Ecological Risk Assessment Framework (ERAF) feasability and suitability evaluation based on a subset of Significant Ecological Components (SEC) from the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA)

The Pacific Region ERAF provides a comprehensive approach for assessing all threats to marine ecosystems by evaluating cumulative risk from multiple activities to multiple ecosystem components for ecosystem-based management (EBM), improving upon international and national best practices in risk assessment that focus solely on single activities (e.g., ERAFs for assessing fisheries impacts) or single ecosystem-components (e.g., habitat-based risk assessments). This project aims to apply this ERAF in the Pacific Region to the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA) as a pilot project to assess the feasibility and suitability of the ERAF as a tool for determining risk of harm to ecosystem components, and its usefulness for providing transparent and defensible science-based advice on prioritising ecological risk of different activities for ecosystem-based management and MPA management. Because it is based on a subset of SECs and stressors affecting PNCIMA and the resulting scores have not been vetted by experts, the results of this pilot application should not be used for policy or management decisions at this stage.