(1) Alistair Hobday, Jason Hartog (1) CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Castray Esplanade, Hobart, TAS 7001 Alistair.Hobday@csiro.au
Management of ocean spaces has tended to be based on static management approaches including fixed boundaries, despite recognition that the ocean has interannual variability on a range of time scales from daily to seasonal to decadal. An Australian example of this variability is the seasonal extension and retreat of major coastal currents carrying warm water to southern latitudes. Marine species respond to this variability by moving in space or adjusting the timing of their activities, behaviour that is well known to many marine users and managers. Dynamic management strategies involve changing the rules around permitted activities in response to realtime or projected variability and can account for both spatial and temporal species responses. A range of options have been proposed but with relatively limited implementation. Dynamic ocean management may be an approach that offers immediate benefits, such as a reduction in the area where activities are restricted, however, future benefits are also possible through preconditioning ocean users for a different future under climate change. Preconditioning has a number of definitions, including exposing an animal to a stressor in order to prepare it for a later encounter with a similar stressor, however, here we explore the use of preconditioning with regard to preparing decision makers for coping with novel conditions and the changed distributions of species.