Integrated Ecosystem Assessment Program

The NOAA Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) Program is a NOAA-wide initiative that oversees the direction and execution of Integrated Ecosystem Assessments within the United States ocean and coastal ecosystems. The program has a commitment to ensure the best available science is used to inform management decisions. The program does this by implementing an iterative multi-step approach that provides a framework to support ecosystem-based management - leveraging and integrating existing science and research activities and programs in NOAA and also building additional capacity within the IEA program to assess a marine ecosystem as a whole to provide natural resource managers with a broader understanding of the ecosystem and make fully informed decisions. The program strives to be inclusive, building a constantly growing interdisciplinary network of science and management partners both internal and external to NOAA.

The program currently has five active regional programs:

• Alaska
• California Current
• Gulf of Mexico
• Hawai‘i
• Northeast

The regional programs develop 3-year regional work plans and implement Integrated Ecosystem Assessments in their regional marine ecosystem. They do this by conducting leading-edge ecosystem research and fostering collaborations with internal and external research partners to develop and advance the needed science capacity to support the decision-support needs of regional resource management partners in an ecosystem context.

The IEA steering committee consists of representatives from each of the regions, most of NOAA’s line offices, and for several specific topics such as climate change and human dimensions. The steering committee, with the program office, leads and advances development and implementation of the program including establishing goals, priorities, and strategies; providing guidance on funding, communication efforts, and agency level initiatives; oversees topical program working groups; and ensures coordination and communication among the regions and across different agency line offices and program partners. The steering committee develops a National 3-year plan that informs regions’ program implementation.

The IEA program is proud to have IEA partners sit both within and external to NOAA. IEA partners have been involved with:

• Fisheries Management Councils
• National Marine Sanctuaries
• Regional Planning Bodies
• Other federal agencies
• State agencies
• Tribal governments
• Non-governmental organizations

References:

1. NOAA Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) Program National 3-year Plan (Fiscal Years 2019-2021)