Sustainable Marine Management Overview

Sustainable Marine Management

• Sustainable Marine Management (SMM) is an integrated approach considering the entire ecosystem, including humans.
• The goal is to maintain a healthy, productive, and resilient marine ecosystem that delivers essential services.
• It balances ecological health with human needs, incorporating natural and societal aspects.
• The concept gained prominence in the 1990s and later refined, drawing on ecosystem approach and sustainable development principles.
• It evolved from managing single-species fisheries to broader marine ecosystem issues and societal concerns like governance and climate change.

Window Dressing vs. Real Change

• Window dressing in SMM involves actions that appear to address issues but lack effective enforcement or monitoring, producing little real change.
• Displacement issues can occur when resource management in one area intensifies unsustainable practices elsewhere.
• User and property rights can be challenged, as restrictions on activities may cause social and economic disruptions.
• Resource limitations (funding and enforcement) are often a significant hurdle, especially in developing nations.
• Transboundary issues are difficult to regulate across international waters.
• Political and economic pressures often prioritize short-term gains over long-term, sustainable practices.

Larger Processes Matter

• Economic and political realities, consumer behavior, and corporate interests can significantly impact successful management.
• Policies must have clear, actionable plans that are funded and enforceable.

Key Principles of Sustainable Marine Management

• Ecological Connectivity, Coherence, and Equivalence: Recognizing interdependence within ecosystems and ensuring equal importance for all elements.
• Socio-economic Governance: Balancing ecological health with human needs.
• Integration of Sectors: Bridging ecological and societal domains by considering vertical (across governmental levels) and horizontal (across sectors) cooperation.

10-Tenet Framework

• The 10-tenet framework emphasizes interdisciplinary action, integrating natural and social sciences with policy changes. Key elements include ecological sustainability, economic viability, technological feasibility, social desirability, legal permissibility, and administrative achievability.

Traditional, Modern, and Emerging Methods

• Traditional Methods: Involve field habitat sampling, transects, and NOAA trawl surveys. Provide accurate, direct data but may be labor-intensive, costly, biased, and access limited to remote areas.
• Modern Technologies: Utilize satellite remote sensing, acoustic monitoring, drones, bio-loggers, and tagging. Offer large-scale ecosystem assessments, particularly for habitats like coral reefs or seagrass meadows.
• Emerging Methods: Incorporate novel approaches such as buoys, citizen science, and AI-learning to assess population and ecosystem health across different contexts. These methods can potentially be more cost-effective, less resource-intensive, and provide a wider geographical reach.

Political, Ethical, Cultural, and Communication Aspects

• Political Expediency: Includes the need to garner support despite conflicting interests.
• Ethical Defensibility: Emphasizing intergenerational equity and fairness.
• Cultural Inclusivity: Respecting local and indigenous practices.
• Effective Communication: Ensuring clear, engaging stakeholder engagement.

Global Databases and Data Integration

• OBIS and Bio-ORACLE are tools for synthesizing ecological data across scales for better assessments and management.
• Data standardization and interoperability are crucial for effective assessments and decision-making.

Critical Assessment of Methods

• Different methods have strengths and limitations in different contexts.
• Traditional methods are useful for accurate, direct data, while modern technologies provide large-scale assessments. Emerging methods offer cost-effectiveness, wide geographical reach, and detailed data.