New Metrics for Managing and Sustaining the Ocean’s Bounty

Policies are arising around the world, most recently in the United States, that mandate the implementation of marine spatial planning as a practical pathway towards ecosystem-based management. In the new United States ocean policy, ecosystem services are at the core of marine spatial planning, but there is little guidance on how ecosystem services should be measured. A new framework is shown here for practical, rigorous ecosystem service measurement that highlights contributions from both natural and social systems.