Uncertainty Demands an Adaptive Management Approach to the Use of Marine Protected Areas as Management Tools

2011 ◽  
pp. 351-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel J. Kaiser
2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 765-796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glen Wright ◽  
Julien Rochette

Abstract In recent years, the international community has become increasingly aware of the growing threats to marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (abnj), and international discussions on a new international legally binding are underway. In parallel, some States, through regional organisations, have progressively extended their activities into abnj, particularly through the development of area-based management tools (abmts). In this article, we consider how actors in the Western Indian Ocean (wio) might engage in abnj governance. In particular, we develop some possible scenarios for developing abmts in the wio, including through the development of fisheries closures, the establishment of marine protected areas (mpas), and the adoption of abmts under the auspices of relevant international organisations. We conclude that while the wio is currently not the most advanced region in terms of ongoing efforts to improve the governance of abnj, there are already some positive signals and promising options for the future.


2008 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Jennings

Abstract Jennings, S. 2009. The role of marine protected areas in environmental management. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 16–21. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are one of several tools used to meet management objectives for the marine environment. These objectives reflect political and societal views, and increasingly reconcile fishery and conservation concerns, a consequence of common high-level drivers, such as the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The contribution of MPAs to meeting objectives should be assessed in conjunction with other tools, taking account of the management systems of which they are part. Many of the same factors determine the success of MPAs and other management tools, such as quality of governance and the social and economic situation of people using marine goods and services. Diverse legislation governs MPA designation. Designation could be simplified by prearranged and prenegotiated agreements among all relevant authorities. Agreements could specify how to make trade-offs among objectives, interpret scientific advice, ensure effective engagement among authorities and stakeholders, deal with appeals, and support progressive improvement. The jurisdiction and competence of fishery management authorities mean that they are well placed to contribute to the design, designation, and enforcement of MPAs. Their strengths include well-established procedures for accessing scientific advice, the capacity to work across multiple jurisdictions, experience with MPA management, and access to vessels and personnel for enforcement.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara B Kennedy ◽  
Carlos W Hackradt ◽  
João L Feitosa ◽  
Fabiana C Félix Hackradt

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are important spatial management tools for fish populations by protecting them completely or partially from extractive human uses. As a result an increase of fish density, biomass and size of target species are readily observed within their limits. In this work we aimed to verify the effectiveness of Brazilian MPAs regarding the protection of macro and mesopredators fishes, due to the high fishing pressure exert above them. Four MPAs located within coral reef zones were selected, and were collected using underwater visual census, following a Beyond-BACI design. Inside MPAs were observed higher abundance (F=2,06; p<0,05), biomass (F=1,7; p<0,05) and mean size values (F=1,8; p<0,05) for macrocarnivores fish group only. Although not significant, greater mesopredator abundance was observed outside protected areas, however higher biomass was found inside MPAs. These results suggest that despite the conservation objectives by which MPAs were created for they are effective in providing safe refugee from fisheries for high trophic level species such as serranids. In the absence of top predators mesopredators species increased in numbers, revealing how fisheries can affect the top down regulation of marine food webs.


2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
TIMOTHY R. MCCLANAHAN ◽  
CAROLINE A. ABUNGE ◽  
JOSHUA E. CINNER

SUMMARYIncreasing the chances that resource users engage in and comply with management regulations is a continual problem for many conservation initiatives globally. This is particularly common when resource users perceive more personal costs than benefits from specific management actions. Analysis of interviews with managers and fishers from 22 landing sites along the coast of Kenya indicated how key stakeholders perceived the scale of benefits and costs from different management strategies. Potential underlying causes of divergent perceptions towards different management tools were evaluated, including marine protected areas, no-take fisheries closures, gear use, minimum size of fish caught and species restrictions. The analysis identified three distinct opinion groups: (1) a group of nine landing sites that scaled their preference for most management restrictions neutral to low, with exceptions for minimum sizes of captured fish and gear restrictions; (2) a group of eight landing sites that scaled their preference for the above and species restrictions and closed season higher, and were more neutral about closures and marine protected areas; and (3) a group containing four landing sites and the managers’ offices that rated their preference for the above and closed areas and marine protected areas as high. Logistic regression was used to examine whether these groups differed in wealth, education, age, perceptions of disparity in benefits, dependence on fishing and distance to government marine protected areas. The most frequent significant factor was the resource users’ perceived disparity between the benefits of the management to themselves and their communities, with the benefits to the government. Consequently, efforts to reduce this real or perceived disparity are likely to increase adoption and compliance rates. Most widespread positively-viewed restrictions, such as gear use and minimum size of fish, should be promoted at the national level while other restrictions may be more appropriately implemented at the community level.


