Ecosystem Management Chapter 5

Shifting management n Fisheries management is shifting from commodity production of single resource to management of whole systems for variety of purposes – Toward sustaining ecosystem diversity, function – Away from single-species management The ecosystem becomes the management unit!

Central focus n Compatibility of long-term sustainability of ecosystems and human communities

Ecosystem Integrity n Maintenance of community structure and function characteristic of a particular locale, or deemed satisfactory to society

Ecosystem Integrity - cont. n Capability of supporting and maintaining a balanced, integrated, adaptive community of organisms having species composition and functional organization comparable to that of the natural habitat of the region

A collaborative process n Requires working outside the water boundaries n Requires involvement of non-typical stakeholders n Consideration of landscape-level ecological processes, history, current conditions, potential responses n Great need for educational processes

Opportunities to address and solve persistent problems n Scale appropriate to deal with: – Eutrophication – Loss of habitat, fragmentation of large rivers n Industrial use n Flood control n Transportation n Dams n Altered hydrographs n Impeded migrations

Problem 1 n Scale – Spatial - too big ? – Time - result may require generations n No quick fixes

Problem 2 n Funding – Requires more funding than traditional management approaches – Accountability to traditional funding providers still requires most attention directed toward sport fishes n Tradeoffs between managing sport fish and maintaining or restoring native fish biodiversity