A Perspective on Advancing Ecosystem Research for the Gulf of Maine

摘要

There have been significant advances in our understanding of the Gulf of Maine, and federal, provincial, and state jurisdictions in Canada and the United States have moved forward with ecosystem approaches to management. The international context foran ecosystem based approach has evolved, and there have been legislative changes in both the United States and Canada. There has also been an evolution of the public perspective with respect to the need for enhanced stewardship in the face of ecologicalchange. There is increasing awareness of the need for development of an integrated approach to the management of multiple human activities in relation to a more diverse set of objectives that include a higher standard of ecological integrity and diverseaspects of sustainability, in a changing environment.The priorities for implementation of an integrated or ecosystem approach appear to be (1) consensus in developing (and leadership in implementing) a common vision, (2) common treatment of all activities, (3) management of cumulative impacts of multiple overlapping activities, (4) an expanded set of objectives with higher standards of implementation, (5) an interdisciplinary approach, and (6) participatory governance. The resulting research priorities include (a) articulation of objectives and desired attributes/services (with relevant performance indicators), (b) decision-support methods, and (c) methods for evaluating cumulative impacts.