The Oregon Nearshore Research Inventory project: The importance of science and the scientific community as stakeholders in marine spatial planning

As new uses, such as wave energy extraction, are proposed along coastlines and in the ocean, MSP can be used as a tool to reduce conflict and find compatible uses of ocean and coastal space. A major benefit of the scientific community's use of ocean and coastal space is that it results in data that can be used to inform ecosystem-based management decisions. Interruptions in long-term scientific research and monitoring as a result of ocean space use conflicts could limit the availability of information for use in future management decisions. While considering tradeoffs in the MSP process, decision makers need to recognize and account for the value of scientific space as a use of the ocean.