Describe the types of skills, knowledge, or methods that you and your colleagues need to practice Ecosystem-Based Management in your day-to-day work, but that you do not currently have.
#	Response Date	Comment
1.	Thu, 9/6/07 8:16 PM	networking is a key (i.e. knowing lots of connected people)
2.	Fri, 9/7/07 12:28 PM	Suffucient information is the huge missing piece. Although we have some information on speices and habitat, often we have no real up to date information on a particular location. An accelerated efoort at populating GIS layers should be made.
3.	Mon, 9/10/07 8:25 PM	Data management and GIS-type skills. Better direction about framework and goals of EBM--mandates and performance standards.
4.	Mon, 9/17/07 4:09 PM	understanding of ecological processes in the marine environment, lack of baseline data such as habitat mapping, lack of modeling expertise, lack of socio-economic information, lack of skills to engage with stakeholders.
5.	Tue, 9/18/07 2:46 PM	We could use more concrete examples of where/how EBM is being implemented, or specific problems being addressed. Status reports to show progress or lack thereof (which can be instructional as well) would help a lot.
6.	Tue, 9/18/07 7:14 PM	I think more state workers need to understand statistical design and applications of statistics to the data that are collected and then used to monitor the results of management decisions that have ecosystem-wide ramifications.
7.	Tue, 9/18/07 9:17 PM	We need adequate biological change monitoring of coastal habitats and species populations.
8.	Wed, 9/19/07 12:51 PM	My colleagues are persuaded by OMB to pursue "acres restored" not "lessons learned" which strongly urges a cookie cutter approach in order to gain the highest "success rate."
9.	Wed, 9/19/07 2:03 PM	n/a
10.	Wed, 9/19/07 2:49 PM	Better understanding of practical applications of EBM--from theory to proactice. What tools are at our finger tips. And what we can expect if we incorporate EBM (since this is what we will need to communicate to senior decision makers).
11.	Wed, 9/19/07 3:40 PM	More time for conversations with fishermen, fisheries managers, conservation officers, and others working with particular species to find out which physical oceanographic information would be most useful to them
12.	Thu, 9/20/07 1:21 AM	Overall education and common practices, successes and failures.
13.	Thu, 9/20/07 11:07 AM	I need to have a better understanding on expectations before this can be answered.
14.	Thu, 9/20/07 12:37 PM	Better accounting of all the impacts to an ecosystem, their relative weights and difficulty in controlling those impacts.
15.	Thu, 9/20/07 3:39 PM	explainging complex concepts simply and with visualization tools model ordinances, especially for smaller jurisdictions training for professionals in the design and delivery of management systems
16.	Fri, 9/21/07 8:39 AM	There exist only prelim models at this time that quantitatively deal with the trade-offs and the ecosytstem services that must be modeled. Most models are very narrow.
17.	Fri, 9/21/07 1:34 PM	We need additional skills such as Structured decision-making, graphic representation of threats and/or overlaps with biological, ecological, social, and economic data utilizing GIS methodology, and increased capacity and funding to use these skills.
18.	Fri, 9/21/07 5:49 PM	There is need for data, multidisciplinary knowledge, and a better undertsnading of the methodology
19.	Fri, 9/21/07 6:10 PM	?
20.	Fri, 9/21/07 7:28 PM	I think we need to reach a working model before you cn get to this - Once you have a good model, it will need to be "boiled down" and menu-driven so managers can plug in their values. Right now I feel the concept is at the research level and needs to reach a successful rediction lcapability before arguing over what training is needed. Get the understanding of the system first (I don't believe it is there yet) and then boil it down so you have trainable components. For example, ecosystem reponses are clearly nonlinear to many forces , including temperature due to cascade effects (both bottom up and top down). Yet few even attempt to look at nonl;inear dynamic approach to ecosystem modeling . You need to hire some applied nonlinear mathematics experts to this issue and let them dig in - if they know the math - you can link them up with ecologists to explain the parts of the system and how they seem to respond. We are now approaching a data capability that has continuous long-term datasets developing. That lack of high temporal resolution (required for a nonlinear approach) is now disappearing at least for limited areas (e.g., Narr. Bay RI has 12 continuous WQ buoys now running ). You/we are ready to let the physicist/applied mathematicians loose to tell us what is really driving things instead of insisting on forcing linear regressions that have not worked in over 30 years!
21.	Fri, 9/21/07 7:45 PM	We don't practice management, we practice collection and interpretation of data and methods that make it easier for others to practice management. Hence, having more stateholders demanding well-funded research in support of Ecosystem-based management would be helpful.
22.	Fri, 9/21/07 7:53 PM	Stakeholders are not used to thinking in ecological terms, so need to acquire that skill in order for EBM to succeed.
23.	Fri, 9/21/07 8:21 PM	we do extensive baywide environmental monitoring, but don't have the time to do effective GIS mapping
24.	Fri, 9/21/07 11:20 PM	N/A
25.	Sun, 9/23/07 3:27 AM	an understanding and "street smarts" that other US federal agencies (i.e., USFS and NPS) have learned from nasty, messey fights with terstrial systerms (i.e., Spotted Owl, Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, etc.)
26.	Mon, 9/24/07 1:23 PM	It would be helpful to have a glosary of "Ecosystem Terminology" which is also standardized between US and Canada. A "Decision Support System" with variable scales and incorporates scientific and socio-exonomic data. The US/Canada Oceans Working Group has initated preparation of and "Ecosystem Overview" for the Gulf odf Maine Bay of Fundy. This will provide a resource of ecological information that will be important for any EBM. Such overviews are needed.
27.	Tue, 9/25/07 3:24 PM	N/A
28.	Tue, 9/25/07 5:19 PM	In our last meeting of the Zoning Working Group last year, we got hopelessly bogged down in trying to determine what scientific criteria to use in determining if EBM is being achieved. Amidst everyone's general desire that decisions be made based on science, there are limitations based on data and resources to the science that is actually useful and available. As mostly lay people on this group, we weren't prepared to determine what criteria would be the best measures. It also seems that a basic understanding and use of GIS information would be helpful in those processes that are using mapping tools.
29.	Tue, 9/25/07 5:58 PM	the outcome of SeaWeb's efforts will be useful.
30.	Tue, 9/25/07 6:52 PM	Clear policy objectives
31.	Tue, 9/25/07 7:05 PM	na
32.	Thu, 9/27/07 1:27 PM	New and realistic modelling tools (fisheries and ecosysytem) and ability to test those models (e.g., data). Far greater fish stock assesment expertise (people and methods). Amount and distribution of bottom habitat potentially negatively impacted by commercial fishing gear (e.g., trawling and dredging)
33.	Thu, 9/27/07 7:05 PM	I can not answer this from my current position. I am involved in a inter-departmental initiative not day to day regulatory enforcement.
34.	Wed, 10/3/07 6:23 PM	Compliance and effectiveness monitoring of mitigative and restoration activities