2015 AAAS Annual Meeting (12-16 February 2015)

February 12 - 16, 2015

Dynamic Ocean Management: Supporting Ecological and Economic Sustainability

Dynamic ocean management is a new approach to management of marine resources that explicitly takes the dynamic movements of the oceanographic environment, marine animals, and human users into account. Many highly mobile marine species and human users follow dynamic ocean features such as fronts and eddies that change in space and time. Thus, static spatial management, including marine-protected areas with stationary boundaries, may be less effective than protections that incorporate dynamic movements through time. To narrow the geographic and temporal scope of regulations, protected zones may need to function in near real-time and be dynamic -- like the processes and species they aim to protect. Advances in remote sensing and shipboard technology have made it possible to regulate and communicate to users the changing locations of dynamic boundaries. This session will introduce the concept of dynamic management to the larger scientific community; explore examples of dynamic management that exist in fisheries and shipping industries around the world, and the necessary scientific components; codify key elements for effective adoption by managers, with an emphasis on economic considerations; and explore the feasibility of dynamic management in the form of mobile marine-protected areas. Speakers will explore how dynamic management can be a key tool to increasing both ecological and economic sustainability of marine resources and coastal marine communities across sectors.