Learning from Ecosystem-Based Management in Practice

The business case for ecosystem-based management

The Road Ahead

The way forward with ecosystem-based management in tropical contexts: Reconciling with existing management systems

The many faces of ecosystem-based management: Making the process work today in real places

This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of the Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) model in developing the maritime paradigm in Sabah, in line with the national blue economy objectives that emphasize the sustainability of marine resources. Sabah, rich in marine natural resources, offers great potential in sectors such as fisheries, marine tourism, marine biotechnology, and marine energy. The main research question is how applicable the EBM model is in Sabah for strengthening marine resource management, improving synergy among various stakeholders, and driving the sustainable development of the maritime sector. The objectives of the study are to explore the potential of EBM in the context of Sabah's maritime sector, identify the challenges faced, and propose strategic steps to overcome these challenges. The study adopts a qualitative approach based on literature analysis and case studies from countries that have successfully applied the EBM model in managing their marine resources. The findings indicate that while the EBM model has significant potential in enhancing the sustainability of marine ecosystems, several challenges such as institutional capacity limitations, conflicts between stakeholders, and a lack of coordination between the public and private sectors need to be addressed for its effectiveness. This study suggests strengthening more holistic policies and regulations, enhancing cooperation between the government, private sector, local communities, and NGOs, as well as investing in technology and research to support effective EBM implementation. Overall, the study provides guidance for developing a more sustainable maritime paradigm in Sabah through the broader application of the EBM model. The way forward recommends a more inclusive approach that focuses on ecosystem conservation, while still encouraging high-quality and competitive economic development.

Adaptive governance can be conceptualized as distinct phases of: 1) understanding environmental change; 2) using this understanding to inform decision making; and 3) acting on decisions in a manner that sustains resilience of desirable system states. Using this analytical framework, we explore governance in practice in two case studies in Kenya, that reflect the messiness of contemporary coastal governance in many developing country contexts. Findings suggest that adaptive marine governance is unlikely to be a smooth process of learning, knowledge sharing, and responding. There are institutional, sociocultural, and political factors, past and present, that influence each phase of both local and state decision making. New local institutions related to fisher associations and Beach Management Units influence learning and knowledge sharing in ways contrary to those expected of institutions that enable collaborative fisheries management. Similarly, state decision making is relatively uninformed by the diverse knowledge systems available in the coastal zone, despite the rhetoric of participation. Historical relations and modes of working continue to play a significant role in mediating the potential for adaptive governance in the future. The case studies are illustrative and point to a number of institutional and political issues that would need to be addressed in processes of governance reform towards more adaptive management in developing country contexts.

Ecosystem-based management (EBM) has emerged as a promising approach for maintaining the benefits humans want and need from the ocean, yet concrete approaches for implementing EBM remain scarce. A key challenge lies in the development of indicators that can provide useful information on ecosystem status and trends, and assess progress towards management goals. In this paper, we describe a generalized framework for the methodical and transparent selection of ecosystem indicators. We apply the framework to the second largest estuary in the United States – Puget Sound, Washington – where one of the most advanced EBM processes is currently underway. Rather than introduce a new method, this paper integrates a variety of familiar approaches into one step-by-step approach that will lead to more consistent and reliable reporting on ecosystem condition. Importantly, we demonstrate how a framework linking indicators to policy goals, as well as a clearly defined indicator evaluation and scoring process, can result in a portfolio of useful and complementary indicators based on the needs of different users (e.g., policy makers and scientists). Although the set of indicators described in this paper is specific to marine species and food webs, we provide a general approach that could be applied to any set of management objectives or ecological system.

Key species and impact of fishery through food web analysis: A case study from Baja California Sur, Mexico

The United States has a new national ocean policy that adopts ecosystem-based management (EBM) as its first principle for managing U.S. ocean spaces and marine resources. However, U.S. laws that govern the uses of ocean spaces present a challenging tangle of authorities and mandates that do not easily facilitate ecosystem-based policies. For over 30 years, U.S. marine fisheries management has been guided by eight Regional Fishery Management Councils. Working under the many laws that guide setting stewardship priorities for ocean ecosystems, councils provide the Federal Government with advice on fisheries harvest levels, fish habitat protections, and fishing community needs. Implementing EBM for any ocean ecosystem requires a careful examination of the laws and policy processes that affect human interaction with that ecosystem. This article explores the U.S. perspective on federal ecosystem-based fisheries management, its part in U.S. national ocean policy, and how fishery management councils might position themselves as both EBM policymakers and policy takers for ocean resource management.

Management strategy evaluation (MSE) is a simulation approach that serves as a “light on the hill” (Smith, 1994) to test options for marine management, monitoring, and assessment against simulated ecosystem and fishery dynamics, including uncertainty in ecological and fishery processes and observations. MSE has become a key method to evaluate trade-offs between management objectives and to communicate with decision makers. Here we describe how and why MSE is continuing to grow from a single species approach to one relevant to multi-species and ecosystem-based management. In particular, different ecosystem modeling approaches can fit within the MSE process to meet particular natural resource management needs. We present four case studies that illustrate how MSE is expanding to include ecosystem considerations and ecosystem models as ‘operating models’ (i.e., virtual test worlds), to simulate monitoring, assessment, and harvest control rules, and to evaluate tradeoffs via performance metrics. We highlight United States case studies related to fisheries regulations and climate, which support NOAA’s policy goals related to the Ecosystem Based Fishery Roadmap and Climate Science Strategy but vary in the complexity of population, ecosystem, and assessment representation. We emphasize methods, tool development, and lessons learned that are relevant beyond the United States, and the additional benefits relative to single-species MSE approaches.

