What could EBM look like in Tasman and Golden Bays?

We are applying the knowledge, tools and processes from other Sustainable Seas Challenge projects to a case study focused on the health of the seafloor in Tasman and Golden Bays. 

We are working with researchers in the Managed Seas Programme, to trial several modelling tools which will help us predict how animals and plants living on the seafloor respond to different management scenarios. We are exploring which tools are easy to use by non-modellers and provide the best information to make management decisions. 

We will trial a decision-making framework which includes non-monetary values, such as social, cultural or ecological values. We will also trial the use of system mapping in EBM for the marine environment. This will help build shared understandings of how financial, social, management, environment and ecology connect. 

Finally, we will use SeaSketch (a collaborative marine planning tool) to store information about the Bays and use it, the models and the system mapping approach to identify knowledge and relationship gaps and prioritise them for future work. Councils, central government agencies, universities and Crown Research Institutes will then be able to use our findings to inform and prioritise science research strategies.