Introduction to the NOAA Integrated Ecosystem Assessment Program: Advancing Ecosystem Based Management

Abstract In the marine science community of practice, the concept of ecosystem-based management (EBM) is a management strategy that incorporates the entire ecosystem, including humans, into resource management decisions and is growing in its use to integrate and manage complex social and marine ecosystems. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) program uses a multidisciplinary framework to help advance EBM and to manage marine resources in an ecosystem context. NOAA has conducted integrated ecosystem assessment research for many years, however, 2020 was the 10-year anniversary of implementation of NOAA’s formal IEA framework around the country. This Coastal Management Journal special issue discusses the ten-plus years of IEA experiences with perspectives about and successes in the development and implementation of the NOAA IEA approach. This volume on the NOAA IEA program comprises six manuscripts ranging in content from the history and origin of IEAs in NOAA, to the development and application of IEA components to advance the tenets of EBM in coastal and marine environments.