THE GREAT LAKES

An extended view of integrity is that of a latent
feature of the complexity of nature that is only revealed
through interaction with observers or users. Just as in
baseball, where some pitches are balls and some are
strikes, ''they ain't nothing" until the umpire calls them.
In this sense, integrity cannot be thought of as an
intrinsic property of nature because it manifests itself
only through some process of human observation,
measurement, or manipulation. 22
More accurately then, integrity is a feature of the
interaction of nature with humans. All human attempts to
understand and intervene in nature are rooted in
abstractions or models. As such, they represent
simplifications of a reality external to each of us. This
rests on a desire to obtain an equivalent, but reduced,
representation of nature. Thus, for example, some aspects
are omitted, others aggregated, weak couplings are ignored,
and slowly changing features are treated as constant.
Features of complex systems such as integrity are
irreducible, and attempts to simplify thus lead to a loss
of aspects essential to the understanding of ecosystem
integrity. This has important implications for human
attempts to restore and maintain integrity of ecosystems.
Any attempt to protect ecosystem integrity should rest,
therefore, on the explicit recognition that it originates
from a two-way interaction of an ecosystem with a human
system of observers, managers, and users. 23
In this spirit, C.S. Holling has suggested that the
Great Lakes comprise three interacting subsystems:
1) the set of biological, physical, and chemical
interactions;
2) the institutions charged with management; and
3) the socioeconomic system that receives benefits and
bears burdens of management.
Mismatches in the time and space dynamics of processes
central to each of these subsystems trigger surprises." By
surprises, Holling means unanticipated and unpredictable
restructuring of the essential character of any or all of
the three subsystems.
For example, development of a new salmonid fishery in
the Great Lakes, while having some immediate benefit, has
brought with it economic, ecological, and political