The trend towards exploiting natural resources caused by urbanization and increasing population has recently started to attract significant attention. In particular, it is the 'Blue Growth' concept, a subject not previously considered in the field of planning, for which the European Union has started to develop holistic and sustainable policies. In traditional planning studies, the terrestrial and coastal areas are considered as a whole and the marine areas are excluded from the planning. The seas, however, cover a large part of the city and its habitats. In marine areas such as the terrestrial areas; The regions that need to be protected, the species that need to be protected, the regions that are formed according to the diversity of the areas of use, and the regions that need to be used by the sectoral diversity. In this study, people from different institutions and organizations involved with marine areas were interviewed by using qualitative data collection method. The study aims to raise awareness about marine areas, to give information about the European approach in dealing with marine areas and to show that the seas should be considered together with land and coastal planning in Turkey. Therefore, in this study, we investigated how the sea areas are used, which laws and regulations are applied to the seas, which sectors and which stakeholders are involved with the sea. Then, maritime areas were examined on the Izmir peninsula in the framework of marine tourism and aquaculture and fishing. As a result of this study, we hope to increase awareness about the marine areas to be included in the field of planning and we will suggest our ideas about the holistic planning approach. This study will provide guidance on the marine environment and legal regulations for future studies.