Mike is the Professor of Estuarine and Coastal Sciences at the University of Hull, UK and was Director of the former Institute of Estuarine & Coastal Studies (IECS) from 1996-2017. He is also the Director of International Estuarine & Coastal Specialists Ltd. He is a marine biologist with a wide experience and interests and his teaching, research, advisory and consultancy includes estuarine and marine ecology, policy, governance and management.
Mike has published widely, co-authoring/co-editing 19 books/proceedings and >300 scientific publications. This includes co-authoring ‘The Estuarine Ecosystem: ecology, threats and management’ (with DS McLusky, OUP, 2004), ‘Ecology of Marine Sediments: science to management’ (with JS Gray, OUP, 2009), and ‘Estuarine Ecohydrology: an introduction’ (with E Wolanski, Elsevier, 2015). He was an editor and contributor to the ‘Coasts and Estuaries: the Future’ (Wolanski, Day, Elliott and Ramachandran; Elsevier, 2019) and the Treatise on Estuarine & Coastal Science (Eds.-In-Chief – E Wolanski & DS McLusky, Elsevier). He has advised on many environmental matters for academia, industry, government and statutory bodies worldwide.
Mike is a past-President of the international Estuarine & Coastal Sciences Association (ECSA) and is a Co-Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Estuarine, Coastal & Shelf Science; he currently is or has had Adjunct Professor and Research positions at Murdoch University (Perth), Klaipeda University (Lithuania), the University of Palermo (Italy), Xiamen University (China) and the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity. He was awarded Laureate of the Honorary Winberg Medal 2014 of the Russian Hydrobiological Academic Society. He is also a member of many national and international committees linking marine science to policy.
BSc (Hons, Lond.), PhD (Stirling), FRSB, CBiol, FRGS, FMBA
Emeritus Professor in Estuarine & Coastal Sciences
School of Environmental Sciences
Policy brief on how to foster Ecosystem-Based Marine Spatial Planning in Campania Technical Report
Queen’s University Belfast 2025.
Policy brief on how to foster Ecosystem-Based Marine Spatial Planning in the Celtic Sea Technical Report
Queen’s University Belfast 2025.
Policy brief on how to foster Ecosystem-Based Marine Spatial Planning in the Bay of Biscay Technical Report
Queen’s University Belfast 2025.
Policy brief on how to foster Ecosystem Based Marine Spatial Planning in the Western Baltic Sea Technical Report
Queen’s University Belfast 2025.
Policy brief on how to foster Ecosystem-Based Marine Spatial Planning in the Azores Technical Report
Queen’s University Belfast 2025.
Policy brief on how to foster Ecosystem-Based Marine Spatial Planning in the Southern North Sea Technical Report
Queen’s University Belfast 2025.
Policy brief on how to foster Ecosystem-Based Marine Spatial Planning in the Greek Aegean and Ionian Seas. Technical Report
Queen’s University Belfast 2025.
Policy brief on how to foster Ecosystem Based Marine Spatial Planning in the Western Mediterranean Sea Technical Report
Queen’s University Belfast 2025.
Making sense of marine management – The ten-tenets revisited Journal Article
In: Marine Pollution Bulletin, vol. 221, 2025.
The minimum complexity necessary: The value of a simple Social-Ecological systems analysis in holistic marine environmental management Journal Article
In: Sustainable Futures, vol. 9, 2025.
Managing marine resources sustainably – But how do we know when marine management has been successful? Journal Article
In: Ocean & Coastal Management, vol. 265, 2025.
The cross-ecosystem dimension of managing sandy beach social-ecological systems Journal Article
In: Ocean & Coastal Management, vol. 262, 2025.
Review of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report and Associated Documents Submitted by the Sandpiper Project for the Proposed Extraction of Phosphate-Enriched Sediments from the Marine Mining Licence Area (MLA) No. 170 Off Walvis Bay, Namibia Technical Report
2024.
GuardIAS – Guarding European Waters from Invasive Alien Species Journal Article
In: Management of Biological Invasions , vol. 15, iss. 4, pp. 701-730, 2024.
