An Ecopolicy Perspective for Sustaining Living Marine Species

The legal regimes currently in place to effectuate sustainability of living marine species are at best disjointed attempts to conserve, manage, and protect species; they are directed at the various parts rather than the whole. These systems lack order and coherence and are thus ineffective in sustaining the living marine ecosystem. The failure is due primarily to the fact that the regimes do not conform to an ecopolicy approach to marine species stewardship. In this article, the most ambitious international and federal attempts to conserve and protect living marine species are identified and changes in ecological perceptions of how living marine species should be managed are exemplified by tracing the philosophical evolution of an international body from one of conservator to preservationist and beyond. An ecopolicy management strategy with pragmatic applications is offered. The proposed strategy is not only possible but plausible in that it can be easily adapted from current resource management regimes, and it moves from conflict to consensus, from a piecemeal approach to a holistic one.