1 1.10 Application of estuarine and coastal classifications in marine ...

1.10.12 FUTURE DIRECTIONS AND PRIORITY MANAGEMENT NEEDS
Increasing demand for spatial representations of ecosystem attributes (both human and
non-human characteristics) to support environmental characterizations, assessment and
management planning including marine spatial planning are expected to lead to more
comprehensive mapping programs. In Europe, the European Commission is developing broadscale
maps for the Baltic, North, Celtic and western Mediterranean Seas. This project
(EUSeaMap) builds upon the outputs of previous mapping efforts as presented in this chapter to
produce harmonized EUNIS maps across the four regions. In the U.S., President Obama’s Ocean
Policy Task Force released its Interim Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial
Planning in 2009. The framework recommends a comprehensive, integrated approach to
planning and managing uses and activities using the Large Marine Ecosystem or sub-divisions of
LME’s as management units. This major initiative will require significant spatial data gathering,
integration and analyses to support the work of regional planning teams to provide information
on:
1.) important physical and ecological patterns and processes (e.g., basic habitat distributions
and critical habitat functions) that occur in the planning area, including their response to
changing conditions;
2.) the ecological condition and relative ecological importance or values of areas within the
planning area, using regionally-developed evaluation and prioritization schemes;
3.) the relationships and linkages within and among regional ecosystems and the impacts of
anticipated human uses on those connections;
67