Sustaining the World's Large Marine Ecosystems

Paradigm Shift
The five module LME approach has provided an effective way forward in
developing countries for guiding scientists, managers and policy makers in
introducing ecosystem based management practices. While ecologists have long
studied the structure and function of marine ecosystems (Lubchenco 1994, Levin
and Lubchenco 2008), the applied and pragmatic LME approach is directed to
assessing and managing large ocean areas for recovering and sustaining marine
goods and services. Previous management approaches have often failed to look
beyond the individual sectors. Those with regulatory authority over one sector
often make decisions on that sector’s uses in isolation from the decisions
involving other sectors. Fish harvest decisions are often made on a species-byspecies
basis, without accounting for the numerous interactions such as
predator-prey or competitive relationships among the species.
Ecosystem-based management represents a paradigm shift away from a sector
by sector approach and requires a better overall understanding of marine
ecosystems and of the transboundary nature of water governance, fisheries,
climate change, and water pollution (Figure 4).
FROM
120
TO
Individual species Ecosystems
Small spatial scale Multiple scales
Short-term perspective Long-term perspective
Humans: independent of ecosystems Humans: integral part of ecosystems
Management divorced from research Adaptive management
Managing commodities Sustaining production potential for goods
and services
Figure 4. Ecosystem management requires a paradigm shift. From Jane Lubchenco, 1994.
Education and outreach activities supporting ecosystem-based management
within LMEs are focused on:
(1) Continued investment in sound science and data on LME (i) productivity; (ii)
fish and fisheries; (iii) pollution and ecosystem health; (iv) socioeconomics; and
(v) governance modules, with an emphasis on transboundary assessments for
sound decision-making.
(2) Improved understanding of the synergistic role of the five modules, and the
combined effects of natural variability and human activities driving habitat
destruction, degraded benthos, overfishing, ocean warming, increased