Cooperative ecosystem management across the Canada–US border: approaches and experiences of transboundary programs in the Gulf of Maine, Great Lakes and Georgia Basin/Puget Sound

Canada and the United States are working cooperatively in three, independent transboundary ecosystem management initiatives in the shared waters of the east coast Bay of Fundy/Gulf of Maine, the interior Great Lakes, and the Georgia Basin/Puget Sound on the west coast. These programs have placed the international boundary, which separates these systems jurisdictionally, into the background in favour of the natural boundaries which define these shared ecosystems. This paper examines the motivation behind the establishment of these three US–Canada cooperative ecosystem management programs, their goals, objectives and priorities, institutional structures, challenges, and progress to date. The experiences and approaches of these three programs, individually and collectively, provide insights that have already proven useful for each initiative and offer valuable perspective for other cooperative ecosystem-based management arrangements worldwide.