, 2006). This tenet includes an internationally-recognised set of guiding principles which are bound into new environmental legislation. These are summarised as: ecologically sustainable development

and the principle of inter-generational equity; the precautionary principle; the conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity; the economic valuation of environmental factors and the polluter pays principle; waste minimisation, and public participation (EDOWA, 2011). These principles increasingly affect developers and dischargers as statutory bodies will use them to achieve sustainable marine management. Industries and developers have often suggested that if faced with a guideline

for improving the Apoptosis Compound Library chemical structure Pifithrin-�� purchase environment then they will discuss this with shareholders whereas if faced with a legal obligation then there is no debate and they have to comply. Similarly, most states legally require Environmental Impact Assessments and their variants to be performed for major plans and projects. In the case of eutrophication, in Europe this means implementing the Nitrates and Urban Waste-water Treatment Directives which lead to the Water Framework and Marine Strategy Framework Directives respectively to give Good Ecological and Environmental Status of our estuarine, coastal and marine waters (Borja et al., 2010). We need to determine whether nutrients discharged are likely to affect an area’s conservation objectives/features sufficiently to prevent achieving Favourable Conservation Status. Once we have a plethora of legal instruments and recommendations then we need ministries, departments, agencies and other statutory bodies to implement them. We need to ensure that such bodies are interlinked at international/regional/national levels (Elliott et al., 2006), what many is termed vertical integration, and across and between the various sectors and stakeholder groups, thus horizontal coordination and integration. Of course, such integration is easier if more of these bodies adopt The Ecosystem Approach. In the

case of nutrient and organic discharges and eutrophication, control depends on collaborations between environmental protection agencies, farming bodies, planning authorities, municipal water companies, and ministries of agriculture, environment, nature conservation, etc. For example, a successful indication of marine environmental management would be the ability and willingness of such groups to adopt Nitrate Vulnerable Zones as a means of controlling adverse effects. In marine environmental management, as with other fields, there is the debate whether politics is leading or following society and the differences in fundamental philosophy usually between the centre left/centre right political spectrum, between society and business dominated systems.