Ecosystem management is an approach to natural resources coordination that aims to ensure the long period sustainability and persistence of an ecosystems function while meeting socioeconomic, political, and cultural necessities.
The Ecosystem Approach is an ecological method for an integrated management of land, living resources and water that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable process . Actualization of the ecosystem approach is thought that will help to reach a balance of the terms of the Convention of Biological Diversity. The ecosystem approach has become from its inception the guiding circumstances for integrated management to the Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme (MAP/UNEP, called Barcelona Convention), especially for policy implementations and all future conservation developments with an ultimate terms of achieving the Good Environmental Status of the Mediterranean Sea and Coast. The implementation highlights on 11 ecological objectives, such as: maintain and enhance biodiversity, restriction of non-indigenous species, biologically safe limits of fish and shellfish, accumulate marine food webs, prevent eutrophication, safeguard sea-floor integrity, maintain hydrographic conditions for coastal and marine ecosystems, preserve natural dynamics of coastal areas and their ecosystems, restrict environmental pollution influencing marine ecosystems and human health, measures for decreasing marine litter, reduce noise from human activities. In general, the EcAp has the main goal to promote conservation and sustainable development with basic ecological practices and reduction of environmental pollution from anthropogenic activities in areas which are fragile sensitive ecological systems.