Abstract
The Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management, SwAM, has been commissioned to organise the forthcoming Swedish national marine spatial planning. We have begun this by collating knowledge of the waters around us and by examining how other countries work with marine spatial planning. Swedish national marine spatial planning will encompass Sweden's territorial waters and its exclusive economic zone. In this current status description, SwAM has compiled information regarding the utilisation of marine resources, current conditions, and possible future demands. Our ambition is to convey a cross-sectoral perspective as a starting point for the first phase of the national marine spatial planning.
During our work with the current status description we have acquired data from agencies involved in the marine sector and from county administrative boards. In order to expand and add more detail to our description of the current status, we welcomed cooperation with any interested parties that may contribute their viewpoints and additional information. The current status was discussed at a number of conferences during the spring of 2014, where all concerned parties will have had the opportunity to participate. All viewpoints and other information that stakeholders and other parties concerned submitted to the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management have been analysed and have then formed the foundation for revising this description of the current status.
Finally, I would like to thank all who have contributed to this work so far, and at the same time extend a warm welcome, to you and to all other interested parties, to participate as the marine spatial planning process continues.