The growth of the maritime economy throughout Europe results in increasing demands for maritime space coupled with the need to ensure a viable marine environment. This phenomenon has led to the integrated maritime policy (IMP) approach throughout Europe with Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) being by now the widely acknowledged tool for co-ordinating spatial use and balancing of interests in the sea. Within the Baltic Sea Region MSP is highly promoted by VASAB and HELCOM, which have created a joint working group and act as Horizontal Action Leaders for MSP within the EUSBSR. On national level, many BSR countries have passed the necessary legislation and are about to start MSP processes. In March 2013 these developments have received an extra push with the EU proposal for a directive to create a common framework for maritime spatial planning and integrated coastal management. By its very nature MSP requires thorough consideration of the interests of the sectors concerned, which are - in turn - expressed at all governance levels reaching from individual up to international scale. Even more also maritime and terrestrial spatial planning should be tightly interlinked, consistent and mutually supportive. Planners need to consider the whole Baltic Sea ecosystem when planning transnational structures (i.e. nature protection areas, grid connections, shipping lanes). Little if no practical experience exists on how to satisfy all these requirements (i.e. land-sea integration, transnational consultation, ecosystem based approach, stakeholder participation) for a sustainable MSP. Therefore the bodies responsible for and/or actually drafting MSPs throughout the Baltic Sea Region have joined forces.Together they test and develop instruments/models on how such multi-level governance mechanisms can be realised in MSP within three pilot areas: a) Pomeranian Bight (SE, DE, PL, DK); b) Lithuanian Sea (LT, LV, SE, RU); c) Middle Bank (SE, PL). In addition the project engages national bodies, experts & researchers in a series of pan-Baltic dialogues on mariculture, nature protection, shipping & ports, underwater heritage and offshore energy as well as supporting functions like MSP data, ecosystem and climate change research. The ambition is to jointly explore what MSP means to these stakeholders and getting a better insight into their priorities, objectives, fears and hopes as well as the transnational nature of their topic. In subsequent cross-sectoral workshops synergies & conflicts will be identified and proposals developed for future MSPs and related governance processes. The ambition is to develop a pan-Baltic approach to topics whose spatial dimension transcends sectoral and administrative borders and to develop a concept for a MSP institutional framework and governance model which shall provide input to policy decisions to be taken at the VASAB ministerial conference to be held in summer 2014. Achievements: The PartiSEApate project is dedicated to promote Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) through a number of activities and outputs and, so far, has made substantial progress.Stakeholder workshopsRepresentatives from different sectors (aquaculture, shipping & ports, nature conservation & environment, fishery, offshore wind energy, underwater cultural heritage, climate change, research and data network building) were invited to discuss MSP-related issues relevant to their sector in the Baltic Sea. The workshops were carried through and evaluated with a harmonized methodology. Findings from the single-sector workshops have been compiled in a synthesis report. As a follow-up a cross-sectoral workshop is scheduled to take place, which will bring together different stakeholders at one table to discuss potential conflicts and synergies between sea uses and possible spatial solutions.Pilot projectsThe PartiSEApate pilot projects aim at developing and testing methodologies of multi-level MSP processes, including the level of transboundary MSP consultation.The extension of the Lithuanian general plan to marine areas may have impacts on its neighbours. In the scope of the PartiSEApate project, meetings with Russian and Latvian stakeholders have been carried through to give them a chance to voice their views on the plan.In the Middle Bank case, an analysis of Swedish stakeholders has been completed. The Polish stakeholder analysis is currently being carried out.In the Pomeranian Bight case a first stakeholder meeting took place in Malmö. Two especially important issues will be studied in detail: 1) Kriegers Flak/Combined Grid Solutions (a Danish-German project without Swedish participation aiming at combining offshore wind farms) as well as 2) Baltic Pipe (a gas pipeline planned to connect Denmark and Poland). Interviews with stakeholders involved in these projects are being carried through.Country FichesCountery Fiches with information on MSP in each country of the BSR as well as Norway have been updated. They are available on the project website. Moreover, the HELCOM-VASAB Working Group on MSP decided to align the formal, regular country reporting on MSP with the second generation of country fiches recommended by the PartiSEApate project. These will be updated regularly by members of the HELCOM/VASAB MSP WG and made publicly available on the VASAB homepage.Governance ModelThe overarching ambition of PartiSEApate is to develop an MSP Governance Model, which includes recommendations on transnational consultations as well as on pan-Baltic cooperation. The above mentioned activities all feed into this model. Additionally, interviews with sector representatives and MSP governance experts will enter into the analysis. The model will serve as recommendations to the HELCOM-VASAB Working Group on MSP for developing guidelines on transnational cooperation and consultations as well on public participation.