The demand for advanced management methods and tools for marine ecosystems is increasing worldwide. Today, many marine ecosystems are significantly affected by disastrous pollution from industrial, agricultural, municipal, transportational, and other anthropogenic sources. The issues of environmental integrity are especially acute in the Mediterranean and Red Sea basins, the cradle of modern civilization. The drying of the Dead Sea is one of the most vivid examples of environmental disintegration with severe negative consequences on the ecology, industry, and wildlife in the area. Strategic management and coordination of international remedial and restoration efforts is required to improve environmental conditions of marine ecosystems in the Middle East as well as in other areas. The NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) held in Nice in October 2003 was designed to: (1) provide a discussion forum for the latest developments in the field of environmentally-conscious strategic management of marine environments, and (2) integrate expertise of ecologists, biologists, economists, and managers from European, American, Canadian, Russian, and Israeli organizations in developing a framework for strategic management of marine ecosystems. The ASI addressed the following issues: Key environmental management problems in exploited marine ecosystems; Measuring and monitoring of municipal, industrial, and agricultural effluents; Global contamination of seawaters and required remedial efforts; Supply Chain Management approach for strategic coastal zones management and planning; Development of environmentally friendly technologies for coastal zone development; Modeling for sustainable aquaculture; and Social, political, and economic challenges in marine ecosystem management.

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Disturbance of Marine Ecosystems: Problems and Solutions.- Meta-Analysis of the Radioactive Pollution of the Ocean.- Marine Protected Areas: A Tool for Coastal Areas Management.- Damage Control in the Coastal Zone: Improving Water Quality by Harvesting Aquaculture-Derived Nutrients.- A Modular Strategy for Recovery and Management of Biomass Yields in Large Marine Ecosystems.- Express Methods of Nondestructive Control for Physiological State of Algae.- Modeling Approaches and Mathematical Foundations of Environmental Management.- Strategic Management of Ecological Systems: A Supply Chain Perspective.- Modelling the Environmental Impacts of Marine Aquaculture.- Addressing Uncertainty in Marine Ecosystems Modelling.- Environmental Games and Queue Models.- Computational Complexity of Modeling Ecosystems.- Policy/Stakeholder Process in Marine Ecosystem Management.- Performance Metrics for Oil Spill Response, Recovery, and Restoration: A Critical Review and Agenda for Research.- The Challenges to Safety in the East Mediterranean: Mathematical Modeling and Risk Management of Marine Ecosystems.- Strategic Management of Marine Ecosystems Using Whole-Ecosystem Simulation Modelling: The 'Back to the Future' Policy Approach.- Management of Contaminated Sediments: Example of Integrated Management Approach.- Towards Using Comparative Risk Assessment to Manage Contaminated Sediments.- Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis: A Framework for Managing Contaminated Sediments.- Barriers to Adoption of Novel Environmental Technologies: Contaminated Sediments.