Abstract

Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) regions with unique hydrographic regimes, submarine topography, productivity, and trophically dependent populations. Over the past several decades, some populations of organisms within LMEs have increased and others declined amidst a background of natural environmental perturbation, disposal of urban wastes, aerosol contamination, spills of petrogenic hydrocarbons, overexploitation of fisheries resources, and growing evidence of global changes in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, methane, and ozone. The paper presented at the symposium, with appropriate revision based on peer- review, are given in this volume. Participants were encouraged to synthesize scattered information on biological, physical, and chemical processes affecting decadal fluctuations in biomass yields for LMEs including the Huanghai (Yellow) Sea, Kuroshio Current, Oyashio Current, Gulf of Thailand, and the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem around the Pacific basin, and for the Barents Sea, Gulf of Mexico, the Iberian coastal and Benguela Current ecosystems around the margins of the Atlantic. Participants also provided the results of studies of the geographic extent and boundaries of LMEs and the legal basis for the management of marine resources within LMEs.

Part One: Case Studies of Perturbations in Large Marine Ecosystems

Chapter 1: Introduction to Part One: Case Studies of Perturbations in Large Marine Ecosystems - by K. Sherman

Chapter 2: Changes in the Biomass of the Huanghai Sea Ecosystem - by Q. Tang

Chapter 3: Recent Large-Scale Changes in the Biomass of the Kuroshio Current Ecosystem - by M. Terazaki

Chapter 4: Oceanographic and Biomass Changes in the Oyashio Current Ecosystem - by T. Minoda

Chapter 5: Yield Dynamics as an Index of Biomass Shifts in the Gulf of Thailand Ecosystems - by T. Piyakarnchana

Chapter 6: Large Scale Shifts in Biomass of the Great Barrier Reef Ecosystem - by R. H. Bradbury and C. N. Mundy

Chapter 7: Characteristics and Management of the Benguela as a Large Marine Ecosystem - by R. Crawford, L. V. Shannon, and P. A. Shelton

Chapter 8: Biomass Changes in the Iberian Ecosystem - by T. Wyatt and G. Perez-Gandaras

Chapter 9: Pelagic Production and Variability of the Barents Sea Ecosystem - by H. R. Skjoldal and F. Rey

Chapter 10: Biological Productivity in the Gulf of Mexico: Identifying the Causes of Variability - by W. Richards and M. F. McGowan

Chapter 11: Biomass Flips in Large Marine Ecosystems - by K. Sherman

Part Two: Geographical Perspectives of Large Marine Ecosystems

Chapter 12: Introduction to Part Two: Geographic Perspectives of Large Marine Ecosystems - by L. M. Alexander

Chapter 13: LMEs as Global Management Units - by L. M. Alexander

Chapter 14: Remote Sensing of Large Marine Ecosystems: Uses of CZCS and AVHRR Data - by P. Zion

Chapter 15: Large Marine Ecosystems in the Pacific - by J. Morgan

Chapter 16: The Political Division of Large Marine Ecosystems in the Atlantic Ocean and Some Associated Seas - by J. R. V. Prescott

Chapter 17: Developing a Management Regime for Large Marine Ecosystems - by M. Belsky

Chapter 18: Management of Large Marine Ecosystems - by W. E. Evans