Introduction
Offshore wind energy (OWE) is rapidly emerging as a key pillar of the Nordic Region’s energy transition, driven by ambitious climate and energy goals and the global imperative to accelerate renewable energy deployment. Defined by large-scale, capital-intensive developments with long-term spatial commitments, offshore wind farms typically occupy designated marine areas for several decades. Whether fixed or floating, these installations reshape seascapes, limit other maritime activities to varying degrees and fundamentally transform the governance and use of marine space, while also potentially creating refuges that benefit the marine environment. (World Economic Forum, 2025; European Commission, 2020).
By contrast, fishing represents a centuries-old, adaptive livelihood deeply embedded in the cultural and economic fabric of Nordic coastal communities. Rooted in seasonal and spatial mobility, it encompasses a wide range of actors, from small-scale family-run vessels and subsistence fisheries to large industrial fleets. Fishers operate within dynamic, ecologically complex environments, shaped by shifting regulations, long-standing traditions and natural variability. Beyond its economic role, fishing sustains cultural heritage and place-based identity across the region (Sepponen et al., 2021).
The rapid expansion of offshore wind energy signals a profound transformation in how marine space is valued, utilised and contested. OWE introduces a static, infrastructure-based form of sea use into environments historically shaped by mobile fishing practices. These emerging and traditional sectors are increasingly coming into contact amid fragmented and often inconsistent political, planning and permitting systems.
In such complex governance settings, tensions arise not only from spatial competition but also from contrasting sectoral logics, operational practices and relationships with the marine environment. Furthermore, recognising the seas as a shared resource means acknowledging that no single actor holds exclusive rights to ocean space. Sustainable coexistence therefore requires more than technical spatial solutions; it demands transparent, continuous and meaningful dialogue between sectors.
This brief argues that addressing these challenges through collaborative governance has become a Nordic imperative. For both EU and non-EU countries, there is an urgent need to leverage marine spatial planning frameworks and align regulatory regimes that can mediate sectoral pressures, balance competing interests and values and enable long-term coexistence.
Achieving this depends on sustained cooperation, ranging from project-level engagement to cross-sector coordination at the scale of entire sea basins. A crucial first step is a pan-Nordic dialogue that fosters shared learning, exchange of experience and joint problem-solving on this escalating challenge.
This policy brief builds on findings from the Green Meets Blue project, in particular the Nordregio publication Green Energy Meets Blue Food – Moving Towards Sustainable Coexistence (2025), as well as input from a Nordic workshop on sustainable coexistence between offshore wind and blue food (14–15 May). Both sources draw on extensive scientific research and policy reviews.