Ecosystem-based management has long been cited as a solution to the combination of human activities on land, along the coasts, and in the ocean that are affecting marine ecosystems. But implementing it is not always easy.
Knowing the characteristics that make up a successful ecosystem-based management effort can serve as a guide for coastal resource managers as they work to implement an ecosystem-based management process.
The cover story of this edition of Coastal Services looks at the findings of an Ohio researcher who set out to discover the key management characteristics that are important to success. His top-10 list of requirements should prove useful for managers in evaluating and improving existing projects and starting new initiatives.
In this edition, readers can find information on an experimental underwater retaining wall called a “sill,” recently constructed at a California estuary, that could be a model for coastal resource managers looking for ways to address impacts of sea level rise.
Our writers look at the role coastal managers in Massachusetts have in that state’s emergency management response efforts and the tool they have developed that enables trained users to document near-real‐time coastal storm damages.
Technology is also the focus of an article on a North Carolina research project that evaluated how anglers might use their personal cell phones to text information about their fishing trips, and what they caught, directly into a computer database.
For those looking for information on how social science tools and methods are being used to address the nation’s coastal issues, I would encourage you to attend the first Social Coast Forum, being held February 15 to 16, 2012, in Charleston, South Carolina.
Sponsored by the NOAA Coastal Services Center, this event will enable participants to get help using social science in tackling a coastal issue, share a social science success or failure, and learn about social science tools or job aids. For more information, go to www.csc.noaa.gov/socialcoastforum/.
I look forward to seeing you there!
-- Margaret A. Davidson