Southern state colleges and universities' responses to African American applicants varied considerably from 1940 through 1963. Faced with qualified Black applicants backed by the NAACP, social movements, and federal authorities-some state and university officials admitted Black students with fairly little resistance, whereas others stonewalled, created new barriers, but eventually conceded. Arkansas was the first southern state to admit a Black student to a publicly funded state college, and South Carolina was last. What accounts for the sequence by which the eleven southern states admitted the first African Americans to state universities? This article provides an overview of the first Black entrants to southern state public colleges, analyzes the effects of United States Supreme Court rulings on higher education desegregation, and offers a provisional explanation for how state-level defenses to desegregation fell. The aim is to explain social and political factors that contributed to higher education desegregation in the 50s and 60s, thereby enabling individuals and organizations to formulate strategies to address present day inequities and injustices.To that end, this essay investigates the utility of V. O. Key's (1984) analytical framework in Southern Politics in State and Nation. Key posited that varying rates of Black population density within and across eleven Southern states affected local and regional political development in the mid-twentieth century. In Black Belt counties where African Americans lived and worked in higher numbers, White supremacist elites controlled political institutions to protect their economic and social interests at the state and national level (Key, 1984).Key's analysis showed that while race was part of the political debate, more importantly, the need to control labor in rural agricultural regions drove White elites to devise political strategies to resist federal intervention in southern state and local race-related policies. Elite Whites influenced national elections to ensure a unified bloc would veto Black civil rights legislation in the U.S. Congress. Key also noted that race was not a salient political factor in some areas of the southern states, particularly in cities, the highlands, and coastal areas, where the economy was not dependent on large-scale agriculture. Key noted that demographic and economic changes would eventually transform southern political culture.If Key is correct that the percentage of Black population determined the nature of political control in southern states, then one can estimate that states with the highest percentage of Blacks should offer massive resistance to desegregation because White political elites will influence education policy decisions. Questions raised in this essay are: In the realm of higher education desegregation, does Key's demographic theory explain state level variation in resistance to federal desegregation rulings? Did other social, political, and economic factors affect the timing and circumstances of desegregation in different states?The article begins with a brief history of southern Black education, a table outlining the first undergraduate or graduate Black applicant accepted into a southern public university in each southern state, a comparative analysis of state public universities' level of resistance to desegregation prior to and following the Brown v. Board Education (1954, 1955) rulings, and an examination of four case studies that represent all levels of state university resistance to desegregation. Not all of the first entrants remained at or graduated from these universities. In at least one case, the university accepted students on a segregated basis. This examination does not claim that higher education desegregation ended with the admittance of Black students as many institutions continued to find ways to exclude Black graduate and undergraduate students. The intent is to understand some of the social and political factors that impacted the initial puncture in southern public university desegregation. …

Confronting challenges to integrating Pacific salmon into ecosystem-based management policies

Effective management of ocean resources is crucial for achieving desired ecological, economic, and social outcomes. Marine ecosystem-based management (EBM) offers a comprehensive approach to achieve these goals, yet its implementation has been challenging and its effectiveness has been unclear. Therefore, we need performance measures to assess the effectiveness of EBM strategies. We developed a semi-quantitative assessment framework using existing indicators and performance measures from the business and project management world (e.g. Key Performance Indicators; KPIs), national and regional economic and social wellbeing performance measures (e.g. GDP, food security), and ecosystem status assessments (e.g. overfishing, biodiversity) to evaluate the success and performance of EBM outcomes. The framework consists of four main categories: (1) sector performance; (2) marine ecosystem status; (3) management and tradeoffs; and (4) human dimensions, each flexible enough to accommodate suitable indicators and reference points. We show how the framework responds to real case studies from Southern New England, the Gulf of Maine, and the Hawaiian Islands, USA; the Baltic Sea; and the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia. The main observation from these performance measures is that higher scores in the management and tradeoffs consideration correlate with higher scores in the marine ecosystem status. Additionally, higher human dimensions scores tend to lead to higher sectoral performance scores. Although it is not certain that one leads to the other, this suggests that EBM is functioning as intended. The framework results show that there are many possible indicators, performance targets, and associated desired directionalities that can be combined to form possible performance measures across combined ocean-use sectors to inform EBM. The challenge lies in using these different operational indicators to assess the strengths and weaknesses of EBM approaches.

Rapid prioritization of marine ecosystem services and ecosystem indicators

Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) has emerged as a comprehensive approach to marine resource management, focusing on maintaining ecological health and resource sustainability while addressing critical human health issues, such as stunting. This qualitative research aims to explore the current outcomes of EBM strategies in terms of ecological health, resource sustainability, and their impact on reducing stunting in vulnerable communities. Through a review of existing literature and case studies, the research identifies key successes, such as improved species diversity, habitat conditions, and fish stock levels. However, significant challenges impede the full realization of EBM’s potential, including scientific data gaps, regulatory fragmentation, economic constraints, and social resistance. The study proposes strategies to overcome these barriers, emphasizing the need for enhanced scientific understanding, strengthened governance, stakeholder collaboration, sustainable financing, and capacity building. The findings suggest that effectively implemented EBM strategies can not only sustain marine ecosystems but also contribute to reducing stunting by securing a reliable and nutritious food supply. The research concludes that a concerted effort across multiple sectors is essential for realizing the full benefits of EBM.