Moving marine ecosystem-based management forward

Successful implementation of marine ecosystem-based management (M-EBM) practices will require a diverse toolbox of novel, interoperable, and freely exchanged tools for the marine resource management and conservation community. The process of providing information to marine resources managers and conservation decision makers involves work flows that must be supported by tools to process and synthesize oceanographic, socio-economic and biological data, tools to develop statistical and ecological models that convert that data into useful information, decision support tools for managers and stakeholders, and tools to evaluate and monitor ecosystem responses. To move tool development forward, a consortium of M-EBM tool developers has recently formed and has been developing a draft synopsis of interoperability standards and protocols to help guide collaborative development in this area. In this presentation we outline the emerging standards and protocols for marine geospatial data processing and tool development to support M-EBM and coastal management applications.