Since we heard from the Pew Oceans Commission in 2003 and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy in 2004, it has been clear that ecosystem-based management (EBM) is the approach of choice for addressing the interconnected relationships among all ecosystem components—including humans—in the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes.
While coastal resource managers have clearly understood the direction in which we need to go, actually implementing EBM has not always been easy. Over the past several years, a number of successful EBM efforts have emerged that coastal managers can look to for lessons learned.
In this edition of Coastal Services, we look at efforts in New York that are effectively shifting the state from conventional segmented resource management to a system that focuses on the relationships between the environment, human activities, and the delivery of critical ecosystem services.
We also await the Ocean Policy Task Force’s final Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning, which will be a primary tool for collaboratively implementing EBM with federal, state, tribal, and local authorities; regional governance structures; and substantial stakeholder and public input.
The NOAA Coastal Services Center has been engaged in developing the nine priority objectives put forward by the Ocean Policy Task Force and is the NOAA lead for issues related to resilience and adaptation to climate change. Working with the task force is just one way in which the Center has been involved in coastal and marine spatial planning.
Other efforts include developing a website with NOAA partners featuring six real-world examples of ocean planning and management, resources, and information that relates to the principles of coastal and marine spatial planning. To view the examples, go to the “In Practice” page of NOAA’s Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning website—www.cmsp.noaa.gov.
Another article in this edition looks at how four Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant programs quickly responded to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill by putting up a regional oil spill Web portal.
The Center is supporting NOAA’s overall response to the BP spill by providing staff assistance and expertise in geographic information systems (GIS), assessing the economic impacts, and helping to facilitate the federal response.
-- Margaret A. Davidson
