Definition and Purpose of IEAs

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Integrated Ecosystem Assessments An Overview

• Definition and Purpose of IEAs
• - component of ecosystem approaches to
  management
• - pressure state indicators responses to
  management
• - support NOAAs primary mission requirements
• Current and required capabilities to produce
  IEAs
• - examples of IEAs
• - data requirements
• - spatial scale and resolution
• - regional, national, and international
  dimensions
• Strategies for progress
• - NOAAs roles and current efforts
• - next steps PATT, regional teams, EGT, LOs

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CHALLENGES to NOAA

• Provide scientific support consistent with
  NOAAs mission
• requirements for natural resource, and coastal
  management,
• Support ecosystem approaches to management that
  consider
• multiple influences and outcomes,
• Communicate with the public, regulators,
  legislators, and
• other agencies and partners the current state of
  marine
• ecosystems, pressures they face, and the
  potential impacts of
• management options,
• Synthesize knowledge about marine ecosystems in
  relation
• to human activities, recognize gaps, and improve
  understanding.

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What is an Ecosystem Approachto Management (EAM)?
An ecosystem approach to management is one that
provides a comprehensive framework for marine and
coastal resource decision making. In contrast to
individual species or single issue management,
EAM considers a wider range of relevant
ecological, environmental, and human factors
bearing on societal choices regarding resource
use.NOAA EGT
Look at the whole picture, not just the parts.
Dave Goethel New England Fishery Management
Council SIMOR Fisheries Constituent Listening
Session - October 2006
The 1 Myth Concerning EAM
Ecosystem approaches to ocean resource
management are not well defined and we do not
know how to implement them UN Law of the Sea
Meeting, April 2006
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Integrated Ecosystem Assessments - Definitions

• Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA)
• A synthesis of the status of marine ecosystems
  from multiple perspectives, including human and
  physical forcing exerting pressures on the
  system, and responses of the ecosystem to changes
  in those factors.
• IEAs are developed for a specified geographic
  region, and incorporate multiple indicators of
  the status of the physical environment, abundance
  and production of natural resources, processes
  and interactions among ecosystem components, and
  the levels of human factors affecting ecosystem
  goods and services.
• IEAs are an important supporting element of an
  Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM), because
  they provide the basis for understanding the
  direct and indirect effects of human actions on
  the production of multiple ecosystem goods and
  functions in relation to their target and
  threshold values.

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Dimensions and Process for IEAs

• An IEA addresses five dimensions
• Status of the topic being considered
• Causes and consequences of the status
• Forecast of future status with and without
  management action
• Costs and benefits of possible management
  actions
• Evaluation of past management actions success
  or failure.

• A successful IA
• Responds to policy relevant questions
• Quantitatively identifies uncertainties in
  existing
• data and information
• Includes public participation and peer review
• Integrates data across multiple disciplines
• Uses existing high-quality data and information
• Forecasts future conditions and outcomes.

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Components of an IEA

• An IEA typically consists of the following
  components
• Assessment of ecosystem baseline conditions
• Assessment of stressors on the ecosystem
• Prediction of the ecosystem status with no change
  in management actions
• Prediction of the ecosystem status under
  different management strategies
• Evaluation of the success of management actions

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Examples of pressure state indicators, and
ecosystem response
Ecosystem State
Response
Pressure Factors
Physical
Human-Related
Goods
Conditions
Goods
Change in Pressures
air temperature sea temperature weather
patterns waves salinity pH circulation sea
level decadal indices upwelling wind
stress sediment transport freshwater
input sea ice cover extreme events
nutrient input contaminants microbiological
inputs radioactive input hydrocarbons atmos.
deposition wetlands change fishing effort vessel
traffic bycatch non-native species
introductions debris (litter) coastal seabed
modifications marine sound
species -abundance -biomass
-recruitment fishery catch fishery
revenue recreational use aquaculture
production non-consumptive uses social use
and Importance transportation commerce energy

extent of hypoxia HAB events invasive species
interactions primary production secondary
prod. benthic production species
richness diversity protected species status
mortality overfishing status trophic balance body
burden contaminants distributions of
biota
understanding linkages direct
impacts indirect impacts interaction effects use
correlations models single species
multispecies habitat spatial
climate

current IOOS core variables
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NOAAs CapabilitiesElements of IEA Inputs in
NOAA and other Agencies
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NOAAs IEA indicators Web-Based
http//www.beringclimate. noaa.gov /data/index.php
PMEL, JISAO, AFSC
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Alaska Ecosystem Conditions Report - Trends
Red indicates the largest 1/3 of values in the
record. The middle third are shown in grey and
the lowest third are shown in green. To
demonstrate covariabililty over time, the values
in some series have been inverted, as noted by a
star.
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Ecosystem models andforecasts to assess
responses understand relationships
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NATIONAL DIMENSIONS
Consistent reporting of a subset of variables
will allow a national overview Viz An
Integrated Assessment of the Status of
the Coastal and Ocean Ecosystems of the United
States
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REGIONAL DIMENSIONSDetermining the appropriate
spatial scale for IEAs
LME ? Sub-Region ? Local area Data systems
should allow hierarchical assessment
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IEA Concept being explored Internationally (UK,
Canada, Australia)
issues challenges differ by sub-region
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NOAAs ROLESActing in concert with constituents
partners, IEAs are a regional activity

