Dynamic Changes in Marine Ecosystems Fishing, Food Webs, and Future Options (2006) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
4 Informing the Debate: Examining Options for Management and Stewardship
4 Informing the Debate: Examining Options for Management and Stewardship
Pages 77-92
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 77... ...
to mean developing ecosystem-level goals that are multispecies focused and that consider multiple kinds of human activities that are tied to healthy marine ecosystems. This means that both consumptive and nonconsumptive uses are weighed when deciding management actions and regulations for the oceans and coasts as a whole.
|
From page 78... ...
Thus, the role of the annual stock assessment is largely limited to informing tactical decisions, such as the choice of an annual catch quota, instead of being concerned with evaluating the consequences of different strategic policy choices for the ecosystem and for all different stakeholders. Ecosystem considerations are discussed in regular stock assessments, and environmental impact statements are required for major fishery management actions, but in general these actions do not involve a comprehensive evaluation of management strategies and there is no legal requirement to account for these ecosystem interactions.
|
From page 79... ...
The results of the policy evaluation can be summarized in the form of a decision table that provides the outcomes of different candidate policies across a range of model scenarios. Some policies tend to be more robust to the uncertainties than others, but ultimately some fundamental tradeoffs between conflicting management objectives need to be made.
|
From page 80... ...
. Using Ecosystem Models for Policy Screening The strength of single-species policy analysis is its strong reliance on past data to develop the model scenarios.
|
From page 81... ...
In most applications, at least a few species are also simulated with much more elaborate "multi-stanza" accounting for size-age structure over time. EwE software is a widely used tool for the quantitative analysis of food webs and ecosystem dynamics (e.g., Pauly et al.
|
From page 82... ...
Building ecosystem models to design harvesting policies requires the cooperation of many specialists and the integration of information from many sources. This may best be achieved by a series of workshops that bring together people with different
|
From page 83... ...
Also, the range of likely impacts of stock rebuilding on other ecosystem components may need to be examined. For example, rebuilding for top predators may have negative consequences for their prey (e.g., the cod-lobster example discussed in the previous chapter)
|
From page 84... ...
For centuries, humans have viewed the natural environment as a source of material resources and services as well as a source of spiritual, cultural, and aesthetic experiences. Marine ecosystems generate a diverse set of goods and services: these must be evaluated based upon consumptive uses, nonconsumptive uses, and public-good "existence" values (see below)
|
From page 85... ...
Public policy pertaining to fisheries resources in the United States is conducted within a setting circumscribed by law. Fisheries law and other applicable environmental laws reflect ongoing and changing assertions of interest between various claimants of coastal ecosystem services.
|
From page 86... ...
What terrestrial conservation biologists find to be true -- that they manage not so much the organisms, but human behavior -- holds true for the marine environment as well. To produce truly com
|
From page 87... ...
environmental philosophy such as Pinchot, Muir, and Leopold expressed some regard for marine environments in their resource management writings, but their focus, conscious or unconscious, was on terrestrial environments. Indeed Leopold (1949, p.
|
From page 88... ...
As a consequence, an opportunity opens for a widerranging discussion of the multiple ethical values which are underpinning the duties of stewardship that humans owe the marine environment. Changing one's scale in time, as well as space, also can modify the perception of what best advances self-interest.
|
From page 89... ...
Including consideration of future generations in current policy decisions does not mean we try to forecast their preferences. But we can scientifically assess the fragility of marine ecosystems, and we do have the technology to alter them irreversibly.
|
From page 90... ...
However, within an ecosystem context, tradeoffs between conflicting management objectives need to be made explicitly by evaluating policy consequences in terms of different measures of performance that reflect policy impacts on various ecosystem components and uses, including consumptive and nonconsumptive uses. Owing to their inherent complexity and associated uncertainties, ecosystem models are unlikely to provide numerical tactical advice on fisheries regulations.
|
From page 91... ...
Scenario analyses and the corresponding management actions are best applied in an iterative and adaptive process. As management is applied and knowledge about marine ecosystems increases, some scenarios will be seen to be less plausible while other new scenarios may emerge.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.