Knowledge governance is a key but underdeveloped skill in ecosystem-based management. This thesis unravels how successful decision-makers take up and fill in their task of knowledge governance. Using in-depth case study research based on material from ecosystem-based management applications in the North European Wadden Sea area, it shows how decision-makers can make use of different organisational patterns to realize effective generation and utilization of knowledge. Comparative analysis of governance approaches and decision-making contexts furthermore reveals which type of governance approach should be applied in which type of decision-making context. Important suggestions to further improve knowledge governance and insights about how to organize knowledge governance from scratch are provided. With this thesis an attempt is made to professionalize knowledge governance for ecosystem-based management and to increase its implementation in terms of both, quantity and quality.