The UC Davis Wildlife Health Center's Marine Ecosystem Health Program: A University-Government-Private Sector Partnership to Enhance Marine Stewardship

摘要

The mission of the Marine Ecosystem Health Program (MEHP) is to ensure the health of marine wildlife and their ecosystems through science and education. Coastal waters are heavily impacted by extensive resource extraction, intensive shoreline development, commercial and recreational vessel traffic, terrestrial run-off and point-source pollution, and alteration of freshwater inputs. The pervasive nature of human existence and urban development leads to declines in the abundance of marine wildlife and severe degradation of the quality of shoreline and underwater habitat. Management of coastal marine waters are complicated by transboundary, interstate, and regional politics, socioeconomic interests and disparities, and varying infrastructures for natural resource management and conservation. Scientific information on the decay of coastal marine ecosystems and solutions for reversing it are essential. Furthermore, sound scientific information and options for solutions must be transmitted to the natural resource agencies, non-profit organizations and policymakers who are actively engaged in managing, protecting and restoring coastal waters. Many coastal regions lack an organizational framework by which principal stakeholders in the region -- resource managers, policymakers, non-profit conservation organizations, resource utilizers, and citizens — can come together and ensure that scientific information is being collected and applied to improve the health of marine wildlife and their ecosystems.