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Sustainable Ocean Governance and Marine Environmental Monitoring

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Oceans".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 May 2026 | Viewed by 1638

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute of Ocean Technology and Marine Affairs, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, Taiwan
Interests: marine environmental management; ocean governance; marine environmental monitoring; marine environmental assessment; coastal zone management; marine research; marine policy

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Guest Editor
Bachelor Degree of Ocean Law and Policy, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung City, Taiwan
Interests: marine policy; law of the sea; marine resource governance; international relations; international law

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a new Special Issue in the journal Sustainability: “Sustainable Ocean Governance and Marine Environmental Monitoring”.

Recently, the blue economy has been a priority for development in many countries. Rapid economic development has accelerated the exploitation and utilization of the oceans. The continuous discharge of industrial wastewater and domestic sewage has caused severe marine pollution and has attracted widespread global attention and concern. In particular, since the Industrial Revolution, technological progress has also intensified the exploitation of the oceans, causing damage to the marine environment and frequent pollution incidents and increasingly destroying the marine ecosystem and habitats.

Marine environmental monitoring is the basis for marine environmental protection. It provides a basis for marine environmental protection, the development and utilization of marine resources, the mitigation of marine disasters, marine scientific research, marine strategies, and the development of marine science, and it enables the formulation of correct environmental policies. Therefore, scientists from many countries have called for strengthening marine environmental monitoring to reduce unnecessary environmental degradation. Environmental monitoring is also the key to marine protection and the foundation for sustainable marine development. It plays a vital role in marine management and governance.

This Special Issue is expected to provide researchers with a perspective on the challenges and opportunities of ocean governance and global attention to the issue. Its papers will explain the issue of global ocean governance from different perspectives.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Ocean governance for the development of the blue economy;
  • Ocean governance practices for the impact of climate change;
  • Environmental impact assessment for sustainable development of the oceans;
  • Legal system for ocean governance;
  • Marine spatial planning for ocean governance.

Dr. Yi-Chen Shih
Dr. Huey-Shian Chung
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • blue economy
  • marine biodiversity
  • marine pollution prevention
  • marine resource management
  • marine special planning
  • marine offshore wind farm
  • marine renewable energy
  • maritime law/regulation
  • ocean governance
  • integrated coastal zone management

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 323 KB  
Article
The Legal and Policy Framework for Shipping Noise Pollution Governance in China: Status Quo, Challenges, and Optimization
by Changxia Liu
Sustainability 2026, 18(1), 423; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18010423 (registering DOI) - 1 Jan 2026
Abstract
The shipping industry serves as an integral component of the global and regional economy development; however, the anthropogenic acoustic emissions generated during its operations pose considerable threats to human health, marine biodiversity and ecosystems, ultimately undermining the foundations of sustainable development. With the [...] Read more.
The shipping industry serves as an integral component of the global and regional economy development; however, the anthropogenic acoustic emissions generated during its operations pose considerable threats to human health, marine biodiversity and ecosystems, ultimately undermining the foundations of sustainable development. With the expansion of global trade and the continued growth of maritime transport, strengthening the governance of shipping noise pollution has emerged as a critical issue of international concern. The effective governance of shipping noise is no longer a peripheral environmental issue but an imperative, cross-sectoral challenge. Addressing it is critical for ensuring the integrity of marine ecosystems, safeguarding biodiversity, and advancing the long-term sustainability of our blue economy. This study investigates the legal and policy framework for shipping noise governance in China and finds that China has established a foundation for addressing shipping noise pollution through a dual-track legislative system which is supplemented by systematically deployed policy measures aiming at advancing noise mitigation in shipping. However, the current institutional framework exhibits some limitations. This study summarizes existing experiences, identifies areas requiring further improvement and attention, and offers recommendations for enhancing domestic legal frameworks on shipping noise pollution as well as promoting international cooperation in shipping noise governance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Ocean Governance and Marine Environmental Monitoring)
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19 pages, 4252 KB  
Article
For the Love of the Sea: Technocratic Environmentalism and the Struggle to Sustain Community-Led Aquaculture
by Gareth Thomas, Louise Steel and Luci Attala
Sustainability 2025, 17(22), 10136; https://doi.org/10.3390/su172210136 - 13 Nov 2025
Viewed by 550
Abstract
This article argues that sustainability governance in small-scale regenerative aquaculture arises less from formal regulation than from the relational, ethical, and temporal labour of practitioners. Based on an ethnographic study of Câr-y-Môr, Wales’s first community-owned regenerative ocean farm, the research combines over 250 [...] Read more.
This article argues that sustainability governance in small-scale regenerative aquaculture arises less from formal regulation than from the relational, ethical, and temporal labour of practitioners. Based on an ethnographic study of Câr-y-Môr, Wales’s first community-owned regenerative ocean farm, the research combines over 250 h of participant observation, 25 interviews, and document analysis with transdisciplinary humanities-informed sustainability science (THiSS). The study shows how technocratic environmentalism, reliant on auditing, reporting, and standardised procedures, often clashes with the shifting rhythms of tides, weather, and the embodied work of marine labour. Ethnography uniquely reveals the embodied knowledge, improvisation, and moral commitment through which practitioners continually remake governance, translating bureaucratic rules into ecologically and socially meaningful practice. The findings demonstrate that adaptive governance requires recognition of local and experiential expertise, proportionate regulatory frameworks, and protected spaces for experimentation and learning. Seen in this way, sustainability shifts from a fixed goal to a relational process. When governance learns from practice and care is recognised as a form of knowledge, it becomes more adaptive, situated, and responsive, revealing both the constraints of technocratic control and the possibilities of care-based policy and practice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Ocean Governance and Marine Environmental Monitoring)
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