Marine Planning Options

Barbados is developing a Marine Spatial Plan to guide how our ocean space is used, protected, and managed, now and for generations to come. With many activities taking place at sea, from fishing and tourism to conservation, research, and shipping, careful planning is essential to balance environmental protection with sustainable economic and social development.

This plan is being shaped by scientific research and meaningful engagement with stakeholders who use and depend on the marine environment. By combining data on marine ecosystems with knowledge from ocean users and communities, we are working to ensure that decisions about our marine space are practical, inclusive, and grounded in evidence.

As a key step in this process, we have developed draft marine management options, also known as scenarios. These draft scenarios explore different ways Barbados could organise its marine space to meet national goals, including the Blue Bond’s conservation targets, while supporting livelihoods, food security, and cultural connections to the sea.

The draft marine management options are spatial representations showing different ways Barbados could organise and manage its marine space to meet the Blue Bond’s conservation targets while supporting sustainable economic and social development now and into the future. Each option is presented as a map that indicates how strongly marine laws and regulations would apply in different areas. Under each option, marine areas fall into one of two categories:

1. Areas prioritised for strong, non-extractive conservation; or
2. Areas managed for sustainable, multi-use activities.

Each scenario combines these approaches differently, offering four plausible futures for Barbados’ Exclusive Economic Zone. They are not fixed choices, but planning tools to help show how decisions about conservation areas can shape development, protection, and enforcement across the ocean space that supports our food, jobs, and culture.

While each scenario is shown as a map, the underlying data go further. It identifies the environmental assets (seafloor features) being protected, the activities (fishing, water sports, research among other things) and protected measures supported by Government, and their precise locations at sea. Communicating what these classifications mean both for environmental protection and for people’s livelihoods is essential. The scenarios were developed using scientific evidence, stakeholder engagement, and a structured technical process.

These scenarios are based on solid science and broad public input. They were developed through several connected steps:

Information about marine habitats, ocean conditions, and how people use the sea, such as fishing, tourism, shipping, and energy was brought together in one shared mapping system. This helped show where activities already take place, where opportunities exist, and where more information was needed.

Fishers, tourism operators, scientists, conservation groups, government agencies, and members of the public shared their knowledge through surveys, interviews, mapping exercises, and consultations. More than 1,500 people helped map how the
ocean is used, with hundreds more contributing through interviews and focused assessments.

The team created maps showing where important marine habitats are located and where human activities are most intense. By looking at these together, we were able to identify areas rich in marine life that have low conflict with current uses, as well as sensitive areas that need stronger protection due to heavy pressure.

In February 2025, the Project Steering Committee examined different ways ocean management could evolve in the future. They focused on two key questions: how strong ocean rules might be, and whether ocean use would focus more on conservation or
extraction. This led to four possible future scenarios, each showing how pressures on the ocean could change over time.

Using all of this information, conservation experts and mapping specialists suggested possible protected areas in both coastal and deep-sea waters. These draft areas are now being shared so that stakeholders and the public can help shape final, widely supported conservation zones.