MREP README FILE

Marine Resource Education Program

Durham, NH - March 16, 2005

I was invited to speak at the Science Module for the spring, 2005 MREP course. My tasking was to introduce the concepts of ecosystem appproaches to management in a way that would engage the stakeholders in the audience without putting them to sleep or angering them too much. My approach was to provide a shotgun-blast of the background, definitions and theories of ecosystems approaches. In particular, I attemped to highlight the different steps involved in ecosystem approaches and provide example. I also attempted to address the difference between ecosystem approaches to management and ecosystem approaches to fisheries management through a series of slides showing different ocean uses either proposed or currently employed. The highlight of the day, for me, was the opportunity to ask fisherman, NMFS employees and Council members what they thought the objectives of fisheries management should be. The wide range of answers was interesting.