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Workshop on the Ecosystem Approach to the Management and Protection of the North Sea Oslo, Norway 15-17 June 1998 What can be gained from an ecosystem approach to environmental protection? Sarah Jones, World Wide Fund for Nature (UK) (presented by Henning Røed) INTRODUCTION This presentation identifies how the marine environment is inadequately protected by the management approaches that are currently applied and offers a preliminary outline of a solution which WWFs North East Atlantic Program is currently developing, with specific application of the ecosystem approach to the North Sea. The presentation is illustrated by a cross sectional diagram of the North Sea and its European catchment area and illustrates intense fishing, spawning and juvenile areas of eleven commercial species and the gear with which they are fished, the location of mineral extraction operations, a selection regularly located species and habitats in the North Sea and the range of key ecosystem parameters such as temperature and nutrients. The diagram is divided into seven sections. A fisheries perspective is offered with full belief that if the ecosystem approach was afforded to the management of the marine environment, it would not only work towards protecting the environment but also enhance its fisheries. MAIN TEXT WWFs North East Atlantic program has embarked on the process of developing a practical solution to ecosystem management in the North Sea (in its preliminary stages) due to grave concerns that the “ecosystem approach” is seen theoretical. It has little direction for a realistic and practical application, has no concrete objective which is practical, realistic and of upmost worth to afford environmental protection and is being developed with far too much emphasis on complex models. WWF do not believe, certainly with current level of understanding, human beings can fully understand, predict and therefore manage the complex interactions within natural ecosystems. This does not mean that current knowledge should not be utilised to its upmost, but while ecosystem management is likely to involve comprehensive monitoring of key ecosystem indicators, areas are required which are closed to selected activities (control areas) and are allowed to self regulate to the greatest extent possible. An overall summary is that the ecosystem approach should be one of regulation by natural processes to the greatest extent possible whilst recognising and incorporating key and essential requirements of human infrastructure. In identifying the need for specific control areas (here defined as zones from which activities are selectively excluded) it must be recognised that there are specific components which have either to be managed from source and/or move throughout the marine environment. Control sites may not be appropriate to monitor the direct effect of these components but will certainly provide an indication of the effects of these components on habitats and species within the sites. To avoid confusion with other site designations, the control areas may be zones within a marine protected area. If all extraction activities are excluded the zone would be called a notake zone. Components (habitats, species, effects of activities, ecosystem parameters) may be conveniently banded into: A. Those which can be directly protected/protected from, partially protected/protected from or excluded. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Bottom habitats Concentrated behaviour of all or part of the life cycles of marine species Aggregate dredging Bottom trawling Oil and Gas platforms Shipping Recreation B. Those which cannot be directly protected/protected from, partially protected/protected from or excluded. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Highly migratory life cycle stages of marine species (particularly pelagic fish, cetaceans, turtles, sharks etc. and phytoplankton and zooplankton). Nutrients and toxic chemicals from land, atmosphere and marine environment. Toxic substances from e.g oil exploration and shipping. Physical and chemical parameters such as temperature, salinity, ocean currents, pH. Introduced species. All these components can, however, be monitored from specific stations inside and outside control areas working towards management and to the greatest extent possible natural regulation where appropriate the “full picture”. Excluding selected activities in A, from a proportion of the North Sea Area will allow their impacts to be assessed and will also facilitate greater understanding. TIME PERMITTING ON A SECTION BY SECTION BASIS From the diagram the potential effects of activities and natural phenomena can be considered on a section by section basis. Section one - Spawning grounds for sole and plaice, fishing grounds for cod, sole and plaice, heavy dissolved contamination from river input, well stratified, potential aggregate dredging, high nitrate and highest north sea temperature range. Section two - Intensive gas exploration, cod and mackerel spawning, plaice and cod juvenile grounds, sole, plaice and cod fishing grounds. Section three - Dogger bank - rich benthic communities at the boundary of those representative of the southern north sea and the northern north sea, year round plankton production, frontal area, mackerel, sprat and cod spawning, plaice, sprat, cod, haddock fishing, gas pipelines, drilling holes, west to east current. Finish description and summarize how the sections are not currently protected and could be with the ecosystem approach. This section by section approach is built into a “full picture” by considering the effects of one section on the rest in order to address synergy thought the whole of the North Sea Large Marine Ecosystem. CONCLUSION * The ecosystem approach WWF is advocating has the objective of regulation by natural processes to the greatest extent possible while recognising, considering and incorporating where appropriate key and essential requirements of human infrastructure. * While WWF recognise the complexities of ecosystem process these do not have to be fully understood and modelled to apply an ecosystem approach to marine management and afford increased environmental protection. * This presentation gives an insight into what WWF suggest could be achieved by applying simple principles of the ecosystem approach to integrated marine management (excluding activities from a proportion of the North Sea Area combined with fully monitoring the outside influences on these areas from within the areas and from external monitoring stations and reducing/eliminating these effects from source). * By applying these principles greater environmental protection can be afforded to benthic communities, their associated habitats and processes, juvenile and spawning grounds of commercial species, effects from toxic pollutants. * By applying these principles a vision for the future would be to undertake the same monitoring, risk assessment, research, management and control and development of no-take zones for all activities instead of having the ridiculous situation where separate data is financed, collected and interpreted largely for separate activities and access to this data often severely restricted.