AMBIO ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 1328-1340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kjell Grip ◽  
Sven Blomqvist

AbstractGlobally, conflicts between marine nature conservation and fishery interests are common and increasing, and there is often a glaring lack of dialogue between stakeholders representing these two interests. There is a need for a stronger and enforced coordination between fishing and conservation authorities when establishing marine protected areas for conservation purposes. We propose that an appropriate instrument for such coordination is a broad ecosystem-based marine spatial planning procedure, representing neither nature conservation nor fishery. Strategic environmental assessment for plans and programmes and environmental impact assessment for projects are commonly used tools for assessing the environmental impacts of different human activities, but are seldom used for evaluating the environmental effects of capture fisheries. The diversity of fisheries and the drastic effects of some fisheries on the environment are strong arguments for introducing these procedures as valuable supplements to existing fisheries assessment and management tools and able to provide relevant environmental information for an overall marine spatial planning process. Marine protected areas for nature conservation and for protection of fisheries have different objectives. Therefore, the legal procedure when establishing marine protected areas should depend on whether they are established for nature conservation purposes or as a fisheries resource management tool. Fishing in a marine protected area for conservation purpose should be regulated according to conservation law. Also, we argue that marine protected areas for conservation purposes, in the highest protection category, should primarily be established as fully protected marine national parks and marine reserves.


2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
RAY HILBORN

SummaryCalifornia has now largely completed a process for establishing marine protected areas (MPAs) that may be considered a model for other jurisdictions seeking to meet obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity. In the Californian process, a team of scientists established guidelines on the size and spacing of MPAs, as well as requirements for habitat representation and replication. The final outcomes, in terms of proportion of the coast encompassed by MPAs and the distribution and sizes of MPAs, were largely a result of decisions taken by the advisory scientists, rather than by the designated decision makers. Future legislation must recognize the uncertainties associated with benefits of MPAs and specifically allow for adaptive management including explicit experimental tests of uncertainties. The science team should define at the outset the major uncertainties about impacts, and deliberate experimentation and adaptive management should be essential parts of each design. Future legislation should be much more specific about the objectives of the MPAs and specify the percentage of the area that should be set aside as MPAs. Finally, quantitative models rather than guidelines should be used to evaluate the consequences of alternative designs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Concepción Marcos ◽  
David Díaz ◽  
Katharina Fietz ◽  
Aitor Forcada ◽  
Amanda Ford ◽  
...  

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are globally important environmental management tools that provide protection from the effects of human exploitation and activities, supporting the conservation of marine biological diversity, habitats, ecosystems and the processes they host, as well as resources in a broad sense. Consequently, they are also expected to manage and enhance marine ecosystem services and material, non-material, consumptive and non-consumptive goods, and benefits for humans. There is however certain confusion on what constitutes an ecosystem service, and it is not always easy to distinguish between them and societal benefits. The main nuance is that an ecosystem service is the aptitude an ecosystem has or develops naturally or as consequence of a management action, and that manifests through its own properties (productivity, diversity, stability, quality of its key parameters, etc.), while a societal benefit is the economic or other profitability (emotional, educational, scientific, etc.) that humans obtain from said service or quality. In this work, 268 publications, together with our own experiences in the different investigations carried out in the MPAs that are part of the BiodivERsA3-2015-21 RESERVEBENEFIT European project, have been selected, reviewed and discussed to analyze the knowledge status of the expected ecosystem services of MPAs and the societal benefits derived from them, sometimes providing information on their evidence, when they exist. We define and classify the effects of protection, ecosystem services and societal benefits and elaborate a conceptual model of the cause-effect relationships between them.


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