MPA News
Notes & news: Madagascar – US – Phoenix Islands – Protected area management – Great Barrier Reef – Disaster risk reduction – Nudists – Bering Sea Canyons
Madagascar designates three new MPAs, doubles MPA coverage Madagascar has announced it is designating three new community-led MPAs that together will reportedly double the surface of the country’s MPA system. The three new sites – Soariake Marine Park on the southwest coast, and Ankarea and Ankivonjy Marine Parks on the northwest coast – will protect diverse coral populations, as well as mangrove habitat, marine mammals, whale sharks, and more. Together the MPAs will cover about 3100 km2 in area. A press release by the Wildlife Conservation Society, which has worked at the three sites to help develop a community-driven MPA…
The 30% no-take target of the World Parks Congress: Why it is both problematic and useful
In our previous issue, MPA News reported on the outcomes of the World Parks Congress, held in Sydney, Australia, in November 2014 (MPA News 16:2). Convened once a decade, the WPC sets priorities for the next ten years of protected area practice. The central output of November’s meeting was The Promise of Sydney: this document compiles recommendations from multiple “themes” and “streams” of delegates at the meeting, grouped by subject matter (www.worldparkscongress.org/about/promise_of_sydney.html). The WPC’s Marine Theme was led by four institutions: the World Commission on Protected Areas – Marine, the (US) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Great Barrier Reef…
Perspective: The MPAs of Cuba and the implications of a potential end to the US embargo
By Daria Siciliano
The ecologically rich and relatively understudied Cuban coasts have not experienced the levels of development seen in the rest of the Caribbean. This is due in large part to the US trade embargo of the country, which dates back to the early 1960s. Although the countries are divided by just 150 km of water, there has been very little trade or travel between them for 55 years.
Mentorship program in Caribbean is pairing up MPA managers across region
A program is underway in the Caribbean to build MPA management capacity through mentor relationships. The program is pairing senior MPA professionals with less-experienced practitioners in the region, and providing a small grant to each pair to support geographic exchanges and knowledge-sharing between them. Initiated in 2013, the program is managed by the UNEP Caribbean Environment Programme (UNEP-CEP) and the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife in the Caribbean region (SPAW-RAC), as part of the activities of the Caribbean MPA Management Network and Forum (CaMPAM). It receives financial support from Italy’s development cooperation program. The mentorship is…
Diseased lobsters in UK’s Lundy Marine Conservation Zone: A natural or “unnatural” result of protection?
Most ecological studies of the reserve effect of no-take zones focus on changes in abundance and diversity of marine life inside reserves: in other words, is a reserve leading to more individuals and more species inside its boundaries? However, a recent study of lobsters inside the UK’s Lundy Marine Conservation Zone has sparked a novel discussion and some controversy. It asks, Is there such a thing as too much abundance in a reserve – and if so, what should be done about it? The study, led by Charlotte Eve Davies of Swansea University (UK), examined lobster populations inside Lundy’s 3.3-km2…
Notes & news: High seas – Finland – MPA enforcement legislation – Great Barrier Reef
UN agrees to draft international agreement to protect high seas After nine years of deliberations, the United Nations agreed in January 2015 to convene an intergovernmental conference to draft a treaty for governing waters beyond national jurisdiction. Although this basically amounts to an agreement to draft an agreement, it is a significant step toward the future conservation of marine life in the world’s high seas – including the possibility of a worldwide system of MPAs beyond just national waters. (The high seas comprise 64% of the global ocean but have almost no MPAs.) A special preparatory committee comprising all UN…
World Parks Congress recommends target of 30% no-take MPA coverage worldwide
This past November in Sydney, Australia, more than 6000 protected area practitioners, scientists, heads of state, indigenous leaders, and business executives gathered for the once-a-decade World Parks Congress, hosted by IUCN. In size and importance, the WPC is a big event for the global protected areas community. The Congress recommends goals for the next 10 years of protected area practice, including targets for protected area coverage. Although these goals are non-binding on governments, they represent expert advice from practitioners, as well as a call to arms for effective protection and a gauge of current priorities in the field. The WPC…
Nations announce new MPA commitments at World Parks Congress
Leaders of several nations announced new commitments to MPA designation and management at the World Parks Congress: Gabon announced it would designate a network of MPAs covering 23% of the nation’s waters, or roughly 46,000 km2. Commercial fishing will be off-limits in the network, which is intended to protect whales, sea turtles, and other marine species inhabiting the nation’s coastal and offshore ecosystems. The network will include a 27,000-km2 expansion of Mayumba National Park, extending out to the limit of the nation’s EEZ. Currently just 1% of Gabon’s waters is in MPAs. (Following the World Parks Congress, the United Arab…
Multiple publications launched at World Parks Congress on MPA coverage, governance, tourism, and more
The World Parks Congress offered a high-profile opportunity for institutions to launch new publications on protected areas. Here are a dozen publications that were revealed in Sydney. Protected Planet Report 2014 (UNEP World Commission on Protected Areas; 80 pp.) This is the latest in a series of reports to track world progress toward achieving the Convention on Biological Diversity’s goal for global protected area coverage (Aichi Target 11). That target calls for at least 10% of coastal and marine areas to be conserved through “effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative, and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based…
Tech tools launched at WPC to visualize global fishing activity, coral reefs
Two innovative technology tools were featured at the World Parks Congress: Global Fishing Watch (www.globalfishingwatch.org): This new tool, currently in prototype form, is designed to eventually allow the public to monitor the activity of commercial fishing vessels worldwide, including if those vessels are straying into no-fishing zones. The prototype displays routes taken by more than three thousand commercial fishing vessels in 2012 and 2013, as indicated by transmissions from the vessels’ onboard Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). Based on various factors, Global Fishing Watch predicts whether each vessel was actively fishing at any particular place and time. Eventually the positioning data…