Advancing the Simple SES Approach: Progress & Activities from Work Package 3

by Professor Michael Elliot and Gemma Smith of IECS Ltd.

Work Package (WP) 3 of the Marine SABRES project made consistent progress this past year. The finalisation of the Tuscan Demonstration Area (DA) refinement in July 2024, the Macaronesian DA refinement in November 2024 and the Arctic DA sessions in January 2025 concluded the refinement workshops. This contributed to the beginning of further developing and implementing the Simple Social-Ecological System approach into the final guidance document (pictured below).

The drafting of Deliverable 3.4 was completed, encompassing feedback documentation, refinement workshop reports, lessons learned, and recommendations for integrating the tool into the decision support system. The final Simple SES guidance underwent an internal review, and all feedback was addressed. Additionally, 18 Standard Operating Procedures reviewed and finalised, incorporating contributions from various work packages to ensure comprehensive guidelines for the sSES.

Within this, WP staff members attended numerous meetings in the project to communicate progress and outcomes. WP3 outputs were communicated with a number of tasks (T5.2, T5.3, and T5.4), ensuring alignment with other relevant tasks. Collaboration with WP6 partners was frequent throughout this period; staff members actively participated in WP6 meetings, contributing to discussions on the decision support tool, sSES approach integration, and considerations for upscaling and out scaling task. Moreover, several staff members attended the projects Overarching Stakeholder meeting in Zandvoort, Netherlands, to present research outcomes and gain feedback from stakeholders.

In summary, this period was productive for WP3, with key advancements in refining and implementing the sSES approach. Completing deliverables, developing SOPs, and actively collaborating with other work packages.

IECS Dissemination Activities:

Ocean and Coastal Futures Conference, London, January 2025

Professor Mike Elliott and Gemma Smith attended the Ocean and Coastal Futures conference earlier this year to spread the work about MarineSABRES. Mike joined the panel session where he shared insights of best practice throughout Europe in relation to the activities of the Marine SABREs Project.

All photos courtesy of IECS

Recent developments in the sustainable management of marine resources, OCTO Webinar, July 2025

Professor Mike Elliott spoke to over 100 attendees at the OCTO webinar which presented cause-consequence-response frameworks and the way these relate to managing marine, coastal and estuarine areas. The webinar discussed the importance of determining the footprints of activities, pressures, and natural and human effects, of and assessing the cumulative effects. The discussion also considered the footprints of management responses and demonstrated horizontal management across sectors and vertical management from the local to the global and vice versa, further emphasising the importance of transboundary implications of marine management, considering connectivity, coherence, and equivalence.

Finally, the success in the ways marine management is measured was considered, including indicators of success. Hence, the themes throughout were demonstrating the work done within Marine SABRES to ensure sustainable use of our marine environments.

Watch the webinar

European Conference on Operational Research, July 2025

Gemma Smith from IECS attended and presented at the European Conference on Operational Research in July to demonstrate a Systems Approach to management of the marine environment to both practitioners and academics. The presentation demonstrated the application of a 'Systems Thinking' approach to the management of the marine environment.

The presentation shared the work of Marine SABRES, highlighting the challenges posed by marine Social-Ecological Systems (SES), which are characterised by their complexity and the dynamic interactions between natural and anthropogenic components.

Gemma’s presentation highlighted how systems tools and fundamentals can provide a robust framework for tackling multifaceted issues in marine management. These challenges include, for instance, reducing complexity, optimising data management, considering uncertainties, and fostering active stakeholder engagement. The discussion emphasised that such an approach is fundamental to the successful operationalisation of Ecosystem-Based Management.

Ultimately, the presentation concluded that adopting a systems perspective enhances decision-making processes, offering a practical pathway to achieving a sustainable balance between conservation, societal well-being, and economic objectives within our marine environments. 

Publications

Professor Michael Elliot contributed to a recent paper entitled "Managing marine resources sustainably – But how do we know when marine management has been successful?" with project partners Ángel Borja (AZTI) and Roland Cormier (Fisheries and Oceans Canada).

Figure from the paper that demonstrates the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) implementation to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES), through Programmes of Measures (PoM) – what should be done (effort decreasing from left to right) and what is done in practice (effort increasing from left to right).

The authors advocate for a holistic, systems-based approach. This involves a complete planning cycle where an overall vision leads to specific objectives, actions, and measurable outcomes. Success should be gauged using SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bounded) indicators that are directly linked to policy and regulation. Frameworks such as the ‘10-tenets’ for sustainable management are presented as essential for covering the full spectrum of ecological, economic, and social factors.

Case studies, for instance, the recovery of Spain's Nervión estuary and the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), are used to illustrate how targeted actions and clear indicators can lead to demonstrable success. Ultimately, the paper concludes that successful management is proven when long-term, interdisciplinary monitoring shows that established objectives have been met, thereby integrating ecological health with societal wellbeing and satisfying the needs of all stakeholders.

Paper information: Michael Elliott, Ángel Borja, Roland Cormier, Managing marine resources sustainably – But how do we know when marine management has been successful?, Ocean & Coastal Management, Volume 265, 2025, 107623, ISSN 0964-5691.

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