Implementing an Ecosystem Approach to Ocean Management: An Assessment of Current Regional Governance Models

Abstract

"The two recent national ocean policy studies considering the fate of United States' oceans in the twenty-first century, conducted by the Pew Oceans Commission1 and the United States Commission on Ocean Policy ("USCOP"), were largely in agreement on some very fundamental issues. First, both commissions concluded that human activities have severely stressed ocean systems and that major changes in ocean management are needed to stop degradation of ocean resources and to restore and protect the oceans for future generations. Second, the commissions found that better management of the oceans required an ecosystem-based approach, implemented through coordinated, regional mechanisms. However, the jurisdictions of our federal and state governments currently are not organized to operate or take actions at regional levels. Any proposals to implement the goals of a regional, ecosystem-based approach to ocean management must therefore consider how regional mechanisms would be structured and how they would function in our federal system."