scholarly journals How good is your marine protected area at curbing threats?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirta Zupan
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Area ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Threat Assessment ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Coastal Environments ◽  
Multiple Use ◽  
Reduction Capacity

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are key tools to mitigate human impacts in coastal environments, promoting sustainable activities to conserve biodiversity. The designation of MPAs alone may not result in the lessening of some human threats, which is highly dependent on management goals and the related specific regulations that are adopted. Here, we develop and operationalize a local threat assessment framework. We develop indices to quantify the effectiveness of MPAs (or individual zones within MPAs in the case of multiple-use MPAs) in reducing anthropogenic extractive and non-extractive threats operating at local scale, focusing specifically on threats that can be managed through MPAs. We apply this framework in 15 Mediterranean MPAs to assess their threat reduction capacity. We show that fully protected areas effectively eliminate extractive activities, whereas the intensity of artisanal and recreational fishing within partially protected areas, paradoxically, is higher than that found outside MPAs, questioning their ability at reaching conservation targets. In addition, both fully and partially protected areas attract non-extractive activities that are potential threats. Overall, only three of the 15 MPAs had lower intensities for the entire set of eight threats considered, in respect to adjacent control unprotected areas. Understanding the intensity and occurrence of human threats operating at the local scale inside and around MPAs is important for assessing MPAs effectiveness in achieving the goals they have been designed for, informing management strategies, and prioritizing specific actions.

scholarly journals Guidelines for Marine Protected Areas

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 352
Author(s):  
Mark Westera
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Site Selection ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Marine Protected Area ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Economic Aspect ◽  
Financial Sustainability ◽  
Broad Application

Guidelines to marine protected areas is a collation of efforts from the IUCN, NOAA and Cardiff University, among others. It is aimed at managers and would be managers of marine parks, but will also be of use to anyone involved in the Marine Protected Area (MPA) process from conceptual planning to establishment, monitoring and management. Its broad application takes into account the hurdles that a manager is likely to encounter. There are nine sections, an introduction, an evaluation of the legal framework required to successfully establish MPAs, a discussion on dealing with all the relevant parties, involving communities and other stakeholders, site selection, planning and managing MPAs, zoning, evaluating economic aspect and financial sustainability, and finally a section on research, monitoring and review. Boxes are used throughout the text within each chapter to summarize important points and make for quick reference to the topic of that chapter.

scholarly journals Spain and Marine Protected Areas: Recent Developments

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 847-855
Author(s):  
Mariano J. Aznar
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Marine Protected Area ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Barcelona Convention ◽  
Specially Protected Areas

Abstract Spain has just declared a new marine protected area in the Mediterranean. This follows a protective trend taken by Spanish authorities during the last decades and has permitted Spain to honour its international compromises under the Convention on Biological Diversity. It contributes to a framework of protected areas established under conventional regimes such as OSPAR, RAMSAR or EU Natura 2000. The new area protects a ‘cetacean corridor’ and will be inscribed in the list of Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance under the Barcelona Convention regional framework.

CASCADING HUMAN IMPACTS, MARINE PROTECTED AREAS, AND THE STRUCTURE OF MEDITERRANEAN REEF ASSEMBLAGES

2005 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiorenza Micheli ◽  
Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi ◽  
Silvia Gambaccini ◽  
Iacopo Bertocci ◽  
Costanza Borsini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Human Impacts

scholarly journals Benthic impacts of recreational divers in a Mediterranean Marine Protected Area

2009 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 517-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Luna ◽  
Carlos Valle Pérez ◽  
Jose Luis Sánchez-Lizaso
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Marine Protected Area ◽  
Scuba Diving ◽  
Field Sampling ◽  
Frequent Type ◽  
Recreational Scuba ◽  
Benthic Impacts

Abstract Luna, B., Valle Pérez, C., and Sánchez-Lizaso, J. L. 2009. Benthic impacts of recreational divers in a Mediterranean Marine Protected Area. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 517–523. The features of many Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have increased scuba diving tourism in these areas. Impacts caused by recreational scuba activity vary widely among different divers with differing underwater behaviour. We studied diver underwater behaviour, the effects on the natural environment, and the characteristics that may influence diver behaviour. In all, 181 recreational divers were followed, and contacts and the effects produced were recorded. Information on diver profile and dive features was recorded. Field sampling revealed that 175 of the divers observed (96.7%) made at least one contact with the seabed, with a mean contact of 41.20 ± 3.55 (mean ± s.e.) per diver per 10 min. Flapping was the most frequent type of contact, and the main damage by this action was to raise sediment. Contact with the seabed was greater for males than for females, inexperienced divers than for experienced divers, camera or lantern (dive light) users than for non-users, and divers unaccompanied by a dive leader or who had not been briefed about avoiding seabed contact before undertaking a dive than for accompanied or briefed divers. A greater understanding of the causes of harmful behaviour may be useful for stricter management, reducing diving damage and assuring the sustainability of this activity in MPAs.

scholarly journals Introduction: an empirical framework for deconstructing the realities of governing marine protected areas

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter JS Jones ◽  
Elizabeth M De Santo ◽  
Wanfei Qiu
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Area ◽  
International Workshop ◽  
Analysis Framework ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Governance Strategies ◽  
Management Approaches ◽  
Empirical Framework

Debates surrounding governance strategies for marine protected areas (MPAs) have to date largely focused on top-down, bottom-up or market-based approaches. Whilst co-management approaches for governing MPAs are widely accepted as a way forward for combining these three strategies, many interpretations of this concept exist and it is applied in many different ways in MPAs in different contexts. This study aimed to explore governance through a case-study approach based on a specifically developed empirical framework – the marine protected area governance (MPAG) analysis framework – to increase understanding of how to combine the three governance approaches. A dialogue with MPA practitioners in 20 case studies helped shape the MPAG analysis framework as it developed, and an international workshop was held on ‘Governing MPAs’, bringing the practitioners together to compare results and further develop the framework. This paper provides an overview of the topic and research methodology and briefly introduces the case studies further explored in this special issue

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document