Integrating Ecosystem-Based Management Principles of Adaptive Management and Stakeholder Engagement in California Fisheries

California’s fisheries management law, the Marine Life Management Act (MLMA) of 1998, signaled a transformative shift from traditional single-species management to an ecosystem-based approach. In response, the fisheries management community in California is striving to integrate new science and management innovations while maximizing its limited capacity. However, data gaps, high compliance costs, capacity constraints, and limited access to the best available data and technologies persist. Here we present two decision support tools being developed to aid California fisheries managers as they continue to implement ecosystem-based management (EBM). First, to practice adaptive management, a key principle of EBM, managers must know whether and how their decisions are meeting their management objectives over time. Based on a cross-walk of MLMA goals with metrics and indicators from sustainable fishery certification programs, we present a flexible and practical tool for tracking fishery management performance in California. We showcase a draft series of decision trees and questionnaires managers can use to quantitatively or qualitatively measure both ecological and social outcomes, helping them to prioritize management options and limited resources. Second, state fisheries managers acknowledge the need for more effective stakeholder engagement to facilitate and inform decision-making and long-term outcomes, another key principle of EBM. Here, we present a pilot version of a decision-support tool to aid managers in choosing the most appropriate stakeholder engagement strategies in various types of decision contexts. This online tool will help staff identify their engagement goals, when they can strategically engage stakeholders based on their needs, and the fishery characteristics that will inform how engagement strategies are tailored to specific contexts. We also share opportunities to expand these EBM tools to other resource management contexts and scales.