Click here to go to survey report's home page | Next section >
Printer-friendly version of Executive Summary (PDF, 495 KB)
Many government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from the United States and Canada are collaborating to advance ecosystem-based management (EBM) in the Gulf of Maine region.
The Gulf of Maine is a semi-enclosed sea that is renowned as one of the world’s richest marine ecosystems. It is bordered by Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Because of the growing variety and intensity of human uses of the Gulf of Maine, effective management is imperative to support ecosystem integrity and economic prosperity in the region.
Seventy-six representatives from government and NGOs in the United States and Canada participated in a regional EBM workshop in March 2007. They identified 7 Action Items as the top priorities for advancing EBM in the region. One of the Action Items was the development of a Gulf of Maine EBM Toolkit.
Workshop participants recommended that the Toolkit initiative should make existing EBM tools more accessible; provide a targeted set of tools adapted to the region’s needs; develop new tools for this region; and respond to the evolving needs of coastal managers. After the workshop, a Work Group formed to pursue development of the Toolkit.
As an initial step in the Toolkit development process, the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment and the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea (COMPASS), in association with the EBM Tools Network, conducted an online survey of EBM practitioners in September and October 2007. The Gulf of Maine Ecosystem-Based Managment Toolkit Survey was designed to provide information about tools needed by EBM practitioners in the region.
See below or click here for a summary of key findings. See Appendix B for complete survey results. For a list of survey questions, click here.
Click here to enlarge the satellite image
Key findings
- Major obstacles to implementing EBM
- Lack of money, time, or people to do EBM
- Lack of established methods for implementing EBM
- Lack of understanding or information on the
ecosystem - Important management issues
- Coastal habitats assessment and mitigation
- Stakeholder and/or community engagement
- Habitat restoration
- Marine protected area management
- Biodiversity conservation
- Management capacity needed:
- Understanding how the ecosystem functions
- Engaging stakeholders in decision-making
- Communicating management processes to stakeholders
- Visualizing possible development and resource use scenarios
- Types of information needed:
- Case studies of present-day management situations in the Gulf of Maine region and how EBM could be or has been applied
- Forward-looking assessments of how the Gulf of Maine ecosystem is likely to change and implications for management
- Spatially explicit information about human activities affecting the Gulf of Maine and its watershed
- Information about how the Gulf of Maine ecosystem function
- Training needs:
- Training to understand conceptual framework of EBM and general approaches for putting EBM into practice
- Training to better understand the ecosystem context in which management occurs and that management decisions affect
Home page for the survey report
> Executive summary
Introduction
Gulf of Maine EBM Toolkit Survey: Key findings
Appendix A: Summary of Action Item 4 from 2007 regional EBM workshop
Appendix B: Results of the Gulf of Maine EBM Toolkit Survey
Click here to download a printer-friendly version of the full report (PDF, 2.1 MB)
Taylor, Peter H. 2008. Gulf of Maine Ecosystem-Based Management Toolkit Survey Report. Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, www.gulfofmaine.org/ebm. 35 p.
Contact Peter Taylor of Waterview Consulting (Yarmouth, Maine) for information about the Gulf of Maine EBM Toolkit Survey.