Understanding the Coastal Ecosystem-Based Management Approach in the Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

ABSTRACT Yanez-Arancibia, A.; Day, J.W., and Reyes, E., 2013. Understanding the coastal ecosystem-based management approach in the Gulf of Mexico. In: Brock, J.C.; Barras, J.A., and Williams, S.J. (eds.), Understanding and Predicting Change in the Coastal Ecosystems of the Northern Gulf of Mexico, Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 63, pp. 244–262, Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749–0208. The Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is a shared ecosystem in which problems and solutions are a common responsibility among governments, primarily the United States and Mexico. Concepts about management of coastal systems suggest that GOM ecosystem-based management approaches should be coupled with ecological risk assessment and that quantitative modeling is a valuable tool for ecosystem-based management, which results in sound sustainable management. Sustainable management requires the consideration of a number of processes and issues. These include definition of ecological regions, description of processes controlling...