Those involved or interested in marine resource use and management have undoubtedly come across the term ecosystem-based management (EBM). More than likely they have also encountered suggestions that EBM is not well defined, understood or implemented. Karen McLeod and Heather Leslie address these criticisms by editing this comprehensive book. It is in five sections, successfully taking the reader from the conceptual stages of EBM through to practical applications and implementation. Consisting of 19 chapters, the book includes contributions by over 40 marine scientists, managers and conservationists. Ecosystem-Based Management for the Oceans is a concise resource for those working in marine conservation and management. The book summarizes scientific support for EBM, and discusses legal and political issues pertinent to practising EBM.
Setting the Stage, the book’s first section, introduces the reader to why EBM is becoming a prevalent theme in management of the oceans. A background chapter explores the state of the world’s natural resources and concludes that we should promote an alternative management regime if we wish to benefit from our natural resources in the future. EBM, although hot as an ecological buzz-word, has been slow to influence how marine management is actually practised. The incentives and disincentives facing managers as they progress toward a more ecosystem-based management paradigm are explored in chapter 2. The challenges to EBM, such as complete restructuring of institutional procedures if the goals of EBM are to be met, are addressed.
The second section of the book reviews the concepts behind EBM, which is a holistic approach to management where all components of an ecosystem are evaluated together and trade-offs in management are explicit. This is a large deviation from the traditional single-species or single-sector management approach that has been the status quo in marine systems. One chapter in this section, Valuing Ecosystem Services, addresses a challenging aspect of practising EBM: how to integrate ecological processes and services with economic valuation. Several approaches to natural resource valuation are reviewed but the reader is reminded that ‘economic analysis of ecosystem services has a long way to go’ to effectively support EBM practices.
The third section addresses how to transition from the concepts discussed in the earlier sections to actually practising EBM. This group of chapters focuses on how to apply the principles of EBM. Valuation challenges are addressed again, with Edward Barbier discussing the difficulties in assessing trade-offs in ecosystem services throughout chapter 8. A chapter on integrating traditional ecological knowledge is a welcome departure from the quantitative methods and applications in most of the contributions. While quantitative modelling plays an important role in management, incorporation of qualitative data, such as the inclusion of traditional ecological knowledge, is also important to EBM. Issues raised in earlier chapters are addressed in chapter 10, which focuses on building the necessary legal and institutional frameworks. Current US governance structures that support EBM are reviewed, including the Magnuson-Stevens Act, but the authors point out that the current system is resistant to change. One of their suggestions to improve EBM practice in the USA is to link governance scales better to allow for overlapping institutions and shared authority.
The book’s fourth section is dedicated to chapters reviewing EBM in practice. These case studies include: Morro Bay, California; Puget Sound, Washington; Chesapeake Bay, Maryland; Gulf of California, Mexico; and Eastern Scotian Shelf, Canada. Chapter 16 is a nice summary of how EBM is being implemented by different governments.
Two summary chapters in the fifth section address how to move forward. A philosophical piece asks readers to question the moral and ethical viewpoints that have lead to our current ecological crisis. The authors suggest what a future ocean ethic, one that better supports EBM, could look like. In a reciprocal fashion, they also suggest that EBM may help us discover this new ethic, such that EBM is both a means and an end. McLeod and Leslie synthesize the book in chapter 19, reminding the reader that, although achieving EBM may appear to be a daunting goal, there are several paths one can take. If EBM should, in fact, be a global goal, it can be implemented in various manners across the marine environment.
Although comprehensive in most regards the major limitation of this book is its lack of relevance to developing countries. Almost every chapter relates to studies and resource management issues directly relevant to developed countries, and especially the USA. However, EBM may be even more important in developing countries, where populations are often critically dependent on their natural resources.
The contributors and editors have done a good job integrating and synthesizing the chapters. Many chapters reference other contributions in the book. Overall, this book is a valuable resource for managers, scientists, and conservationists. It addresses everything from conceptualizing and planning EBM to implementation and evaluation.
