Finding common ground in marine conservation and management

• Boris Worm
• Ray Hilborn

Abstract
There is increasing concern among scientists and the general public about the current state of marine fisheries and their supporting ecosystems (Ludwig et al. 1993, Hilborn et al. 2003, Myers & Worm 2003, Pauly et al. 2003, Worm et al. 2006). Recent scientific progress on this topic has been partly overshadowed by significant controversy on how to assess marine resources and how to address current problems in ocean management (Jackson 2001, Myers & Worm 2005, Polachek 2005, Hilborn 2006). Marine ecologists and fisheries scientists often tend to favor contrasting approaches, and we observe that these schools of thought have polarized over time. We now recognize this situation as counterproductive and propose to address this controversy where possible. In the proposed Working Group we are trying to define common ground among marine ecologists and fishery scientists by (1) developing a unifying terminology and a common analytical framework for assessing marine fisheries and ecosystem change, (2) applying this framework to a number of representative marine ecosystems around the globe, and (3) assessing management successes and failures in order to identify a set of tools that have been proven to reverse trends of degradation in marine fish stocks and ecosystems. This process should also identify areas of continued disagreement, important for focusing future research. In a final step (to be funded by a third party) we would present our conclusions to managers, NGO and government agencies, helping them to understand the progress that has been made. The central question we are trying to answer is: how can we merge contrasting objectives, tools, and scientific criteria among marine ecology, fisheries science, and management into a unifying framework. We envision that this group will be acting as a catalyst for joining scientific forces in a quest to sustain and restore valuable marine resources.