Ecosystem-based management-a new goal under NOAA´s strategic plan

NOAA´s Strategic Plan, completed on March 31, 2003 after extensive input from over one thousand external and internal stakeholders from seven different regional locations across the Nation, created four overarching strategic goals for NOAA, including: (1) Protect, restore, and manage the use of coastal and ocean resources through ecosystem-based management; (2) Understand climate variability and change to enhance society´s ability to plan and respond; (3) Serve society´s needs for weather and water information; and (4) Support the Nation´s commerce with information for safe, efficient, and environmentally sound transportation. While these Goals provide for enhanced focus for NOAA climate programs, water quality and quantity programs and broad support for NOAA marine aviation and surface transportation programs and information, the broadest change within NOAA may be the development of a single Goal for ecosystem-based management of ocean and coastal resources. The development of this single goal should lead to a series of actions, starting with the identification of ocean and coastal ecosystems and a definition of ecosystem-based management to implementation of NOAA´s large list of ocean and coastal programs on a holistic basis rather site by site and species by species approaches , and include social and economic implications of management decisions on humans. Using the new NOAA Strategic Plan as a starting point, the author will examine the necessary steps, kinds of science and new management approaches that will need to be considered for NOAA to seriously address this new approach to its ocean and coastal resource management responsibilities. Based on this examination, the author will identify some of the new skills, observations and observation systems, modeling capabilities and new partnerships that NOAA will need to obtain to ensure success in its delivery of this new ecosystem-based management goal.