Integrated Ocean management - Making local global: the role of monitoring in reaching national and international commitments

Abstract

With a global effort to manage the ocean’s resources and regulate the different uses, there are many international conventions and treaties. Ideally, participating counties will have their own ocean management plans either at a national and/or regional level that aim to meet their country’s national/international commitments or targets. In order to be able to reach these commitments and/or targets, integrated management is being used. Canada’s first official integrated management plan was the Eastern Scotian Shelf Integrated Management (ESSIM) pilot project. It had many of its own ecological goals and objectives, however, it was unclear how it tied into Canada’s many national conservation and ocean related acts and targets. Thus the purpose of this study was to understand how the role of monitoring could be used to make the links between regional and national objectives clearer.

Using a comparative analysis approach, this paper looked at integrated management plans within USA and Norway. Norway’s integrated management for the Barents Sea – Lofoten Area used a national monitoring program where the Gulf of Maine Action Plan was much more focused with only a few of its own regional monitoring programs. The comparative analysis highlighted the challenges and opportunities that the different monitoring plans possessed. With the completing of the ESSIM pilot project, discussion is now underway for a bioregional plan for the Scotian Shelf and surrounding area. Based on the results, linking the goals and objectives to the national commitments at the beginning of the management process would allow Canada to have a chance to have a better understanding of how their regional programs are contributing to Canada’s overall ecological vision