The Skimmer on Marine Ecosystems and Management
The EBM Toolbox: Tools for ocean zoning
Editor's note: The goal of The EBM Toolbox is to promote awareness of software tools for facilitating EBM processes, and to provide advice on using those tools effectively. It is brought to you by the EBM Tools Network (www.ebmtools.org), a voluntary alliance of leading tool users, developers, and training providers….
EBM Perspective: Ocean Zoning is Inevitable
Editor's note: Elliott Norse is president of Marine Conservation Biology Institute, a marine conservation NGO. By Elliott A. Norse Until the 1990s, scientists and policy-makers generally perceived the sea as the Earth's bountiful "last frontier", so few people could understand the need for zoning. But what was so recently inconceivable…
EBM Perspective: Correcting Misconceptions about Zoning – The Great Barrier Reef Example
Editor's note: Jon Day is director of conservation for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) in Australia. By Jon Day Most people associated with managing marine or coastal areas have heard of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Many also know that the GBR is an extremely large marine…
Case Study: Creating a Zoning Plan for Belgium’s North Sea, with Lessons from Land-Based Zoning
Belgium's relatively small ocean area, totaling 3600 km2, is under great pressure, being centrally located in one of the most heavily exploited marine areas in the world. The many uses of marine resources and space in this patch of the North Sea, the increasing user conflicts, and the emergence of…
The Status of Spatial Management in New Zealand?
When New Zealand began developing a national oceans policy a decade ago, marine policy-makers there and elsewhere anticipated the country might enact the world's first national-level comprehensive ocean plan in its attempt to achieve EBM. However, according to Cath Wallace, senior lecturer in economics and public policy at Victoria University…
Watershed Management: Putting EBM into Practice, Upstream from the Marine Environment
The effectiveness of watershed management has direct bearing on the scope and scale of challenges we face with marine EBM. Freshwater ecosystems that are degraded or poorly managed contribute in turn to degradation of marine ecosystems, including in the form of altered productivity and loss of ecosystem services. Freshwater systems…
The EBM Toolbox: Models for Watershed EBM
Editor's note: The goal of The EBM Toolbox is to promote awareness of software tools for facilitating EBM processes, and to provide advice on using those tools effectively. It is brought to you by the EBM Tools Network (www.ebmtools.org), a voluntary alliance of leading tool users, developers, and training providers….
Case Study: Watershed Management in the World’s Most International River
The Danube River Basin covers parts of 19 countries in Europe, making it the world's most international river basin. In size it is also noteworthy: with a total area of 801,463 km2, it is Europe's second largest river basin. The ecosystems of the Danube River Basin – and, by extension,…
Perspective: A Bird’s Eye View of the Chesapeake
Editor's note: The link between watershed management and marine EBM is no better exemplified than in the case of Chesapeake Bay, on the east coast of the US. Significant efforts to improve the health of the Chesapeake over several decades have focused largely on reducing upstream pollution. So far, however,…
Notes & News: Massachusetts – Collaborative management – Ocean governance
Massachusetts passes ocean law In May 2008, the US state of Massachusetts passed a law that lays the groundwork for a comprehensive plan to manage the state's coastal waters. Intended to balance natural resource preservation with traditional and new uses, the law is the US's first state-level management legislation covering…