TY - JOUR

T1 - Using ecosystem-services assessments to determine trade-offs in ecosystem-based management of marine mammals

AU - Riisager-Simonsen, Christian

AU - Rendon, Olivia

AU - Galatius, Anders

AU - Olsen, Morten Tange

AU - Beaumont, Nicola

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - The goal of ecosystem-based management (EBM) is to support a sustainable and holistic multisectored management approach, and is recognized in a number of international policy frameworks. However, it remains unknown how these goals should be linked to assessments and management plans for marine fauna, such as mammals and fish stocks. It appears particularly challenging to carry out trade-off analyses of various ocean uses without a framework that integrates knowledge of environmental, social, and economic benefits derived from nonstationary marine fauna. We argue this gap can be filled by applying a version of the ecosystem-service approach at the population level of marine fauna. To advance this idea, we used marine mammals as a case study to demonstrate what indicators could operationalize relevant assessments and deliver an evidence base for the presence of ecosystem services and disservices derived from marine mammals. We found indicators covering common ecosystem service categories feasible to apply; examples of indicator data are already available in the literature for several populations. We encourage further exploration of this approach for application to marina fauna and biodiversity management, with the caveat that conceptual tensions related to the use of the ecosystem service concept itself needs to be addressed to ensure acceptance by relevant stakeholders.

AB - The goal of ecosystem-based management (EBM) is to support a sustainable and holistic multisectored management approach, and is recognized in a number of international policy frameworks. However, it remains unknown how these goals should be linked to assessments and management plans for marine fauna, such as mammals and fish stocks. It appears particularly challenging to carry out trade-off analyses of various ocean uses without a framework that integrates knowledge of environmental, social, and economic benefits derived from nonstationary marine fauna. We argue this gap can be filled by applying a version of the ecosystem-service approach at the population level of marine fauna. To advance this idea, we used marine mammals as a case study to demonstrate what indicators could operationalize relevant assessments and deliver an evidence base for the presence of ecosystem services and disservices derived from marine mammals. We found indicators covering common ecosystem service categories feasible to apply; examples of indicator data are already available in the literature for several populations. We encourage further exploration of this approach for application to marina fauna and biodiversity management, with the caveat that conceptual tensions related to the use of the ecosystem service concept itself needs to be addressed to ensure acceptance by relevant stakeholders.

KW - adaptive management

KW - ecosystem approach

KW - ecosystem disservices

KW - ecotourism

KW - environmental trade-offs

KW - human-wildlife conflict

KW - IPBES

KW - marine biodiversity

KW - COD GADUS-MORHUA

KW - BALTIC SEA

KW - CONTRACAECUM-OSCULATUM

KW - NATURES CONTRIBUTIONS

KW - WHALES

KW - CONSERVATION

KW - PERCEPTIONS

KW - CETACEANS

KW - NEMATODES

KW - INFECTION

U2 - 10.1111/cobi.13512

DO - 10.1111/cobi.13512

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 32285495

SP - 1152

EP - 1164

JO - Conservation Biology

JF - Conservation Biology

SN - 0888-8892

ER -