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Tools for Communicating

Jane Hawkey/University of Maryland

(From left) Sean Cosgrove of the Conservation Law Foundation, Cindy Yeast of Yeast Communications, Aimme David from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Carmen Yeung of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions listen to Jane Hawkey of the University of Maryland explain the marine spatial planning board game Trade-Off!.

Ecosystem-based management provides an exciting conceptual framework for approaching decision-making about conservation and human-use impacts on the ocean. There are many projects and processes underway across the United States and around the world that are working to understand and implement ecosystem-based management reform. Managers and supporters agree that ecosystem-based management will require fundamental changes in the way all stakeholders view resource management and interpret agency mandates.

For all its promise, however, ecosystem-based management is a complex and challenging concept that requires a broad set of communication tools, especially as we work to bring a wide variety of stakeholders to the table. Ecosystem-based management is not a panacea for ocean health and this, too, must be adequately explained. Supporters and managers must be able to accurately and efficiently communicate both the current challenges in ocean management and the specific ways in which ecosystem-based management could overcome them.

This Web page contains links to several types of resources for those interested in communicating about ecosystem-based management:

• Communications Resources
• Opinion Research Resources
• Audio-Visual and Interactive Resources
  • Image libraries
  • Atlases and Interactive Image Web sites
  • Build Your Own Images
  • Video Links - Ocean Leaders speak about EBM
  • Documentaries and movies about EBM
• EBM in the Media
  • EBM-specific newsletters and publications

To add a link to any of these lists, please email SeaWeb.

Communications Resources

Many organizations, guides and tools can help you develop a strategic approach to communications. These include:

• SeaWeb's EBM Communications Project Tools
  • Talking About a Sea Change: A Guide to Communication About Ecosystem-Based Management
  • Trade-Off!
• SeaWeb’s Strategic Services
• Spitfire Strategies Communications Tools
• Green Media Toolshed
• Communications Leadership Institute, SPIN Project
• Communicating for Results, International Waters Learning Exchange and Resource Network (IW:LEARN)

Opinion Research Resources

SeaWeb investigated the attitudes and opinions of many stakeholder groups a they related to ecosystem-based management. We conducted:

• In-depth interviews with scientists, non-government organizations, ocean and coastal management agencies and ocean industries;
• Focus groups with coastal residents and recreational fishers; and
• A nationwide poll of 1,500 adult Americans.

A majority of this research was undertaken in partnership with the Ocean Conservancy. For more information on the research or associated research projects, please e-mail SeaWeb's Ecosystem-based Management Communications Project.

Links to other ocean-related opinion research:

• SeaWeb
• The Ocean Project

Audio-Visual and Interactive Resources

Image Libraries

• The Marine Photobank
• NOAA Photo Library
• NASA’s Earth Observatory
• Integration and Application Network (University of Maryland) Image Library

Atlases and Interactive Image Web sites

• UN Atlas of the Oceans
• NOAA’s World Ocean Database 2005
• Ocean Atlas of Hawaii
• New York Ocean Atlas
• From Sea to Shining Sea (MCBI)
• Google Earth with Ocean Data

Build Your Own Images

• Integration and Application Network (University of Maryland) Conceptual Diagram Symbol Libraries

Video Links - Ocean Leaders speak about EBM

• The Fourth Global Conference on Oceans Coasts and Islands
  • Steve Murawski, Chief Scientist, NOAA Fisheries Service
  • David Johnson, Executive Secretary: OSPAR Commission
  • Ken Sherman, Large Marine Ecosystems Program, NOAA
  • Veerle Vandeweerd, Co Chair Global Ocean Forum

Documentaries and movies about EBM

• The Port Orford Community Stewardship Area: Rethinking Ocean Management. Green Fire Productions
• Turning the Tide: Sustaining Earth's Large Marine Ecosystems

EBM in the Media

EBM-specific newsletters and publications:

• Marine Ecosystems and Management (MEAM) quarterly newsletter
• Living with the Sea
• Marine Managed Areas: What, Why and Where
• People and Oceans