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Action Item 4: Regional Ecosystem-Based Management Toolkit is one of the 7 Action Items that resulted from a two-day workshop in March 2007 called “An Integrated, Ecosystem-based Approach to Regional Ocean Management: Creating a Policy-relevant Science Vision”. The workshop was convened by the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea (COMPASS) and held at the University of New Hampshire. For workshop information and materials, including presentations and a post-workshop summary, go to www.gulfofmaine.org/ebm/meeting2007. For updates on all 7 Action Items, go to www.gulfofmaine.org/EBMWorkGroups.

What
Participants concurred that there is a need to make existing EBM tools more accessible and to continue responding to coastal managers evolving needs. This would entail promoting and adapting other initiatives (e.g., EBM Tools Network, TNC EBM Toolkit, etc.). Further, there was concurrence that complementary work in other areas of the world could be transferred to the Gulf of Maine. Examples of these tools include web-based visualization and decision-support tools, data integration techniques, watershed point and non-point source assessments, communication methods, mass-loadings, etc. In sum, there was a call for the development and dissemination of an EBM toolkit.

Goal
To develop an ecosystem-based management toolkit and/or adapt an existing toolkit to meet the needs of practitioners in the Gulf of Maine.

Objectives

• Create and support tools to help managers make more informed decisions and that enable them to draw on the most relevant science.
• Create products that help decision-makers understand coastal/ocean status and trends.
• Empower stakeholders to bring relevant science to legislators, other sectors and the public.

Examples of possible products

• Enhancing the Gulf of Maine Ecosystem Indicator (ESIP) efforts to create indicators and state of the environment reports that describe ecosystem health and the state of human communities.
• Data synthesis tools that provide monitoring and observing data products that are useful to managers.
• A set of Gulf of Maine place-based case studies that apply, communicate, and reflect upon their experiences.
• Decision-making tools to assist managers and policy-makers with evaluating cumulative impacts of human activities on coastal and marine habitats, setting conservation and management priorities, conducting scenario analyses to understand effects of management decisions, and analyzing tradeoffs among activities and services.

An opportunity
Participants indicated that a host of EBM tools were available (and evolving), yet they were difficult to locate and apply. There was a sense that managers would make more scientifically informed policy decisions if these tools were more readily accessible. In addition, through sustained communication between scientists and managers the needed EBM resources would be better articulated.

How
To be determined by work group.

Who
Lead Individuals/Entities: Peter Taylor, Waterview Consulting (contractor for Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment)

Work Group Members: For a current list of members, click here.

Links to Other EBM Action Items
The EBM Toolkit could be linked to all other potential action steps. The information transcends the others’ goals and toolkit training could be brought to different locations throughout region.

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