Large marine ecosystem

Large marine ecosystem

Large marine ecosystems (LMEs) are regions of the world's oceans, encompassing coastal areas from river basins and estuaries to the seaward boundaries of continental shelves and the outer margins of the major ocean current systems. They are relatively large regions on the order of 200,000 km² or greater, characterized by distinct bathymetry, hydrography, productivity, and trophically dependent populations.

The system of LMEs has been developed by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to identify areas of the oceans for conservation purposes.

Although the LMEs cover only the continental margins and not the deep oceans and oceanic islands, the 64 LMEs produce 95% of the world's annual marine fishery biomass yields. Most of the global ocean pollution, overexploitation, and coastal habitat alteration occur within their waters. NOAA has conducted studies of principal driving forces affecting changes in biomass yields for 33 of the 64 LMEs, which have been peer-reviewed and published in ten volumes [http://www.lme.noaa.gov] .

Large Marine Ecosystems (NOAA)

* East Bering Sea
* Gulf of Alaska
* California Current
* Gulf of California
* Gulf of Mexico
* Southeast U.S. Continental Shelf
* Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf
* Scotian Shelf
* Newfoundland-Labrador Shelf
* Insular Pacific-Hawaiian
* Pacific Central-American Coastal
* Caribbean Sea
* Humboldt Current
* Patagonian Shelf
* South Brazil Shelf
* East Brazil Shelf
* North Brazil Shelf
* West Greenland Shelf
* East Greenland Shelf
* Barents Sea
* Norwegian Shelf
* North Sea
* Baltic Sea
* Celtic-Biscay Shelf
* Iberian Coastal
* Mediterranean Sea
* Canary Current
* Guinea Current
* Benguela Current
* Agulhas Current
* Somali Coastal Current
* Arabian Sea
* Red Sea
* Bay of Bengal
* Gulf of Thailand
* South China Sea
* Sulu-Celebes Sea
* Indonesian Sea
* North Australian Shelf
* Northeast Australian Shelf/Great Barrier Reef
* East-Central Australian Shelf
* Southeast Australian Shelf
* Southwest Australian Shelf
* West-Central Australian Shelf
* Northwest Australian Shelf
* New Zealand Shelf
* East China Sea
* Yellow Sea
* Kuroshio Current
* Sea of Japan
* Oyashio Current
* Sea of Okhotsk
* West Bering Sea
* Chukchi Sea
* Beaufort Sea
* East Siberian Sea
* Laptev Sea
* Kara Sea
* Iceland Shelf
* Faroe Plateau
* Antarctica
* Black Sea
* Hudson Bay
* Arctic Ocean

ee also

* marine ecosystem
*Ecoregion


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