MPA News
Australia’s New Government to Review Boundaries, Regulations of MPAs Designated in 2012
The new Coalition Government of Australia, elected by national vote on 7 September, has announced its intent to review the boundaries and regulations of most of the nation’s representative system of MPAs – namely the 33 sites that were designated in 2012 by the prior Labor Government. Those designations increased the national system of MPAs from 27 sites to 60, expanding the system to a total of 3 million km2 (MPA News 14:3 and 14:1). The sites include the 1-million km2 Coral Sea Marine Reserve, of which roughly half is no-take. The planned review of the new marine parks is…
US and New Zealand scale back proposal for Ross Sea MPA in bid for other nations’ approval
In a move aimed to help secure other nations’ approval of a large new MPA in Antarctica’s Ross Sea, New Zealand and the US have scaled back the size of their proposed protected area – from 2.28 million km2 to 1.34 million km2, a reduction of 41%. The revised proposal is in response to meetings in July 2013 of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and its Scientific Committee, where the prior New Zealand/US proposal was discussed. In those meetings, members of the Scientific Committee questioned the size and location of the larger MPA. Russia…
Letter to the Editor: Federal Government can act unilaterally to prevent harm to Great Barrier Reef
Dear MPA News: I’m writing with regard to your article on the Great Barrier Reef, which is under threat of being added to the List of World Heritage in Danger due to plans for significant new port development in the region (“World Heritage Committee Addresses East Rennell and Great Barrier Reef”, MPA News 15:1). People should be made aware that the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act provides that legislation made by the federal Government to prohibit or regulate activities that may harm animals or plants in the Marine Park – whether the activities originate within or outside the Marine…
Four new global MPA task forces to launch at IMPAC3 in Marseille in October
The Third International Marine Protected Areas Congress, or IMPAC3, will be held this 21-27 October in Marseille and Corsica, France. As the largest MPA-focused meeting in the world, IMPAC3 will feature more than 700 accepted abstracts (http://impac3.org). It will also mark the debut of four new global task forces by the World Commission on Protected Areas – Marine, a co-organizer of IMPAC3 with the French MPA Agency. These task forces will cover marine mammal protected areas, community-based and local marine area management, very large MPAs, and outreach and communication practices on MPAs. Currently there is just one marine task force…
Perspective: Closing the knowledge gap between academics and MPA managers
By Chris Cvitanovic [Editor’s note: Chris Cvitanovic is a marine and social scientist for the Climate Adaptation Flagship of CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency.] Like a lot of people reading this, the sea has always been a big part of my life. Despite growing up nearly 200 km from the coast in Australia, I was fortunate to spend most summers and weekends down at the beach, and I’ll never forget the first time I donned a wetsuit at the age of 15 and went diving. It was then that I knew I wanted to make a difference, and to help…
Notes & News: Scotland – Oil spill – Haiti – Drones – Enabling conditions for MPAs – MPA governance – Reef Manager’s Guide – Phoenix Islands – LMMA Lessons
Scotland releases plan for network of MPAs Scotland’s Government has released a proposed plan to manage all activity in Scottish waters, from energy production to conservation and more. The plan includes a network of 33 proposed MPAs that together would cover 11% of Scottish seas. Public consultation on the proposed plan is open until 13 November 2013. For more information on the plan and consultation, go to www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/marine/marine-consultation Oil spilled in South African MPA; storms and cleanup teams remove much of it On 9 August 2013, a German-owned cargo ship ran aground in South Africa’s 40-km2 Goukamma Marine Protected Area,…
The Reverse Fishing License Mechanism for Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands Protected Area: An Experiment in MPA Financing
This past June in Monaco at a private meeting of the Monaco Blue Initiative, President Anote Tong of the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati announced some good news. The PIPA Conservation Trust, created four years ago to finance his country’s 408,250-km2 Phoenix Islands Protected Area, had just received its first donation. President Tong said Kiribati would match the donation. PIPA is noteworthy in the MPA world. One reason is its size. In 2008 when its boundaries were expanded to their current dimensions, PIPA was considered for a time to be the largest MPA in the world (MPA News 9:8) before…
CCAMLR Fails to Make Progress in Establishing Antarctic MPAs
By Jeff Ardron (Special to MPA News)
Back-to-back special meetings of the CCAMLR Scientific Committee and Commission were held 11-16 July in Bremerhaven, Germany, to discuss MPA network proposals for the Antarctic. However, after intensive negotiations, no meaningful progress was achieved.
Perspective: In Colombia, a New MPA for Deep-Water Coral
By David Alonso Carvajal, INVEMAR
Historically, the discovery of deep-water coral reefs was usually accidental, occurring most often when the corals showed up as bycatch in trawl fisheries. In the past decade, however, the study and characterization of deep coral has grown significantly, aided in part by the interest of productive sectors – namely oil and gas – in assessing seabed resources.
World Heritage Committee addresses East Rennell (Solomon Islands) and Great Barrier Reef
At its annual meeting in June, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee did not add new marine sites to its World Heritage List. However, it did address concerns about two sites that are already inscribed: East Rennell, Solomon Islands: This site – part-terrestrial, part-marine – was added to the List of World Heritage in Danger due to substantial commercial logging activity in East Rennell’s forests. The danger listing is intended to serve as a “wake-up call” to the international conservation community and the Solomon Islands, indicating the need to preserve the site’s outstanding universal value, says Fanny Douvere, Coordinator of the…