Assessment approaches supporting ecosystem-based management: key features for their practical implementation Presentation
02.09.2024.
An approach for the Ecological Value Assessment of coastal and marine areas Presentation
02.09.2024.
SEAS4GES: Optimising tool selection when applying EBM approaches to ecological assessment Presentation
02.09.2024.
Baseline assessment of Social-Ecological System models Technical Report
2024.
Report on the synthesis reviews, including gap analysis results Technical Report
2024.
In: Ocean & Coastal Management, vol. 245, 2023.
The Simple SES Practice Abstract Technical Report
2023.
The Simple SES Guidance and Cross-cutting Theme Briefing Papers Technical Report
2023.
Review of the Literature on Social-Ecological Systems Technical Report
2023.
EAD Knowledge Engineering: A Knowledge Management Platform Technical Report
2023.
Marine Strategy Framework Directive Terminology Definitions and Lists, GES4SEAS Project Technical Report
2022.
Managing Marine Resources Sustainably – The “Management Response-Footprint Pyramid” Covering Policy, Plans and Technical Measures Journal Article
In: Frontiers in Marine Science, vol. 9, 2022.
Appendix B Study Methods: Data Processing, Analysis and Interpretation Book Section
In: Whitfield, Alan; Able, Kenneth W; Blaber, Stephen J M; Elliott, Mike (Ed.): and Fisheries in Estuaries – A Global Perspective, pp. 941-1005, John Wiley & Sons, Oxford, UK, 2022, ISBN: 9781444336672.
Sandy beach social-ecological systems at risk: regime shifts, collapses and governance challenges Journal Article
In: Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2021.
From an economic crisis to a pandemic crisis: the need for accurate marine monitoring data to take informed management decisions Journal Article
In: Advances in Marine Biology, vol. 89, pp. 79-114, 2021.
GPC-GIS, Multi-entity Workshops for Abu Dhabi State of Environment Dashboards Technical Report
2021.
UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030—What Chance for Success in Restoring Coastal Ecosystems? Journal Article
In: Frontiers in Marine Science, vol. 7, 2020.
Managing marine resources sustainably: a proposed integrated systems analysis approach Journal Article
In: Ocean & Coastal Management, vol. 197, 2020.
Activity-footprints, pressures-footprints and effects-footprints – walking the pathway to determining and managing human impacts in the sea Journal Article
In: Marine Pollution Bulletin, vol. 155, 2020.
Climate Change and European Fisheries and Aquaculture: ‘CERES’ Project Synthesis Report Technical Report
2020.
The Framework and Options for Compensation for Marine Annex 1 Habitats for Offshore Wind Farms Technical Report
2020, (Contract No. 0456).
Coasts and Estuaries: The Future Book
Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2019.
Ecoengineering with Ecohydrology: successes and failures in estuarine restoration Journal Article
In: Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, vol. 176, pp. 12–35, 2016.
Paradigms in the Recovery of Estuarine and Coastal Ecosystems Journal Article
In: Estuaries and Coasts, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 1202–1212, 2015.
Chapter 2: Conceptual framework Book Chapter
In: Turner, RK; Schaafsma, M (Ed.): Coastal Zones Ecosystem Services: From Science to Values and Decision Making, pp. 11–40, Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, 2015.
Integrating Management Tools and Concepts to Develop an Estuarine Planning Support System: A case study of the Humber Estuary, Eastern England Journal Article
In: Marine Pollution Bulletin, vol. 100, no. 1, pp. 393–405, 2015.
A typology of marine and estuarine hazards and risks as vectors of change: a review for vulnerable coasts and their management Journal Article
In: Ocean & Coastal Management, vol. 93, pp. 88–99, 2014.
Marine and Coastal Ecosystem-based Risk Management Handbook Book
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, Copenhagen, 2013.
Human-induced problems (uses and abuses) in Estuaries and Coasts Book Chapter
In: Wolanski, Eric; McLusky, DS (Ed.): Treatise on Estuarine & Coastal Science, vol. 8, pp. 315, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2011.