Kenneth Sherman
Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA

Key words: large marine ecosystems, productivity, fish and fisheries, ecosystem health, socioeconomics, governance, sustainability, ecosystem-based management.

Abstract.
A new paradigm is emerging that advocates an ecosystem-based approach to the assessment and management of Baltic Sea resources. The principles adopted by coastal nations under the terms of the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) have been interpreted as supportive of the management of living marine resources and coastal habitats from an ecosystems perspective. In addition, Chapter 17 of Agenda 21 adopted at the Earth Summit and the Global Program of Action (GPA) for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land Based Activities both adopt an ecosystems perspective for holistic management of habitat, pollution discharges, and living marine resources. A ieglobal common understandingld on the management of coastal and marine resources was elaborated by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in 1998. The application of these principles is being introduced to the nine countries bordering on the Baltic Sea ecosystem with a GEF-funded project to be initiated in 2001. The strategic elements have been organized into five modules focused on the key indicators of ecosystem change important to adaptive resource management. The modules are focused on Baltic Sea productivity, fish and fisheries, pollution and ecosystem health, socioeconomic conditions, and resource governance practices. The project is centered about the activities of the five countries provided with financial assistance under the terms of the GEF grant ? Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. These countries will be working in close collaboration with western Baltic countries, the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the International Baltic Sea Fisheries Commission (IBSFC), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Swedish International Development Administration (SIDA), and other institutions on assessment and management actions to promote ecosystem sustainability and continuing socioeconomic benefits to the people of the region.