The Skimmer on Marine Ecosystems and Management
EBM, the Namibian Way
By Tundi Agardy (tundiagardy@earthlink.net), Contributing Editor, MEAM Where are some of the most exciting new efforts in EBM being practiced? My answer may surprise you. Namibia. It is a country that has not trumpeted a claim of doing EBM, but seems well on the way to comprehensive and integrative management….
Perspective: Marine Protected Areas, EBM, and Governance of Small-Scale Fisheries in Indonesia
Editor's note: Peter Mous and Jos Pet of People & Nature Consulting International have worked in Indonesia since 1995 with NGOs, foundations, and government agencies on fishery management and MPA development. By Peter J. Mous (pjmous@pnc-int.com) and Jos S. Pet (jspet@pnc-int.com) Coral reefs in Indonesia, an important service-production system, are…
EBM Bookshelf: New Publications on Marine EBM
Marine Spatial Planning: A Step-by-Step Approach toward Ecosystem-based Management By Charles Ehler and Fanny Douvere. 2009, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and Man and the Biosphere Programme, 99 pages. Free at www.unesco-ioc-marinesp.be/msp_guide Taking a practitioner-oriented approach to its subject, this publication breaks down the process of marine spatial planning (MSP) into 10…
The EBM Toolbox: EBM Tools for Marine Spatial Planning
By Sarah Carr Marine spatial planning (MSP) can help deal with emerging and existing conflicts for ocean space. Many steps in an MSP process require or are facilitated by the use of software tools or other well-defined, spatially-explicit methodologies. For example: Management Identifying the Needs of Ocean Ecosystems (MINOE) (http://minoe.stanford.edu;…
Notes & News: U.S. – Massachusetts – Tropical marine EBM – LMEs – Arctic marine EBM
Obama launches task force on marine planning On 12 June, U.S. President Barack Obama established a task force to help create a national policy for the country's marine waters. The task force is to provide recommendations for the policy and its implementation by mid-September, as well as develop a framework…
Poll: Should Conservation Be Considered a “Use” of the Marine Environment?
This past May at the International Marine Conservation Congress in Washington, D.C., there was a symposium on the progression of ocean management – from centuries of unregulated exploitation to today's increasingly ecosystem-based policies and use restrictions. Amid this discussion, a debate arose over conservation. That is, what role should conservation…
The Role of Marine Protected Areas in EBM: Often Necessary, but Rarely Sufficient by Themselves
Marine protected areas (MPAs) can play an important role in promoting EBM in coastal seas, across ocean basins, and within large marine ecosystems. In working examples of EBM from around the world, the regulatory regimes that are able to move management from a single-species focus to a more holistic ecosystem…
Perspective: Having Somewhere to Grow Up: Ecosystem-Based Management of Fisheries for Ocean Recovery
By Katherine Short Manager, Marine Network Initiative Support, WWF International, Switzerland. E-mail: kshort@wwfint.org There is a simple logic that creatures need a safe environment to breed, feed, and grow up, and objective science can provide the evidence in support of this. Such "safety" is needed both from direct impacts (such…
Perspective: Ecosystem-Based Management and Marine Protected Areas: Coming Together in Working Seascapes
By Vera N. Agostini Scientist, Global Marine Initiative, The Nature Conservancy, Seattle, U.S. E-mail: vagostini@tnc.org A plethora of conservation tools are often invoked to address the escalating crisis in marine ecosystems. Each one comes with its own acronym, group of supporters promoting it, and suite of donor-designed benchmarks to assess…
Case Study: Thinking Outside the (MPA) Box on EBM: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
By Jon Day Director of Ecosystem Conservation and Sustainable Use, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville, Australia. E-mail: j.day@gbrmpa.gov.au Marine protected areas, especially large multiple-use areas like the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park on Australia’s east coast, provide many lessons for marine managers on how to implement ecosystem-based management….