Solving the Crisis in Ocean Governance

Author(s): Larry Crowder

Published: May 2007

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THERE is growing awareness that the escalating crisis in marine ecosystems—from biodiversity losses and transformed food webs to marine pollution and warming waters—is in large part a failure of governance.1 Problems arise from fragmentation in the governance systems used to manage specific human uses of marine resources, together with spatial and temporal mismatches between biophysical systems and the rights, rules, and decisionmaking procedures created to manage human interactions with these systems.2 Many scientists have advocated reforms centered on the idea of ecosystem-based management (EBM).3 To date, however, a politically and administratively feasible method for translating this attractive concept into an operational management practice has not emerged. A practical way to solve this problem features place-based management—a strategy that calls for integrated management of the full suite of human activities occurring in spatially demarcated areas identified through a procedure that takes into account biophysical, socioeconomic, and jurisdictional considerations.