Toward ecosystem-based management for the oceans: A perspective for fisheries in the Bering Sea

Abstract

A large effort has advanced an ecosystem approach to fisheries management in Alaska and a framework has been developed to provide ecosystem-based information to support management decisions (Livingston, 2005). This framework uses status and trend data of ecosystem components and information on human effects to assess impacts of individual fisheries on ecosystem components, ecosystem effects on particular stocks, and ecosystem-level impacts of both fishing and climate stressors. Efforts are ongoing to develop associated ecosystem-level objectives, indicators and thresholds. The continuing challenge is to define regional management objectives at an operational level and use ecosystem indicators to measure progress towards achieving management goals. In addition to identifying management objectives for a region, we also need a better understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying ecosystem function and structure linking climate variability, oceanographic processes, and ecology/fisheries. Accounting for the emergent properties of ecosystems (Carpenter and Folke, 2006) and deriving measures that provide a balance between diversity, productivity, stability and resilience, (Steele, 2006) will be important parts of a framework for sustainable ecosystem approach to management. We review objectives of ecosystem approaches to management and ecosystem approaches to fisheries management from a variety of organizations. In addition, we review indicators in the Alaskan Ecosystem Considerations appendix in view of these objectives. Gaps in the existing indicator framework are outlined and future work to improve indicators is outlined.