• identify appropriate spatial dimensions for
  which IEAs are
• to be produced
• determine key ecosystem issues by IEA region
• assess the availability of data informing
  indicators
• collaborate with other USG agencies, states,
  academia and
• stakeholders to incorporate all relevant
  ecosystem information
• and to prioritize the development of indicators
• determine targets and thresholds for
  management-related
• indicators, consistent with legislative
  authorities
• Evaluate the relationships between pressure and
  status
• indicators using appropriate research, models
  and forecasts
• Provide routine reporting and updates on the
  status of the
• nations coastal and ocean ecosystems

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STRATEGIES

• working across LOs, identify appropriate
  regional collaborations
• to oversee the compilation of IEAs
• engage regional partners and stakeholders in the
  identification
• of important issues and assembly of data
• develop consistent data standards and procedures
  among and
• within IEA regions to allow comparability and
  synthesis
• propose, develop and test suites of pressure and
  state indicators
• (some common to all regions, some unique to
  each)
• determine research priorities for understanding
  ecosystem
• responses to changes in physical and human
  pressures
• develop periodic reporting mechanisms for IEAs

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NEXT STEPSCreating a vision and path to IEAs

• develop IEA white paper on process, content,
  strategies, clients,
• inventory, and annotated bibliography PATT
  on IEAs
• determine appropriate entities to oversee IEA
  production,
• consistent with regional priorities
  NOAA leadership, teams
• support pilot IEA activities in several regions
  to emphasize
• data management and communication procedures,
  development
• of appropriate indicators, and modeling and
  forecasting for
• understanding ecosystem response EGT 09-13
  program, LOs
• continue and enhance ongoing IEA-related
  activities LOs,
• Cooperative Institutes, international
  collaborations e.g., w/Canada

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Next Step Integrating Ecosystem Data,
Assessments, Models Forecasts FY-09-13 Program
Plan for EGT
Program Plan Investment 8M in FY09
Each with individual data archives
Serving specific Management needs
NOAAs Current Ecosystem Data Streams
Regional Data Mgmt 2M
EGTs Vision
CA Current IEA Pilot 4M
Integrated regional data prioritization, collectio
n archival
Enabling Regional Integrated Ecosystem assessmen
ts
Supporting enhanced Modeling forecasting
NE Trophic Modeling 2M
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Backup Slides
Integrated Ecosystem Assessment Priority Area
Task Team
Steve Murawski (EGT, NMFS) Gary Matlock
(NOS) Mike Fogarty (NMFS) Peter Ortner
(OAR) Frank Schwing (NMFS) Phyllis Stabeno
(OAR) Phil Levin (NMFS) Ellen Mecray (OAR)
Roger Griffis (NOS) Mike Ford (PPI) Scott Mowery
(NESDIS) Steve Rutz (NESDIS) Polly Endreny
(EGT) Emily Menashes (EGT) Maggie Ernst (EGT)
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Definition and Characteristics of EAM
An ecosystem is a geographically specified system
of organisms (including humans), the environment,
and the processes that control its dynamics.
Characteristics of EAM - adaptive, -
collaborative, - incremental, - takes account
of ecosystem knowledge and uncertainties, -
considers multiple external influences, -
strives to balance diverse social objectives,
and - geographically specified.
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Some Desirable Characteristics of Ecosystem
Indicators to Describe Ecosystem Pressures and
States

• Easy to Understand
• Responsive to Manageable Human Activities
• Responses Linked in Time to Management Action
• Easily and Accurately Measured
• Low Responsiveness to Other Factors (e.g.,
  multiple factors)
• Measurable Over Large Portion of Area
• Existing Data to Provide Historic Dynamics to
  inform the selection of targets and thresholds

Source ICES Working Group on Ecosystem Effects
of Fishing
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IOOS Core Variables
Core Variables
Decision support products and services Long-t
erm time data series, coordinated in space and
time
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Northeast Shelf Ecosystem Indicators
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FINAL REPORTExternal Ecosystem Task Team Report
to NOAA Science Advisory Board

• Evolving an Ecosystem Approach to Science and
  Management Throughout NOAA and its Partners
• NOAA SAB MEETING
• MONTEREY, JULY 25-26, 2006

http//www.sab.noaa.gov/Reports/eETT_Final_1006.pd
f
the following two slides emphasize IEAs as a
recommended NOAA task
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INTEGRATED ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENTS AS THE WAY
FORWARD

• Regionally based Integrated Ecosystem Assessments
  (IEAs), conveying information on the status of
  ecosystem health and evaluating the impacts of
  current and proposed human activities should be
  the central products of NOAA ecosystem science.

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Common focus for NOAAs ecosystem science
enterprise

• RECOMMENDATION 4 NOAAs Ecosystem Goal Team
  should lead and participate in the development of
  Integrated Ecosystem Assessments (IEAs) for all
  ecosystems in which NOAA has a statutory or trust
  responsibility.
• The IEAs are of great significance as
• the integrating product of NOAAs (and
  partners) ecosystem science efforts,
• the common core product for clients of NOAAs
  ecosystem science