Coastal ecosystems: Human impact and ecosystem indicators

Recent studies have shown a world-wide transformation of coastal ecosystems due to fisheries and other human impact factors. A sustainable development is only possible through an adaptive ecosystem based management. There is accordingly a strong national need for an increased competence in marine ecosystem management and research. The change from single-species to ecosystem -based management must be reflected by a similar change in research competence. This becomes even more important as monitoring and re search is the two central elements in adaptive management. In the proposed program we will increase NINA's competence and role in coastal ecosystem management by initiating research projects in two areas. First, in order to investigate how different natur al and human drivers affect the structure and function of coastal ecosystems, we will design and implement a large-scale case-study of human impact in a Norwegian coastal ecosystem. Secondly, NINA operates extensive national monitoring programs on seabird s and salmon. These top predators are important indicators of the marine ecosystem. We will develop the scientific basis for implementing these monitoring programs as marine ecosystem indicators by investigating the relationships with other marine ecosyst em properties and by investigating the historical baseline for these indicators. The proposed studies will be important in order to achieve a sustainable management and development of coastal areas. In particular, the studies will give valuable knowledge relevant for coastal area planning, monitoring of marine biodiversity, development of marine protected areas and development of marine ecosystem indicators.