ANNEX 1 AN INTEGRATED MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING STRATEGY BASED ON THE NEED FOR CLOSER INTEGRATION OF CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL MONITORING TECHNIQUES

摘要

This annex addresses the problem of how to monitor man's impact on the marine environment in the most cost-effective way. The underlying assumption is that the objective of monitoring is to evaluate the "health" of the marine ecosystem, in much the same way that a doctor assesses the health of a patient. Medical procedures make use of an integrated suite of chemical and biological tests which aim to give a holistic picture of the patient's status, and a similar philosophy is required for diagnosing the ills of the environment. Without a holistic diagnosis which clearly identifies both the effects and their causes, environmental managers will not be in a position to make appropriate decisions affecting the control of anthropogenic inputs to the marine ecosystem.