Overview to Integrated Coastal Management Strategy Planning (ICMSP)

Integrated Coastal Management Strategy Planning (ICMSP) is a way of improving decision making and delivering a sustainable approach to managing human activities in the marine and coastal environment. It is a planning process that enables integrated, forward looking, and consistent decision making on the human uses of the sea and coasts.

Human uses can include amongst others: commercial fishing; recreational fishing; aquaculture; shipping; oil & gas exploration and production, port management and associated activities, renewable energy production, e.g., wind, waves; sand extraction and dredging; dredged material disposal; coastal recreation and tourism; offshore housing development, airport extensions offshore; pipelines, offshore cables, telecommunication transmission lines; bio-prospecting; desalinization; military activities; scientific research; marine protected areas; cultural and historic conservation, e.g., ship wrecks.

To this end, ICMSP is an approach and process that should assist existing institutions, organisations and agencies to work together in a cooperative and coordinated fashion.

To better understand the challenges and opportunities that face the implementation of ICMSP in Tongatapu, we need to understand from you what are the current barriers and impediments to developing an approach and process for ICMSP in Tongatapu.

Jon Mccue of the Sustainable Seas and Mr Fuka Kitekei’aho are two consultants that were appointed to carry out this work and to produce the report by end of July 2014.