Jason S. Link

Marine Ecosystem-Based Management provides a comprehensive exploration of ecosystem-based management (EBM), presenting it as an essential approach that integrates human activities with environmental processes. The book emphasizes the interconnected nature of these ecosystems, which cannot be managed effectively through traditional single-sector methods, and underscores how EBM addresses objectives from multiple sectors to balance ecosystem goods and services, including ecological, economic, and social needs for current and future generations. Authored by well-known champions of EBM, this volume integrates original research with a comprehensive review of decades of scientific work to systematically introduce the theory, modeling, applications, and policy behind this management approach. It conveys the what, why, and how of EBM in easily navigable chapters, making it accessible to broad academic and professional audiences spanning marine ecology, fisheries, oceanography, conservation biology, renewable energy, marine planning, coastal development, shipping, resource use management, and related professions operating in the ocean space. Marine Ecosystem-Based Management covers not only why EBM is necessary, but also how it can be applied. This book aims to contribute to the development and implementation of EBM, refute myths, and encourage action. It is an essential reference for graduate students, researchers, professors, resource managers, and decision-makers interested in all aspects of marine resource management.

Ecosystem-based fishery management (EBFM) is rapidly becoming the default approach in global fisheries management. The clarity of what EBFM means is sharpening each year and there is now a real need to evaluate progress and assess the effectiveness and impacts. By examining a suite of over 90 indicators (including socioeconomic, governance, environmental forcing, major pressures, systems ecology, and fisheries criteria) for 9 major US fishery ecosystem jurisdictions, the authors systematically track the progress the country has made towards advancing EBFM and making it an operational reality. The assessment covers a wide range of data in both time (multiple decades) and space (from the tropics to the poles, representing over 10% of the world's ocean surface area). The authors view progress towards the implementation of EBFM as synonymous with improved management of living marine resources in general, and highlight the findings from a national perspective. Although US-centric, the lessons learned are directly applicable for all parts of the global ocean. Much work remains, but significant progress has already been made to better address many of the challenges facing the sustainable management of our living marine resources. This is an essential and accessible reference for all fisheries professionals who are currently practicing, or progressing towards, ecosystem-based fisheries management. It will also be of relevance and use to researchers, teachers, managers, and graduate students in marine ecology, fisheries biology, biological oceanography, global change biology, conservation biology, and marine resource management.