The framework for governance includes integrated data and citizen participation through developing Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI) to facilitate the governance of marine resources. This paper innovates by answering how AI can improve MSDI systems to make them more efficient. Existing AI applications for integration, analysis, and decision-making in marine spatial planning are reviewed as literature. Resource management, environmental monitoring, resilience among communities, and sustainable management of oceans are promising frontiers for AI techniques (machine learning and predictive modelling). The future with AI looks optimistic because it has the potential to build more robust marine governance. However, despite these challenges, AI demonstrates promise in influencing the implementation of these approaches in marine governance and, thus, the role of AI in marine governance. This research focuses on a specific aspect of interdisciplinary collaboration in the context of resolving ethical challenges and the contextual use of AI technologies. Only, however, will such AI ever play a role as an assistant in marine governance confronted with changing environmental conditions, and ongoing research and innovation will be vital.

The Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI) faces persistent challenges in achieving semantic interoperability, integrating heterogeneous data, and fostering limited stakeholder cooperation. This paper proposes an ontology-driven conceptual framework to address these issues by harmonising disparate marine data using semantic technologies. Built with Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM), the framework employs an MSDI-specific ontology developed in Protégé and modelled using UML, formalising key concepts such as MarineFeature, TemporalDimension, and SpatialDimension. The approach enables structured knowledge representation, advanced semantic querying via SPARQL, and seamless integration with GIS tools for spatial visualisation and decision support. Industrial-scale validation, including coral reef conservation mapping, demonstrates improved data retrieval accuracy and semantic conflict resolution. Results confirm the framework's ability to enhance cross-domain interoperability, semantic integrity, and support for marine spatial planning (MSP) and ecosystem-based management.

Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI) systems built with centralised design present multiple security risks and integrity issues because they make maritime operations vulnerable to technical failures and cyber assaults. The recently created AI-Blockchain system for maritime vulnerability management enhances security protocols by enabling better operational decision systems. Efficient distributed data protection emerges from AI analytics integration with blockchain ledgers because they improve business intelligence functionalities. Direct operational enhancements occurred at Rotterdam Port and through the Maersk-IBM TradeLens solution to demonstrate blockchain and AI application effectiveness. Customers experienced a 15% increase in vessel productivity along with 40% fewer documentation mistakes, while their trust in stakeholders rose by 35%. The system relies on IOTA Tangle and federated learning methods since both solutions offer lightweight capabilities to resolve scaling and privacy limitations in maritime IoT device-rich networks. Both businesses and organisations leverage Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) models for better cost management, and the Maritime Blockchain Consortium works to create maritime standards that are universally applicable. Maritime sustainability gets stronger protection against cyber threats through the combination of AI predictive technology with Blockchain security capabilities, according to this research. Research data indicates that industries need to adopt wide-scale ethical as well as scalable AI-blockchain systems to drive digital maritime spatial management transformation.

This study aimed to understand the role of national identity in enhancing the nation's capabilities and its impact on Omani society. It employed a quantitative methodology and utilised a questionnaire as the primary tool for data collection. A random sample of 359 participants was selected. The study's findings revealed that Omani national identity plays a pivotal role in fostering national belonging and protecting the nation's assets, emphasising the importance of preserving traditional values and customs. The results also highlighted several challenges facing national identity, particularly the impact of globalisation and modern technology, which necessitates strengthening national identity through educational curricula and policies. The study presented several recommendations, the most significant being the enhancement of Omani national identity through educational curricula, incorporating it as part of the school syllabus in a way that aligns with the thoughts and minds of current and future generations. It also suggested naming years with heritage or nationally significant themes that reflect the clear connotations of Omani national identity. Additionally, it recommended activating the role of media and social media platforms to raise awareness among the youth about their national duty to protect the nation’s assets and achievements and to encourage innovation, which is a crucial requirement at this stage. This study provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the role of national identity in maintaining the stability of Omani society and its assets. It offers a scientific foundation that can be relied upon in developing national policies to protect national identity in the face of contemporary global changes.

Marine spatial misinformation is a new type of digital misinformation that is created through manipulation or misinterpretation of marine geospatial information or its strategic messaging with reference to maritime boundaries, resource claims and ocean governance. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has given rise to the territorialization of maritime space that has implications for the location and representation of boundaries, both in terms of sovereignty and economic access and diplomacy (Balsano, 2025; Østhagen, 2020). In parallel, the utility of marine spatial knowledge (MSK) has increased, and ocean geospatial knowledge has become more sensitive thanks to Geographic Information Systems, satellite data, ocean geoportals and social media (Swilling et al., 2022; Davret & Trouillet, 2025). This chapter proposes a cross-disciplinary conceptual framework and summarises 45 key texts in political geography, international law, marine policy, media studies and information science. It then takes a literature synthesis method suitable to an emerging discipline that has a variety of terms, and recognises four intermingled mechanisms: cartographic manipulation, digital amplification, strategic ambiguity, and institutional failure. Comparative cases from the South China Sea, Eastern Mediterranean, Arctic and Chagos Archipelago illustrate the impact of these mechanisms on trust, sovereignty, maritime diplomacy, ecological management, and decolonisation. The chapter proposes, as a starting point for more resilient ocean governance, approaches that are critical for geospatial and ocean literacy, clear and open cartographic processes, ethical approaches to data control, approaches to responsible publishing norms, and approaches to collaborative digital platforms.

The proliferation of marine data is an opportunity for ocean governance and contributes to fragmentation in the disciplines, institutions, and sectors. Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI) stands out as the major framework in integrating marine information; however, its intellectual framework and development are not well synthesised. The research applies the two-step systematic review and bibliometric analysis of Scopus-indexed literature (2000-2024) to trace the trends in publications, collaboration patterns, thematic cohesion, and time-related changes in MSDI research. Results suggest that the MSDI scholarship is growing faster,, with most of the products being European-made,, with policy frameworks like INSPIRE and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive leading the pack. It is divided into four pillars of themes, namely technical implementation, governance and policy, data management, and stakeholder applications. This development of MSDI can be characterised by five consecutive stages: fundamental technical standardisation, the implementation of the model of governance, semantic interoperability improvement, the integration of the policy, and the sophisticated application of the principles of FAIR/CARE and AI. The paper concludes that MSDI is moving to a more socio-technical approach that requires consideration of a technical-focused tool in the present-day ocean governance. In the future, combining semantic AI, decentralised architectures, polycentric governance models, and impact assessment frameworks to align the MSDI development with the objectives of equity, inclusion, and sustainability should be considered.