Bowhead whales. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries. Funded by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Alaska pollock supports the nation’s largest fishery. Photo: NOAA Fisheries.
Human activities, such as development, are a primary cause for coastal wetland loss. Studies have found that this loss is substantial—about seven football fields per hour! Wetlands filter waters that drain into the ocean, reduce the damaging effects of hurricanes and storms on our coastal communities, help our shorelines adapt to climate change, and play an important role in the productivity of commercial and recreational fisheries.
We work to maintain ecosystems in a healthy, productive, and resilient condition so they can provide the services humans want and need. Fishery managers and scientists frequently reference three levels of ecosystem management in relation to marine fisheries: ecosystem based management, ecosystem based fisheries management, and ecosystem approach to fisheries management.
Phytoplankton are the foundation of the marine food web. They feed lots of other marine life, from microscopic organisms to huge whales. By studying the more than 5,000 species of phytoplankton, we are able to evaluate ecosystem health and learn about any changes in these ecosystems.
The physical boundaries of regional ecosystems are based on four ecological criteria: bathymetry, hydrography, productivity, and trophic relationships. Based on these criteria, there are eight distinct regional ecosystems around the coastal margins of United States.
We are working to adopt an ecosystem-based approach for managing sustainable fisheries. Fishing is only one variable that affects a species' population. Interactions with other species, environmental changes, pollution, and other stresses on habitat and water quality can affect fish populations. To more effectively assess the health of any given fishery and to determine the best way to maintain it, fishery managers should take ecosystem considerations into account.
We use integrated ecosystem assessments as a science-based decision-support process that provides the analytical framework to implement ecosystem-based approaches to manage our marine resources, including fisheries and protected resources. Integrated ecosystem assessments synthesize data on physical, chemical, ecological, and human processes within ecosystems to provide the sound interdisciplinary ecosystem-based science, trade-off evaluation, and management advice required to ensure our nation’s marine resources are sustainable and deliver a broad spectrum of benefits and services.
Ecosystem-based fisheries management is a holistic approach that recognizes all the interactions within an ecosystem rather than considering a single species or issue in isolation.
