- Email: [email protected]
Coastal-Marine Conservation: Science and Policy
268
Book reviews
broadest possible audience. While Apollonio attempts to provide applications of HT to human components of fisheries, these require further development to be useful to resource managers. As the author acknowledges, his goal is not to provide a ‘blueprint for the application of HT to marine systems’, rather to show the ‘value of developing such a blueprint’. He has achieved this goal and hopefully his efforts will provide the genesis for the continued incorporation of HT concepts into fisheries management practices. Robert B. Whitlatch Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, CT 06340, USA E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2004.02.013
Coastal-Marine Conservation: Science and Policy G. Carleton Ray and Jerry McCormick Ray. Blackwell Publishing; 2004, ISBN: 0-63205537-5 paperback. US$70.00, xiv+327 pp. In writing this book, Ray and Ray accepted a problem of huge scope, namely (1) outlining the scientific basis needed to understand the essence of coastal marine ecosystem processes, (2) describing important policies and laws that may serve to protect coastal ecosystems and their resources and then (3) using three divergent systems to illustrate the social conflicts of values that are producing conservation crises in these systems. The intended audience appears to be not only students at some level, but also conservationists, managers, policy makers and the interested public. The book is reasonably successful in meeting its goals and is worth promoting. What I find most compelling about the book and its approach is the inclusion of a wealth of social science information on conservation policies, laws, agreements and regulations, both at international and national levels. The merging of natural science with the social science aspects of conservation helps distinguish the book from others. Admittedly, limitations of space prevented in-depth descriptions of the effectiveness and limitations of the various conservation policies, but by identifying so many of them, the authors guide readers to further study. Few natural scientists have as much experience as the authors with the social science tools of international and governmental protection of marine resources and ecosystems. The three ecosystems chosen for detailed review, the Chesapeake Bay, the Bering Sea and the Bahamas, vary from temperate to boreal to tropical in environment. Moreover, they suffer different environmental problems that serve to illustrate issues of wide applicability. I endorse the scope of problems and policy issues posed by these three reasonably well-studied systems. I am personally familiar with the conservation challenges in each of these three coastal marine systems to conclude that Ray and Ray describe the examples with reasonable accuracy and appropriately wide scope.
Book reviews
269
The authors’ general perspective of conservation problems and their solution is reassuringly holistic in this book. Marine resources are viewed not as independent populations, but rather in their functional context as interacting and interdependent members of biological communities and as components of coastal ecosystems. Such an ecosystem-based approach is critical to effective management and conservation in the marine environment. I am sorry that the book did not attempt to describe adaptive management as a tool by which to test hypotheses about complexity of ecosystem interactions and thereby improve policies and application of laws designed to protect and conserve species. This practical approach to management is an important means of determining sustainable practices in our present state of incomplete knowledge of ecosystem interconnections. Likewise, I found disappointing the absence of detailed mention of habitat restoration and its growing importance in environmental and natural resource management. The book is well produced with an abundance of figures, tables, photographs, and inserted boxes containing short case evaluations by experts. I appreciate the extensive citations to original literature organized by chapter. I consider the book a success, especially valuable as an introduction to policy aspects of coastal conservation for students in the environmental sciences. Charles H. Charles H. Peterson Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morehead City, NC 28557, USA E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2004.01.008
Book reviews
broadest possible audience. While Apollonio attempts to provide applications of HT to human components of fisheries, these require further development to be useful to resource managers. As the author acknowledges, his goal is not to provide a ‘blueprint for the application of HT to marine systems’, rather to show the ‘value of developing such a blueprint’. He has achieved this goal and hopefully his efforts will provide the genesis for the continued incorporation of HT concepts into fisheries management practices. Robert B. Whitlatch Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, CT 06340, USA E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2004.02.013
Coastal-Marine Conservation: Science and Policy G. Carleton Ray and Jerry McCormick Ray. Blackwell Publishing; 2004, ISBN: 0-63205537-5 paperback. US$70.00, xiv+327 pp. In writing this book, Ray and Ray accepted a problem of huge scope, namely (1) outlining the scientific basis needed to understand the essence of coastal marine ecosystem processes, (2) describing important policies and laws that may serve to protect coastal ecosystems and their resources and then (3) using three divergent systems to illustrate the social conflicts of values that are producing conservation crises in these systems. The intended audience appears to be not only students at some level, but also conservationists, managers, policy makers and the interested public. The book is reasonably successful in meeting its goals and is worth promoting. What I find most compelling about the book and its approach is the inclusion of a wealth of social science information on conservation policies, laws, agreements and regulations, both at international and national levels. The merging of natural science with the social science aspects of conservation helps distinguish the book from others. Admittedly, limitations of space prevented in-depth descriptions of the effectiveness and limitations of the various conservation policies, but by identifying so many of them, the authors guide readers to further study. Few natural scientists have as much experience as the authors with the social science tools of international and governmental protection of marine resources and ecosystems. The three ecosystems chosen for detailed review, the Chesapeake Bay, the Bering Sea and the Bahamas, vary from temperate to boreal to tropical in environment. Moreover, they suffer different environmental problems that serve to illustrate issues of wide applicability. I endorse the scope of problems and policy issues posed by these three reasonably well-studied systems. I am personally familiar with the conservation challenges in each of these three coastal marine systems to conclude that Ray and Ray describe the examples with reasonable accuracy and appropriately wide scope.
Book reviews
269
The authors’ general perspective of conservation problems and their solution is reassuringly holistic in this book. Marine resources are viewed not as independent populations, but rather in their functional context as interacting and interdependent members of biological communities and as components of coastal ecosystems. Such an ecosystem-based approach is critical to effective management and conservation in the marine environment. I am sorry that the book did not attempt to describe adaptive management as a tool by which to test hypotheses about complexity of ecosystem interactions and thereby improve policies and application of laws designed to protect and conserve species. This practical approach to management is an important means of determining sustainable practices in our present state of incomplete knowledge of ecosystem interconnections. Likewise, I found disappointing the absence of detailed mention of habitat restoration and its growing importance in environmental and natural resource management. The book is well produced with an abundance of figures, tables, photographs, and inserted boxes containing short case evaluations by experts. I appreciate the extensive citations to original literature organized by chapter. I consider the book a success, especially valuable as an introduction to policy aspects of coastal conservation for students in the environmental sciences. Charles H. Charles H. Peterson Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morehead City, NC 28557, USA E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2004.01.008