Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) was designed to replace the contemporary fragmented system of sectoral decision making in order to reduce the existing over regulations with a coordinated and coherent spatial allocation system for marine users. MSP was also adopted as a tool for protecting the marine environment and support ecosystem based sustainable sea use management. One of the activities MSP is aiming to address is shipping, to date which is largely managed through regional sectoral approaches and regulations set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). However, in the field of marine environmental protection, IMO welcomes regional initiatives and even supports them through its Special Areas, Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSA) and the Port State Control provisions. This research therefore aims to open up new perspectives to the potential function of MSP at the crossroads of environmental protection and maritime transport by analyzing the synergies of MSP with the PSSA regime. Finally, this study concludes that, by introducing spatially explicit regulations, MSP may offer opportunities to enhance regional efforts on reducing pollution from shipping activity within the global legal framework.

海洋空间规划 (MSP) 旨在取代当代分散的部门决策系统，以通过协调一致的海洋用户空间分配系统来减少现有的过度监管。MSP 还被用作保护海洋环境和支持基于生态系统的可持续海洋利用管理的工具。MSP 旨在解决的活动之一是航运，迄今为止，航运主要通过国际海事组织 (IMO) 制定的区域部门方法和法规进行管理。然而，在海洋环境保护领域，国际海事组织欢迎区域倡议，甚至通过其特殊区域，特别敏感海域（PSSA）和港口国控制条款支持这些倡议。因此，本研究旨在通过分析 MSP 与 PSSA 制度的协同作用，为 MSP 在环境保护和海上运输的十字路口的潜在功能开辟新的视角。最后，本研究得出的结论是，通过引入空间明确的法规，MSP 可以提供机会，以加强区域努力，在全球法律框架内减少航运活动造成的污染。