieve good co-existence with nature in development of ocean wind projects. All groups emphasised the need to secure

In early March 2026, PERMAGOV partners gathered in Brussels for a General Assembly. We discussed progress in case studies and planned future activities to upscale their results. We had guest speakers from the BlueGreen Governance project with which we'll be co-organizing a webinar series in spring. We attended the Ocean Days to get some inspiration from speakers, panelists, and tech innovations like digital twins and virtual reality. The key take-away from our get-together is

The PERMAGOV partner UiT The Arctic University of Norway is organising a part-time executive master’s program on ocean leadership for professionals in marine or maritime sectors. This transdisciplinary program provides an understanding of the complex landscape of ocean challenges and builds the knowledge, skills, and capacity necessary for leading the development and implementation of integrative sustainability solutions for the ocean. The program runs part-time for three yea