Sustaining the World's Large Marine Ecosystems

and metrics used to determine the changing states of LMEs and support actions
for the recovery, sustainability, and management of marine resources and their
habitats.
16
Management
Evaluation
Response:
Adjust Target
Exploitation
Forecasts &
Risk Assessments
Driver:
Climate Change
Identify major
human and natural
factors affecting
Ecosystem.
Define scale
Evaluate ecological,
social & economic impacts
of management
options
DPSIR In Practice
Adaptive
management
Impact:
Lower Fishery
Production Potential
Pressure:
Stronger Stratification
Organize relevant
data. Select key
Indicators of
Ecosystem status
Link ecosystem
status indicators
to drivers
& pressures
Ecosystem
Indicators
State:
Lower 1 o Production
Ecological
Models
Figure 3. The Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model of indicators in relation to
climate warming of the North Sea LME. Courtesy of Michael Fogarty, NMFS.
Figure 4. LME modules as suites of ecosystem indicators (Sherman et al. 2005)
1) Productivity Module Indicators
Primary productivity can be related to the carrying capacity of an ecosystem for
supporting fish resources (Pauly and Christensen 1995). It has been reported
that the maximum global level of primary productivity for supporting the average
annual world catch of fisheries has been reached and that further large-scale
increases in biomass yields from marine ecosystems are likely to be at trophic