United States
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Ecosystem-based fishery management (EBFM) is rapidly becoming the default approach in global fisheries management. The clarity of what EBFM means is sharpening each year and there is now a real need to evaluate progress and assess the effectiveness and impacts. By examining a suite of over 90 indicators (including socioeconomic, governance, environmental forcing, major pressures, systems ecology, and fisheries criteria) for 9 major US fishery ecosystem jurisdictions, the authors systematically track the progress the country has made towards advancing EBFM and making it an operational reality.
The assessment covers a wide range of data in both time (multiple decades) and space (from the tropics to the poles, representing over 10% of the world's ocean surface area). The authors view progress towards the implementation of EBFM as synonymous with improved management of living marine resources in general, and highlight the findings from a national perspective. Although US-centric, the lessons learned are directly applicable to all parts of the global ocean. Much work remains, but significant progress has already been made to better address many of the challenges facing the sustainable management of our living marine resources.
This is an essential and accessible reference for all fisheries professionals who are currently practising, or progressing towards, ecosystem-based fisheries management. It will also be of relevance and use to researchers, teachers, managers, and graduate students in marine ecology, fisheries biology, biological oceanography, global change biology, conservation biology, and marine resource management.
Foreword, Richard Merrick
Preface
Introduction
Methods and Data Sources
1. New England
2. Mid-Atlantic
3. South-Atlantic
4. Caribbean
5. Gulf of Mexico
6. Pacific
7. North Pacific
8. Western Pacific
9. International
10. Synthesis and Summary
11. So What?
Jason S. Link is Senior Scientist for Ecosystem Management with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), USA. In this role, he leads approaches and models to support the development of ecosystem-based management plans and activities throughout the agency, serving as the agency's senior-most authority on ecosystem science. Dr Link holds an adjunct faculty position at the School for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts, is a fellow of the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists, and has received a Department of Commerce Bronze Medal and the Fisheries Society of the British Isles Medal for significant advances in fisheries science.
Anthony R. Marshak is Program Analyst with CSS, Inc. in support of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), USA. Prior to this role, he worked as a Research Associate in the NMFS Office of Science and Technology where his duties included co-leading its habitat science program, organizing workshops and symposia, and collaborating with the NMFS Senior Scientist for Ecosystem Management. Dr Marshak has conducted research on a variety of topics including coral reef fisheries ecology, climate-related range shifts, the effects of marine protected areas, and socioecological studies related to ecosystem-based management.
"This book provides solid and practical support for ecosystem-based thinking applied to fisheries management in US aquatic ecosystems. It is highly recommended as a reference for a wide readership, especially fisheries and policy experts, to support the construction of more bridges between these worlds – that is essential for all of us."
– Conservation Biology
"Are we finally there? The writing has been on the wall for decades, EBFM is coming! But only now do Link and Marshak demonstrate that we actually can walk the walk, drawing eminently upon case studies to provide lessons for making EBFM operational. We have made progress, and Link and Marshak are at the forefront of the development as demonstrated through this book."
– Villy Christensen, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries University of British Columbia , Canada
"EBFM has been recognized as a necessary approach to balancing exploitation and ecosystem health for more than 20 years now. There is a lot written about its mixed implementation to date so having an objective assessment of true progress is refreshing and timely. The credentials of Marshak and Link lay considerable weight to the assessment, both have been major contributors bedding down and moving practical EBFM forward in America and more widely."
– Beth Fulton, Senior Principal Research Scientist, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia and Deputy Director, Centre for Marine Socioecology, UTAS Research Program Leader, Environment and Ecosystems, Blue Economy CRC, Australia
"EBFM is an essential step in ensuring that fisheries are managed in a way to maintain ecosystems ability to continue to contribute to human well-being. Understanding what has been done in US fisheries to move towards EBFM is an important step to refining how to implement EBFM, and there is no one better able to tell this than Link and Marshak."
– Ray Hilborn, Professor, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, USA
"Ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management are a keystone element to achieve the diverse goals that people have for ocean systems globally. In order to make progress in implementing ecosystem-based approaches, it is critical to evaluate the efforts to date, recognizing how social and environmental factors shape both the form and the outcomes of EBFM in different places around the world. Jason Link and Tony Marshak are at the frontier of this type of assessment."
– Heather Leslie, Director, Darling Marine Center and School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine, USA; co-author of Ecosystem-Based Management for the Oceans
