Research Document - 2014/072

An Ecological Risk Assessment Framework (ERAF) for Ecosystem-based Oceans Management in the Pacific Region

By Miriam O, Rebecca Martone, Lucie Hannah, Lorne Greig, Jim Boutillier and Sarah Patton

Abstract

This paper outlines an ecological risk assessment framework (ERAF) to support Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) efforts in the Pacific Region in both the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA) and Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). A systematic, science-based and defensible risk-based decision making structure is needed to help guide the transition from high-level aspirational principles and goals to more tangible and pragmatic objectives, strategies and actions that could be implemented in these areas. We emphasize that this framework builds upon methodologies from existing ecological risk assessment frameworks and processes, including the Australian Ecological Risk Assessment for the Effects of Fishing (ERAEF) and risk frameworks developed for other DFO Large Ocean Management Areas (LOMAs) amongst others. Adapting methodology from these processes has allowed the creation of an ERAF more specifically tailored to the goals and purposes of EBM in the Pacific Region. We describe the methodology and structure of the ERAF, which involves a scoping phase; followed by three increasingly quantitative levels of risk assessment, and discuss how this framework could be used to inform management activities. The ERAF provides methods for calculating risk of harm to an ecosystem from both single and multiple stressors, but more importantly it describes the steps necessary to provide transparent and defensible science-based advice on anthropogenic impacts for ecosystem-based management.

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