The Skimmer on Marine Ecosystems and Management
Letter to the Editor: On the Need for Integrated Management
Dear MEAM: I strongly agree with all the comments in your April-May 2011 issue on the need for integration in management of marine (and terrestrial) ecosystems. I note that this recognition was at the heart of IUCN's Guidelines for Marine Protected Areas and A Global Representative System of Marine Protected…
Notes & News: US ocean policy – Upstream problems – MSP economic effect – Tools for MSP – New research center – Communication guidebook – MSP advice – EBM in Caribbean – IUCN newsletter
US releases draft action plans for addressing national ocean policy objectives The US national ocean policy prioritizes nine objectives to address challenges that face the country's coastal and marine resources. The federal interagency National Ocean Council is overseeing development of strategic action plans for each of the nine objectives. As…
EBM Toolbox: Using Toolkits for EBM
Editor’s note: The goal of The EBM Toolbox is to promote awareness of tools for facilitating EBM processes. It is brought to you by the EBM Tools Network, a voluntary alliance of tool users, developers, and training providers. By Sarah Carr An EBM toolkit is a set of interoperating tools…
Integrated Management: What Does It Look Like in Practice?
In Western-style resource management, specific human activities are usually managed by dedicated agencies. Fisheries, for example, are managed by fisheries agencies. Offshore petroleum is regulated by energy or minerals agencies. Shipping is overseen by transportation agencies, and so forth. Each pairing of agency and industry sector operates in its own…
Tundi’s Take: Integration – How Can Something So Simple Be So Confounding?
By Tundi Agardy, MEAM Contributing Editor (tundiagardy@earthlink.net) Integration is the cornerstone of EBM. The lack of it is why sectoral management typically fails to stem ecosystem decline – which, in turn, is why most everyone agrees that integration is necessary. But what, exactly, needs to be integrated in order to…
EBM Perspective: How Far Have We Progressed in 30 Years?
Editor’s note: Joe Uravitch served as director of the US National Marine Protected Areas Center from 2000 to 2011. Now retired, he works part-time as a consultant on coastal and marine resource management issues. By Joseph A. Uravitch In 1978 I started work at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric…
EBM Perspective: Marine Spatial Planning in the Arctic
Editor’s note: Charles Ehler, president of Ocean Visions (Paris, France), served as marine spatial planning consultant to the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Arctic Climate Change and was co-author of UNESCO’s guide to marine spatial planning, published in 2009 (www.unesco-ioc-marinesp.be/publications). In January 2011, the Aspen Institute released The Shared Future, the…
Science Spotlight: What Are Stable Isotopes, and How Can They Inform Marine EBM?
On 10 May, Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is hosting a symposium on how knowledge about food webs can be best integrated into marine EBM. Specifically the symposium is focusing on the movement of stable isotopes through food webs (www.csiro.au/org/Stable-Isotope-Symposium.html). What are "stable isotopes"? For insights MEAM…
Notes & News: European MSP – MPA governance – UK regional marine planning
Online consultation on MSP and integrated coastal zone management in Europe The European Commission is gathering stakeholder feedback on the status and future of maritime spatial planning and integrated coastal zone management in Europe, including where EU action on these subjects would be most useful. The information, collected via online…
EBM Toolbox: New EBM Tools Database Released
Editor’s note: The goal of The EBM Toolbox is to promote awareness of tools for facilitating EBM processes. It is brought to you by the EBM Tools Network, a voluntary alliance of tool users, developers, and training providers. By Sarah Carr The EBM Tools Network is very pleased to announce…