With the passage of the Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Act) in 1976, the United States Federal Government took on the responsibility to develop a comprehensive marine fisheries management system for United States waters in the Exclusive Economic Zone.  Under the Act, a system of marine Regional Fishery Management Councils (Councils) was created and charged with the responsibility to develop fishery management plans (FMPs) for important marine fisheries.  The Councils, under the guidance of the U.S. Department of Commerce, have over the past several decades, developed FMPs for numerous marine species.  The recent reauthorization of the Act in 2006 has required study on the state of science for integration of ecosystem considerations in regional fisheries management problems.  The symposium will build on the work of the recent studies and focus on reporting of progress with the Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM) in order to provide a comprehensive review and analysis on the use of new approaches for Federal and Council marine fisheries programs.  An EAM is a critical approach to management and one that provides a comprehensive framework for marine and coastal decision making.  In contrast to individual species or single issue management, EAM considers a wider range of relevant ecological, environmental, and human factors bearing on societal choices regarding resource use and protection.  A critical element for a successful EAM strategy is integrated ecosystem assessments (IEAs).  An IEA is a formal synthesis and quantitative analysis of existing information on relevant natural and socio-economic factors in relation to specified ecosystem management objectives.  Symposium participants will review recent work on the development and use of EAMs and IEAs, Ecosystem Based Modeling Theory (EBM), Ecosystem Comparisons and System Descriptions, Ecosystem Modeling, Ecosystem-level fisheries decision criteria, EBM Case Studies, and Implementation and Governance considerations.