The Skimmer on Marine Ecosystems and Management
Mismatches between the scale of ecosystems and the scale of management: How practitioners are addressing this challenge
Marine ecosystem processes, as well as the various natural and human factors that influence those ecosystems, often operate at regional and global scales. Marine larvae can travel hundreds of kilometers before settling. Some adult marine organisms travel across oceans, as do some fishers. Polluted runoff into oceans can come from…
Tundi’s Take: Are we too preoccupied with scale?
By Tundi Agardy, MEAM Contributing Editor
Mismatch of scale is the thorn in the side of marine managers. Can we do what we need to do to achieve EBM at the scale required? Or will we always fall short?
Perspective: Navigating long time horizons and uncertainty in planning
By Jennie Hoffman
I have heard it argued that many planning horizons are too short to effectively incorporate climate change. How can a five-year recovery plan, for example, deal with changes that aren't expected to manifest for 30 or 50 years – particularly when there is uncertainty about exactly when and how those changes will play out?
Notes & News: Belgium – England – EU – Ecosystem services – Blue carbon – Ocean acidification – Map of European MSP – Using film to inspire management action
Belgium approves updated marine spatial plan On 20 March, Belgium approved a new maritime spatial plan for the Belgian part of the North Sea, a significant update of the country's 2003 master plan for its marine area. In contrast to the 2003 plan, which presented a zoning approach largely based…
Managing for resilient ecosystems: Faced with limited budgets, should we protect the healthiest or restore the degraded?
When we say an ecosystem is resilient, we mean it is relatively able to resist change or recover from impacts – particularly the negative impacts caused by climate change. In the marine and coastal realms, such climate change-related impacts can include higher water temperatures and sea levels, lower ocean pH,…
Tundi’s Take: Can we ever hope to manage for resilience?
By Tundi Agardy, Contributing Editor, MEAM. Email: tundiagardy@earthlink.net In an ever-changing world, with a burgeoning human population and growing demands for goods and services, who could argue against maximizing the resilience of the natural systems on which we depend? The real question is whether we can. Managing for resilience is…
Letter to the Editor: Marine conservation and sustainable food production are not on a collision course
Dear MEAM: This letter is in response to Jake Rice's letter to the editor (MEAM 7:1) and the torrent of replies (MEAM 7:2; 7:3). The themes that have emerged, though valid (e.g., fisheries management is complicated, without silver bullets), appear to be missing the central point. Marine conservation and food…
Notes & News: Global Ocean Commission – Marine conservation movement – MSP survey – Climate change impacts – Marine planning – Coral Triangle EBM
Global Ocean Commission produces ten position papers, solicits feedback By mid-2014, the Global Ocean Commission will make a series of recommendations for restoring the ocean to ecological health and sustainable productivity. The high seas are the primary focus of the Commission's work, and the Commission has produced position papers in…
MSP in theory vs. reality: Preliminary governance findings of MESMA project
In January 2014, an EU-funded study on the governance of marine spatial management in Europe was released. Undertaken as part of the Monitoring and Evaluation of Spatially Managed Marine Areas project (MESMA; www.mesma.org), the study suggests that, for the 13 cases that MESMA examined, MSP in practice is very different…
Film sequel Ocean Frontiers II continues work to inspire action on marine spatial planning
Green Fire Productions’ Ocean Frontiers film series (http://ocean-frontiers.org) presents stories of ocean stakeholders working together to benefit marine ecosystems and economies, namely through marine spatial planning. The second film in the series, Ocean Frontiers II: A New England Story for Sustaining the Sea, released in September 2013, features insights on…