Download Evan D. Richert - Census of Marine Life Secretariat

Gulf of Maine Area Program: Census of Marine Life
Evan D. Richert1 (Project Director) and Lewis S. Incze2 (Chief Scientist)
1Muskie
School of Public Service and 2Bioscience Research Institute
University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME 04104 USA
e-mail: erichert or [email protected]
attending this meeting
Program Framework
The Gulf of Maine Program is funded to organize and catalyze
activity. Three broad themes must be emphasized and linked:
Exploration --- Explanation --- Application
Goals and Objectives
The goal of this project is to enable ecosystem-based management in a large marine ecosystem
within ten years.
As the pilot ecosystem project of the international Census of Marine Life, the Gulf of Maine
Program must demonstrate approaches that are transferable to other regions.
Our objective is to establish an integrated program that will:
Greatly increase the availability and use of past and current data through an on-line Gulf of
Maine Biogeographical Information System (GMBIS) that partners with the global Ocean
Biogeographic Information System (see OBIS poster at this meeting);
Engage the research and management communities to develop appropriate theories, evaluate
data, identify critical information gaps, recommend research and funding, and add to knowledge;
STUDY AREA includes all of the Gulf of Maine and
Bay of Fundy, the Scotian Shelf to the “Halifax” timeseries line, the Slope Sea, Georges Bank and the New
England Sea Mount chain. The circulation is
counterclockwise through the Gulf, shallow and deep
waters entering primarily from the Scotian Shelf and the
deep trough (Northeast Channel) north of Georges
Bank. Slope water origins vary with NAO.
Seed critical studies and argue for the necessary, ongoing funding to support ecosystem
research and management;
Work with conservation organizations and marine industries to incorporate their knowledge
and interests;
Incoprorate new data needs into operational ocean monitoring programs such as the Gulf of
Maine Ocean Observing System (GoMOOS) and the federal agencies of Canada and the U.S. that
conduct regular physical and biological surveys of the region.
AN EXAMPLE:
BENTHIC ENVIRONMENTS, BIOLOGICAL
COMMUNITIES AND CHANGE
The figure at left shows model-generated values of mean
bottom tidal turbulent energy dissipation rates
superimposed on bathymetry (finite-element model output
from J. Loder, Bedford Inst. Oceanography, Halifax, CA).
Model results such as these layered with mean bottom
currents, surficial geology, seasonal water mass
transformations, etc., can guide exploration efforts, the
interpolation of benthic community data and predictions of
change due to external forcing. Models and multi-beam
mapping now enable a “biogeographic” view of the Gulf
to help tie together the results of sampling and processstudies.
Exploration:
The biodiversity of the oceans in general (even a
long-studied area such as the Gulf of Maine) remains severely
undersampled. The benthos and marine microbial communities
are prime examples of old and new frontiers that have not received
enough support for basic work. Without basic knowledge there can
be no application. Non-commercial members of fish and
invertebrate communities also have been chronically
undersampled and their roles in system function (e.g., trophic
transfers, benthic-pelagic coupling) poorly quantified. Ocean
exploration must be fostered to address these gaps. The value (and
excitement) of exploration must be communicated to the public, and
these heretofore “missing links” in information introduced to ocean
area management concepts.
Explanation:
Process studies provide the basis for understanding
natural and anthropogenic influences on the marine environment,
whether the forcing is part of a short-term disturbance or secular
change. A large body of knowledge and expertise in oceanography
and marine ecology exists and can be harnessed without interfering
with the basic, curiosity-driven nature of the field. Indeed, new
intellectual challenges and opportunities will certainly result.
Application:
Will the state of knowledge about biodiversity or
oceanographic processes be sufficient to incorporate into
ecosystems-based management in the foreseeable future? And will
this even prove to be interesting? The answers are “YES” if the
goals and questions are properly formulated. For example, a
scientific question might be: How are biodiversity and benthic
landscapes linked to healthy ecosystems? A corresponding
management question might be: Do present management practices
conserve the necessary biological and physical attributes of
environments to maintain ecosystem health and productivity? The
PIs gratefully acknowledge the backing of numerous policy and
scientific advisors who have begun the process of defining goals
and knowledge in ways useful to the various communities (advisory
teams and working groups are still being formed).