Ecosystem-based management (EBM) is an integrated approach to management that focuses on connections -- connections among the many ways we use, value, and benefit from the ocean. Working with natural and social scientists, COMPASS has been instrumental in developing and synthesizing the scientific underpinnings of EBM (particularly ecosystem services) and connecting that science to policy and practice. As policy discussions increasingly focus on marine spatial planning (MSP) as a key means to implement EBM, COMPASS' role is to inform the dialogue with the latest science.  

Ongoing Work

New measures of ocean health

Our Director of Science, Karen McLeod, is the lead PI on an NCEAS working group that is developing new comprehensive measures of ocean health. The working group is collaborating with the Ocean Health Index, a project founded by Conservation International, National Geographic, and the New England Aquarium to develop a set of indicators that describe ocean health for the California Current, Mid-Atlantic Bight, Fiji, and the entire globe.

US National Ocean Policy

In July 2010, President Obama signed an Executive Order to adopt the first-ever comprehensive National Ocean Policy for the United States. It includes a set of overarching guiding principles for management decisions and actions to achieve the vision of "an America whose stewardship ensures that the ocean, our coasts, anad the Great Lakes are healthy and resilient, safe and productive, and understood and treasured so as to promote the well-being, prosperity, and security of present and future generations." EBM and CMSP are 2 of the 9 national priority objectives. COMPASS facilitated the submission of public comments related to ecosystem services, EBM, and CMSP in March 2011.

Previous Events

AAAS Session - Beyond lines on maps: Marine spatial planning for a dynamic world (Feb 2011)

Marine spatial planning is coming: What can science do for you? (Sept 2010)

Legal standards for marine ecosystem-based management: California and beyond (Mar 2008)

California Current EBM Initiative: Advancing the science for EBM on the US West Coast (Jan 2008)

Products

Book: Ecosystem-based Management for the Oceans (2009)

Co-edited by our Director of Science, Karen McLeod, and Heather Leslie (Brown University), with a foreword by Jane Lubchenco (NOAA), this Island Press book features contributions from 46 leading scholars and practitioners who highlight the latest science, policy, and practice of EBM.

Ecosystem-based Management Consensus Statement (2005)

Marine Reserves Consensus Statement (2001)