Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs)
and
Exclusive Economic Zones
(EEZ)
Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) are made up of coastal areas, river basins, estuaries and seaward boundaries of continental shelves surrounding a continent with an area of 200,000 km² or greater. LMEs produce about 80% of the annual world’s marine fisheries catch. They are centers of coastal ocean pollution and eutrophication, habitat degradation, overfishing, and biodiversity loss. NOAA has determined the physical extent and boundaries of 64 distinct LMEs worldwide based on four linked ecological, rather than political or economic, criteria: bathymetry, hydrography, productivity, and trophic relationships. Using NOAA's 5-module strategy (productivity and oceanography, fish and fisheries, pollution and ecosystem health, socioeconomics and governance), the health of these LMEs can assessed. This allows for tracking their changing states and for taking remedial actions toward recovery and sustainability. LME conservation and management was outlined in the 1982 UN Convention with the Law of the Sea intended to influence positive actions and mitigate threats requiring coordinated actions by governments and civil society. The establishment of EEZs around the world (over 145 states at present) constitutes one of the most far-reaching distributional and institutional changes in the history of the world. The United States' has 11 LMEs and the largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,351,000 km2. Areas of its EEZ are located along the borders of the continuous United States, but are also located in the Caribbean Sea, Pacific Ocean and Arctic Ocean. |
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