Marine Spatial Planning consists to some extent to a cake sharing which barely encompass the 3D complexity of sea and uses, and could open the door, through unbalanced power of stakeholders, to an unfair appropriation of resources or space by ‘happy few’, a process named ‘Ocean Grabbing’. During these three month secondments, SB interacted with Brazilian colleagues from UFPE and U. Mackenzie together with European colleagues from IRD, UBO, U. Nantes and U. Wageningen in order to collate information and analyse for the Brazilian study case:

1. The positive side of Marine Spatial Planning that refers to the call to develop an integrated approach for coastal and marine management, involving stakeholders to develop a shared vision of the future where society and environment are preserved.

2. The potential negative side of MSP while it is transferred to Southern countries, as it may increase ocean grabbing phenomenon.

3. Ways to overcome the Ocean Grabbing MSP trap in the Brazilian context.

This work led to a contribution to a paper entitled « MSP and ocean grabbing in the world wild blue: the good, the bad and the ugly in the tropical Atlantic », currently under review at ICES Journal of Marine Science.