The End of the Blue Frontierandand

The New Paradigm for Ocean Management

Elliott A. Norse

Marine Conservation

Biology Institute

The Freedom of the Frontier is aPowerful Idea for Americans

The right to swing my fist ends where the other

man’s nose begins

US Supreme Court JusticeOliver Wendell Holmes

1841-1935

Americans also Insist on Laws and EffectiveGovernance to Protect the Public Good

In the 19th Century, 30-60 Million BisonRoamed North America’s Lands

In the 19th Century, 5 Billion Passenger Pigeons Roamed North America’s Skies

What Killed Them Off?Our “frontier mentality” and 2 new technologies allowed us to become

roving banditsroving bandits

D. Blockstein (2002). Passenger pigeon inThe Birds of North America, # 611

A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.

What Does This Have to do with the Sea?

Passengerpigeon hunt

Orange roughytrawl catch

Bison skulls

Oystershells

1999:1999:NOAA calls the sea “The Last

Frontier”

1893:1893:Historian Frederick Jackson

Turner proclaims the closingof America’s (land) frontier

2003:2003:Pew Oceans Commission says

the “frontier mentality” leads to a hodgepodge of US laws &

programs

E.A. Norse (2005). Ending the range wars on the last frontier: Zoning

the sea

pp. 422-443 in:

E.A. Norse & L.B. Crowder

Marine Conservation Biology: The Science of Maintaining the Sea’s

Biodiversity. Island Press

Humans Have Used the Sea’s Biodiversity

for Thousands of Generations

Factors Underlying Long-term Sustainability

1) The sea’s productive capacity was1) The sea’s productive capacity was undiminishedundiminished

2) Technological change was2) Technological change was very slowvery slow

3) Exploitation was3) Exploitation was localizedlocalized• Peoples’Peoples’ mobility was limitedmobility was limited• Users knew resource limitationsUsers knew resource limitations in their in their

placesplaces• Societies decidedSocieties decided who could fish wherewho could fish where

and enforced this privilege and enforced this privilege effectivelyeffectively

How Fishing Has Changed

> 1900> 1900

Limited mobility Limited mobility & fishing power& fishing power

Devastating mobilityDevastating mobility& fishing power& fishing power

TechnologTechnologyyHull

Propulsion

Gear

Navigation

Fish-finding

Preserving Few options

Wood

< 1900< 1900

On-board freezing& processing

Steel

Wind Fossil fuel

Synthetic fiberNatural fiber

Sun & stars GPS & radio

Trial & error Sonar & satellite

F. Berkes et al. (2006). Science 311: 1557-58

Globalization, roving bandits and marine resources

Spread of Sea Urchin Fishing for Japanese Market

Time

Consequences of Frontier Use

Resource Resource UsersUsers

““Renewable” Renewable” Resources Resources

1950 1970 1990 2010

Existing Governance AllowsIndustrial Fishing to Go Almost

Anywhere

Specific Consequences of Ocean Frontier Use

1) Fisheries are collapsing2) Megafauna are disappearing3) Habitat-formers are vanishing4) Noxious species are proliferating

1

2 3 4

Cascading effects of the loss of apex predatory sharks from a coastal ocean. R.A. Myers et al. (2007). Science 315:

1846-1850

Other Technologies Have Changed Too< 1900< 1900

• Ships• Telegraph cables

> 1900> 1900

• Much bigger ships• Oil & gas• Pipelines• Optical cables• Wind farms• Tidal power• Wave power• Aquaculture• LNG facilities

Intense CompetitionIntense Competitionfor Spacefor Space

Little Little competitioncompetition

for spacefor space

The Biggest Difference Between the Sea and the Land

• In the sea, different authorities govern sectors separately, even in the same place, while…

• On land, one authority governs all sectors

in each place

Sectors and Primary Management Agencies

• Fisheries: NOAA Fisheries• Aquaculture: ?NOAA Fisheries?• Oil & gas: Minerals Management Service (MMS)• Wind, wave and tidal power: MMS• Pipelines: MMS and Army Corps of Engineers• Dredging: Army Corps of Engineers• LNG: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission• Discharges: Environmental Protection Agency• Navigation: Coast Guard• Non-consumptive recreation: ???• Biodiversity conservation ???

Each Activity Can Affect the Others!Each Activity Can Affect the Others!

What’s Wrong With Sectoral Management?

