IEA – the Science behind EBM Why are IEAs Needed?

1. IEA – the Science behind EBMWhy are IEAs Needed? • A new era of ocean stewardship: Ecosystem-based management (EBM) • Need for more holistic, integrated, multi-sectoral approach to management of ocean resources is now widely accepted [in the scientific community] • Recognizes the important needs for ecosystem sustainability and services as well as tradeoffs that emerge in trying to meet those needs; • Aims to sustainably improve and balance ecological and human well-being • Despite appreciation for integrated EBM, there remain few examples of successful implementation; This is in part because we need scientific tools to make the scientific principles of EBM tractable to resource managers • NOAA’s IEAs will fill this need by providing scientific analyses and tools tractable to resource managers attempting to implement EBM • Integrated Ecosystem Assessments are to EBM what the stock assessment process is to fishery management, but consist of a broad range of products to support the range of management bodies/decisions served by IEAs • To meet the goal(s) of EBM, NOAA’s IEAs are cross-sectoral assessments distinguishing IEAs from single-sector ecosystem activities (e.g. EBFM) • IEAs synthesize existing data and simultaneously analyze multiple pressures impacts upon an ecosystem and its services to investigate trade-offs and allocations to inform management

2. What are the products of an IEA? • Conceptual models that synthesize our knowledge about how the ecosystem functions, produces ecosystem services, and responds to anthropogenic changes • Assessments of status and trends in ecosystem pressures, states, and services • Risk Analysis for key ecosystem indicators and services • Forecast of the future condition of the ecosystem and its services under a range of likely policies and management strategies to evaluate the relative success of management actions in achieving the desired target conditions • ULTIMATE PRODUCT: Comprehensive/holistic information provided to managers to support and inform management decisions in a dynamic, multi-sectoral ecosystem context

3. What does an operational IEA look like? • IEAs are a living, evolving, adaptable process • They are a long-term continuum that regularly provides a series of completed products or “modules” along that continuum to operationally support specific management objectives and decision processes • A module can be a final outcome of a specific management objective that has run through the process and resulted in a completed, packaged management module • Though IEAs share a common national framework, the implementation will inherently vary regionally, and even sub-regionally, based on the ecosystem of interest and the management objective(s): • Because IEAs are supporting management by a diversity of entities across many regions and it is known that scientific tools must be tailored to be useful to management, IEAs will not have a single operational “look” • Regions will have more “uniqueness” at the beginning as approaches are tested and lessons learned; over time there may be convergence as best practices are shared across regions • The consistency is that all operational IEAs will be effectively supporting EBM decisions within their region on a regular basis • Ultimate outcome is informed EBM decisions supported by holistic, integrated scientific analyses/evaluation that is itself informed by clearly defined ecosystem objectives and targets • Overarching goal is to inform EBM decisions that will promote an ecosystem that is both sustainable and capable of providing the diverse ecosystem services upon which our society depends