An Afterthought: Ecosystem Metrics and Pressure Indicators

Editing the symposium contributions has been an interestingand instructive experience, because they provide a broad overviewof the well-nigh unlimited creativity of marine scientists totry and find building blocks for an ecosystem approach to fisherymanagement. A wealth of ideas appears to be emerging on howdifferent aspects of the state of exploited marine ecosystemscan be measured. Although the metrics produced are commonlyreferred to as "ecosystem indicators", however, it is generallyless clear what they actually indicate. The concept that management must take the wider ranging