As competition increases:• Sectors gain influence over agencies

and legislative committees responsible for overseeing them, which then champion “their” sectors instead of minimizing the harm they cause

• Each sector, agency and legislative committee ignores biodiversity andand the others’ resources and interests

• Biodiversity always loses

Resolving mismatches inU.S. ocean governanceScience 313: 617-618

L.B. Crowder, G. Osherenko, O.R. Young, S. Airamé, E.A. Norse, N. Baron,J.C. Day, F. Douvere, C.N. Ehler,B.S. Halpern, S.J. Langdon,K.L. McLeod, J.C. Ogden, R.E.

Peach,A.A. Rosenberg & J.A. Wilson

(2006)

A Recent Paper Offers a Workable Alternative to Sectoral Management

and Roving Banditry

Major Findings of Crowder et al. (2006)

1) Our oceans are in trouble because governance is not yet configured to manage them

a) Decision making is fragmentedfragmented, with majoroverlaps andand gaps in governing authority

b) Natural processes and governance happen on different spatialspatial scales

c) Natural processes and governance happen on different temporaltemporal scales

2) Comprehensive ecosystem-based management using zoning can alleviate these problems

Scientific Consensus on MarineEcosystem-based Management (2005)

www.compassonline.orgwww.compassonline.org

EBM:• protects ecosystem composition,

structure & functioning• is place-basedplace-based, focusing on specific

ecosystems• addresses connections among air, land &

sea• integrates ecological, social, economic &

institutional perspectives

Some Advocate an Ecosystem Approach

to Managing SectorsEcosystem-based fishery

management Science 305: 346-347

E.K. Pikitch, C. Santora, E.A. Babcock, A. Bakun, R. Bonfil, D.O. Conover,P. Dayton, P. Doukakis, D. Fluharty, B. Heneman, E.D. Houde, J. Link,P.A. Livingston, M. Mangel,M.K. McAllister, J. Pope &K.J. Sainsbury (2004)

Some Advocate Marine Spatial Management

that is NOTNOT Ecosystem-based

NeitherNeither the Ecosystem Approach to Management nornor Spatial Management is

NecessarilyNecessarilyEcosystem-based Management

Ecosystem Approachto Management Spatial Management

Ecosystem-basedEcosystem-basedManagementManagement

Ecosystem Ecosystem Approach to Approach to

ManagementManagement •Sector-based unlike land

management•Brings ecosystem thinking to sectoral management•Each sectorsector has one management authority•Incremental improvement; not a paradigm shift• Can’t solve the problems

•Place-based likeland management

•Manages all sectors in each specified place (ecosystem)

•Each placeplace has one management authority•Fundamental improvement; a paradigm shift•Can solve the problems

Ecosystem-based Ecosystem-based ManagementManagement

Ecosystem-based Management Using Zoning has Two Major Benefits

Zoning

• Addresses the spatial heterogeneity spatial heterogeneity in ecosystems and human uses

• Dramatically reduces roving banditry, endless conflicts, uncertainty and high costs by separating incompatibleseparating incompatible usesuses

Some Important Things Happen Only in Certain Places

Some Human Uses are Incompatiblewith One Another

Parasailing Wind Farms

Basic Principles ofEcosystem-based Management

•Delineate ecoregions and zones within them, with one managing authority for each zone•Protect and recover biodiversity and

ecosystem functions•Use best available science•Educate the public•Acknowledge existing obligations and rights•Make planning open, inclusive and

accountable•Use adaptive management: learn, then use

what you learn to do things better

A Simple System for Zoning by Objective

• No-go zonesNo-go zones (e.g., seabird nesting colonies) so sensitive that humans (except permitted researchers) are prohibited (very limited)

• Marine reservesMarine reserves prohibit all extractive and other harmful uses

• Buffer zonesBuffer zones surround or adjoin marine reserves and allow extractive uses that don’t degrade habitats

• General use zonesGeneral use zones allow a wide range of permissible activities

The most dangerous phrase in the language is:

“We’ve always done it this way”

Admiral Grace Hopper

1906-1992

What a Very Wise Person Taught Us

Two Final Thoughts

• We know how to do this. Americans have been doing it on land, more or less, for many decades. The Australians have been doing it in the sea since the ’80s. The Germans, Dutch and Belgians are doing it now. If we ask nicely, they’ll show us how it’s done.

• If we don’t do this now, our children and grandchildren will curse us for our

inaction.

It’s time to make it happenIt’s time to make it happen

Special Thanks to

• Larry Crowder, Jim Wilson, Oran Young, Gail Osherenko, Jon Day, Fanny Douvere, Bud Ehler, Lance Morgan, John Ogden & Ransom Myers

• National Center for Ecological Analysis & Synthesis, UNESCO, David & Lucile Packard Foundation