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Table 1. An Ecosystem approach requires new thinking about how marine ecosystems are defined, and how problems and solutions are framed. (Adopted and modified from Fluharty, 2000; Holling, 1996; Gonzalez, 1996).

• Management scales are nested in a multiple spatial and temporal application of five module multi-sectoral
  suites of indicators ranging in scale from LME’s for the ocean environment into watersheds.
• Ecosystem delineations must be scientifically defensible (e.g. best available science) and administratively
  practical.
• LME boundaries are based on ecological criteria such as ecosystem health, resilience, and stability.
• Ecosystem categories of threat, level of threat, and “distance” from desired restoration condition can be combined to rank ecosystems at risk. Ranks (should be based on a review of quantitative information by a scientific panel with stakeholder participation. Ranks (from e.g. comparative risk assessment(s)) can be employed to plan and prioritize management regulatory agency action for ecosystems at various levels of present and future risk.
• The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) provides a salient perspective definition of an “ecosystem approach to fisheries” that it “strives to balance diverse societal objectives, by taking into account the knowledge and uncertainties about biotic, abiotic and human components of ecosystems and their interactions and applying an integrated approach to fisheries within ecologically meaningful boundaries” (see: http://www.fao.org/docrep/).
• Holling (1996) advocates that “at a minimum, the goal of ecosystem management is understanding to reduce uncertainties, action to maintain or restore resilience (i.e., the ability of a system to absorb change and variation without flipping into a different state where the variables and processes controlling structure and behavior suddenly change) as insurance for the unknown, and creation of incentives for maintaining sustainable systems”.
• NOAA’s strategic vision stated in New Priorities for the 21st Century places its first mission goal to “protect, restore, and manage the use of coastal and ocean resources through ecosystem-based management.” Its objectives under this mission goal are economically, scientifically and socially interdependent.
• Ecosystem-based Management: U.S. ocean and coastal resources should be managed to reflect the relationships among all ecosystem components, including humans and nonhuman species and the environments in which they live. Applying this principle will require defining relevant geographic management areas based on ecosystem, rather than political, boundaries. Excerpt from April 2004 U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, Chapter 3: Setting the Nation’s Sights, at page 32.