The studies published in this volume were selected from among those presented at the Symposium on the Status and Future of Large Marine Ecosystems of the Indian Ocean, held in Mombasa, Kenya in 1993. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Assessment, sustainability, and monitoring of coastal ecosystems : an ecological perspective / Kenneth Sherman -- Trawl survey strategies and applications for assessing the changing state of fish communities in large marine ecosystems / Micheni J. Ntiba -- Strategy and application for sampling large marine ecosystems with the continuous plankton recorder and undulating oceanographic recorder / aquashuttle / Robert Williams and J.A. Lindley -- An overview of the status of marine pollution in the East African region / C. Mweu Nguta -- Application of the large marine ecosystem concept to the Somali Current / Ezekiel N. Okemwa -- Coastal upwelling and other processes regulating ecosystem productivity and fish production in the Western Indian Ocean / Andrew Bakun [and others] -- Seasonal fluctuations in plankton biomass and productivity in the ecosystems of the Somali Current, Gulf of Aden, and Southern Red Sea / Martien A. Baars [and others] -- Role of oceanic fronts in promoting productivity in the Southern Indian Ocean / Harilal B. Menon -- Mean monthly sea-level variation and its relation to large-scale ocean circulation in the Southwest Indian Ocean / S. Ragoonaden -- Spiny lobsters in the Indian Ocean : speciation in relation to oceanographic ecosystems / David E. Pollock -- Spatial-temporal structure of Indian Ocean ecosystems : a large-scale approach / S.A. Piontkovski -- The role of estuaries in large marine ecosystems : examples from the Natal Coast, South Africa / J. Andrew [and others] -- Fisheries resources of Zanzibar : problems and recommendations / Christopher A. Muhando and N.S. Jiddawi -- The Agulhas current ecosystem with particular reference to dispersal of fish larvae / Lynnath E. Beckley -- The Red Sea as an extension of the Indian Ocean / Abebe Getahun -- Status and future of the St. Lucia lake system, a large estuary of the southwestern Indian Ocean / Anthony Tomks Forbes and D.P. Cyrus -- Biologic production and fishery potential of the exclusive economic zone of India / Bhagirat N. Desai and R.M.S. Bhargava -- Implications of Agenda 21 of United Nations Conference on environment and development on marine resources in East Africa with particular reference to Kenya and Tanzania / Gabriel M. Mailu -- Somali current large marine ecosystem and related issues / Lewis M. Alexander -- Legal constraints and options for total ecosystem management of large marine ecosystems / Eddy Somers -- Application of integrated environmental management toward solving the problems affecting the Tana River Delta and its linkage with the Somali Current ecosystem / Peter Anton Raal and Laurie Barwell -- Marine conservation areas in Kenya / Sam D.M. Weru -- Indian Ocean large marine ecosystems : need for national and regional framework for conservation and sustainable development / S.N. Dwivedi and A.K. Choubey -- Regional stewardship for sustainable marine resources management in the Bay of Bengal / Hazizi b. Aziz Ahmad [and others] -- Summary and recommendations / Ezekiel N. Okemwa [and others]. Coastal resources of developed and developing nations are being adversely affected by human activities and environmental degradation, and the fate of the Indian Ocean is no exception. In an effort to improve the current state of this important large marine ecosystem (LME) and to prevent future damage, a symposium on the status and future of LMEs of the Indian Ocean was held in Kenya by marine experts from the region. It was organized to review results from various studies including reports on the Somali Current, the Agulhas Current, the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, and a number of other LMEs, representing contributions from 19 countries. The studies in this book were selected from among those presented at the symposium and have been peer reviewed.