199 



fact that the ecosystem in the Bering Sea must be managed as a 



whole." 45 



Environmental organizations voiced similar concerns. For 



example, the Center for Environmental Education (now the 



Center for Marine Conservation) emphasized that marine 



ecosystem health and stability is the primary goal of the 



MMPA. The Center called attention to the numerous problems 



that result from the failure to fulfill this goal and manage 



marine ecosystems from a multi-species perspective: 



With single species management, attention is 

 focused on the dynamics of particular species 

 or stocks without explicit regard to the 

 interactions between those species or stocks 

 and other components of the ecosystem; 



Single species management depends on a degree 

 of stability and resilience of the resource 

 that may not exist; 



Attention is focused on the output from 

 resource use, without regard to the input of 

 energy, of other natural resources, and of 

 human skill and labor required to secure the 

 output ; 



Single species management may admit, and even 

 encourage, overexploitation. 



The greatest problem facing policy makers is 

 that presently we have insufficient information 

 about the numerical and functional 

 relationships between species. Diligent 

 acquisition of such information is of utmost 

 importance if we are ever to be able to make 

 conscientious resource management decisions. 

 We must be able to predict the effects of 

 proposed management strategies, recognizing 



[19653-0001/DA940590.060] -29- 



