Full report - Conservation Gateway

Chapter 14 - Next StepsDeveloping InteractiveDecision Support andAdvancing Data AnalysesThe data products created in this assessment can be used“off the shelf” to support individual project decisions,conservation plans, or more comprehensive marine spatialplanning efforts. Moreover, the Phase Two report includespreliminary identification of priority conservation areasselected in consideration of all of the areas identified inchapters 2-11 of this report, and additional details on specificnext steps for improving and using assessment dataproducts.One of the more important challenges for marine spatialplanning is to explicitly consider multiple managementobjectives (e.g., energy production, environmental conservation,fishery production, transportation). Considerationof explicit trade-offs among multiple objectives and examinationof alternative scenarios for meeting them arethe newest and most rapidly developing areas of marinespatial planning (Beck et al. 2009). Although our PhaseTwo report focuses on identifying high priority marineconservation areas, we recognize that decision makers willneed to consider trade-offs as they seek spatial managementsolutions that meet multiple objectives. We plan towork with partners to develop decision support systemsfor marine spatial planning - robust systems that enablediverse stakeholders and decision makers to visualize andexplore spatial data to create their own preferred marinearea management scenarios. We anticipate that these decisionsupport systems will include tools for comparingscenario alternatives with respect to their ability to meetspecific stakeholder group and management objectives,including marine biodiversity conservation.The frontier for marine spatial planning is in interactivedecision support systems which provide transparency andengage a diverse array of people in the planning process.Interactive systems can capture, share, and compare manypeople’s ideas about planning options, help people understandthe real world implications of different managementregimes and environmental conditions, and reveal tradeoffsbetween biodiversity impacts and potential economicgains associated with various management scenarios.Further development of the NAM ERA web mappingapplication with agency and stakeholder partners couldhelp provide a model for the next generation of interactivedecision systems needed to support effective marinespatial planning processes.Over the course of the project, we also identified additionaldata processing and analysis steps to increase theutility of the assessment for supporting marine spatialplanning. Analysis of trawl survey data to produce a newbenthic habitat model based on the distribution of fishcommunities is underway and a high priority for completion.This model will complement and enhance the ecologicalmarine unit and benthic habitat model presented inChapter 3. Another high priority focus is further analysisto produce higher resolution spatial data on priority conservationareas, and information on the sensitivity andresilience of those areas to specific human activities. Weanticipate working with partners to develop new mapsillustrating which human uses are most ecologicallycompatible with specific places, seasonally or year-round.These maps should also include information on theestimated cumulative ecological impacts of multiple usesover time.Taking Action to AchieveTangible, Lasting MarineConservation ResultsAround the Nation, states have been organizing themselvesinto regional ocean partnerships to identify sharedsolutions for shared ocean management challenges. Inthe Northwest Atlantic region the Northeast RegionalOcean Council (NROC) and the Mid-Atlantic RegionalCouncil on the ocean (MARCO) have emerged as newinstitutions that are now well positioned to implementcoastal and marine spatial planning (CMSP) pursuant tothe new national framework. Additionally, several states inthe region have CMSP initiatives that are well underway.Northwest Atlantic Marine Ecoregional Assessment • Phase 1 Report 14-