AORA Working Group on the Ecosystem Approach to Ocean Health and Stressors. Linking ocean-use sectors and ecosystem components. April 2019.

Report of the AORA EA2OHS WG Task 4: Linking ocean-use sectors and ecosystem components: Characterizing the relationships (and impacts) of ocean-use sectors and stressors (pressures) from those sectors on the ecosystem services and “health” of the AORA region.
Task Group 4 (TG4) of the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance (AORA) Working Group on Ecosys-tem Approach to Ocean Health and Stressors (EA2OHS WG) was formed in 2017 to link sectors and ecosystems by characterizing all ocean-use sectors, stressors, and ecosystem characteristics; and to relate them to one another and to ecosystem good and services. The end goal was to “explore the research priorities underlying the impact of stressors and mitigation measures on society”. To tackle this, TG4 developed a series of four interrelated matrices to form the basis of a workshop to refine and review them. These matrices explored (1) Linkages between Ocean Use Sectors and Ocean Stressors, (2) Linkages between Ocean Stressors and Ecosystem Components, (3) Linkages between Ecosystem Components and Ocean Use Sectors, and (4) Linkages between Ocean Use Sectors and Ecosystem Goods and Services.