Integrated Ecosystem Assessments: Developing the Scientific Basis for Ecosystem-Based Management of the Ocean

Levin, Phillip S.; Fogarty, Michael J.; Murawski, Steven A.; Fluharty, David

doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000014

Cited by 566 publications

(455 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…This may in part derive from EBM being a "buzz word," and thus the focus of funding opportunities, policy agendas, and scientific meetings. Furthermore, many managers are being tasked with implementing EBM, but until quite recently there was very little practical scientific guidance on how to apply this approach (12,(31)(32)(33). As a result, MPAs are an easy fallback, with the argument that EBM is a place-based approach to management, and MPAs are a spatial management tool.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Placing marine protected areas onto the ecosystem-based management seascape

Halpern

Lester

McLeod

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

254

185

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The rapid increase in the science and implementation of marine protected areas (MPAs) around the world in the past 15 years is now being followed by similar increases in the science and application of marine ecosystem-based management (EBM). Despite important overlaps and some common goals, these two approaches have remained either separated in the literature and in conservation and management efforts or treated as if they are one and the same. In the cases when connections are acknowledged, there is often little assessment of if or how well MPAs can achieve specific EBM goals. Here we start by critically evaluating commonalities and differences between MPAs and EBM. Next, we use global analyses to show where and how much notake marine reserves can be expected to contribute to EBM goals, specifically by reducing the cumulative impacts of stressors on ocean ecosystems. These analyses revealed large stretches of coastal oceans where reserves can play a major role in reducing cumulative impacts and thus improving overall ocean condition, at the same time highlighting the limitations of marine reserves as a single tool to achieve comprehensive EBM. Ultimately, better synergies between these two burgeoning approaches provide opportunities to greatly benefit ocean health. Although few countries have yet to come close to meeting these goals (1), local and federal governments and conservation organizations around the world have already created or are in the process of creating hundreds of new MPAs. Interest in using MPAs as a conservation strategy is supported in part by a growing body of science showing the conservation benefits from no-take reserves (2, 3), and made more urgent by the increasing recognition of the dire condition of most of the world's oceans (4, 5). Despite the success of these efforts, it is also clear that MPAs are only part of the solution to protecting and restoring ocean health. MPAs cannot address all of the existing and emerging threats to marine systems, most notably landbased sources of pollution and threats from global climate change, nor can they achieve all management goals. MPAs typically support a single societal value-conservation-although they are also commonly established with the aim of benefiting fisheries. There is a growing range of objectives for ocean use and protection that extends beyond conservation and fisheries, and these different perspectives need to be included in management plans. In particular, we need to ensure that human well-being is part of our definition of ocean health if marine conservation is going to be effective in the long term.In response to the increasing diversity and intensity of ocean uses and associated impacts, and the recognition that we need to more carefully and explicitly include human dimensions in our efforts to understand and manage the oceans, there has been a recent push toward ecosystem-based management (EBM) (6-8).Emerging from this development are numerous variations on the EBM theme, including area-based management, ecosystem-based fisher...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Placing marine protected areas onto the ecosystem-based management seascape

Halpern

Lester

McLeod

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

254

185

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“…Ensuring the scientific quality of the knowledge underpinning ecosystem-based management is important (Levin et al 2009). It can be argued that some aspects of the plan work could benefit from a rigorous peer review inspired by scientific standards.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The method employed here is one of a case study, where secondary literature provides the greater context for this specific case; the global need for a shift towards integrated ocean management is well established in the literature (Curtin and Prellezo 2010;Levin et al 2009;Douvere 2008). Drawing on this, we address the development, implementation and revision of the Management plan for the Barents Sea, mostly based on government documents and our own experience and writing.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated Ocean Management as a Strategy to Meet Rapid Climate Change: The Norwegian Case

Hoel

Olsen

2012

AMBIO

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The prospects of rapid climate change and the potential existence of tipping points in marine ecosystems where nonlinear change may result from them being overstepped, raises the question of strategies for coping with ecosystem change. There is broad agreement that the combined forces of climate change, pollution and increasing economic activities necessitates more comprehensive approaches to oceans management, centering on the concept of ecosystem-based oceans management. This article addresses the Norwegian experience in introducing integrated, ecosystem-based oceans management, emphasizing how climate change, seen as a major long-term driver of change in ecosystems, is addressed in management plans. Understanding the direct effects of climate variability and change on ecosystems and indirect effects on human activities is essential for adaptive planning to be useful in the long-term management of the marine environment.

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“…The shift toward EBM has also given rise to a number of qualitative and semiquantitative models that are designed to incorporate complexity and institutional cooperation into decision making (Levin et al, 2009). An example useful to the realm of ecosystem-based management is fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM; Axelrod, 1976), a framework that has been used to identify critical links between components of aquatic ecosystems using a visual stakeholder-driven approach (Gray et al, 2012;Hobbs et al, 2002;Kontogianni et al, 2012;Meliadou et al, 2012;Özesmi andÖzesmi, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative vs. Semiquantitative Ecosystem Models: Comparing Alternate Representations of an Estuarine Ecosystem

Vasslides

Jensen

2017

Journal of Coastal Research

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Integrated Ecosystem Assessments: Developing the Scientific Basis for Ecosystem-Based Management of the Ocean

Abstract: Integrated ecosystem assessments challenge the broader scientific community to move beyond the important task of tallying insults to marine ecosystems to developing quantitative tools that can support the decisions national and regional resource managers must make.

Cited by 566 publications

References 39 publications

Placing marine protected areas onto the ecosystem-based management seascape

Placing marine protected areas onto the ecosystem-based management seascape

Integrated Ocean Management as a Strategy to Meet Rapid Climate Change: The Norwegian Case

Quantitative vs. Semiquantitative Ecosystem Models: Comparing Alternate Representations of an Estuarine Ecosystem

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