MPA News
Research Spotlight: Balancing Human Health and Marine Ecosystem Health
It is rare for marine protected areas to be mentioned in the International Journal of Epidemiology, which covers issues affecting human health and illness. But an article in a recent issue of the journal examines the relationship between increasing human demand for fish and the declining health of our ocean ecosystems. The article suggests that recommendations from health advocates that people eat more fish are on a collision course with recommendations from biologists that we conserve fish stocks. Article co-author Peter Jones, a marine biologist at University College London, says there will not be enough fish to meet demand unless…
Notes & News
Namibia designates first MPA The African nation of Namibia has designated its first MPA – the Namibian Islands’ Marine Protected Area. It covers nearly 9600 km2 of sea area off the country’s southern coastline and includes all of Namibia’s islands. Planning of the MPA began in 2005 and included consultations with stakeholders on zoning and other issues. The site has four zone types, ranging from multi-use to no-take. More detailed regulations, as well as training for site staff and a public awareness campaign on the MPA, are in development. The Namibian Cabinet said of the MPA, “It will improve vigilance…
U.S. Designates Three More Large MPAs in the Pacific
On 6 January 2009 in his final month in office, President George W. Bush designated three vast new MPAs in U.S. waters in the Pacific Ocean. Encompassing a total area of roughly 505,000 km2, the three MPAs are: Marianas Trench Marine National Monument – in the Western Pacific, containing the deepest known points in the global ocean; Rose Atoll Marine National Monument – in the Central Pacific, containing one of the world’s most pristine atolls; and Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument – in the Central Pacific, consisting of Wake Atoll, Baker, Howland, and Jarvis Islands, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef,…
“The Best Job in the World”: Queensland Campaign Results in 14,000 Applications for MPA Job
In January, the World Wide Web was abuzz with an advertisement for what was touted as “the best job in the world”: a six-month, AU $150,000 contract (US $101,000) to serve as island caretaker in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The job’s main responsibility: to explore the natural wonders of the marine park and surrounding 600 islands, and post those experiences on the Internet. Within a month, more than 14,000 applications from 169 countries had been submitted for the position. More are still flooding in. The application period ends 22 February. The job advertisement is the brainchild of Tourism…
Publication Offers Guidelines, Best Practices for Tropical MPA Management
A new report provides guidance on the planning and management of MPAs in tropical regions, based on lessons learned from six MPA network initiatives in the Coral Triangle region of Southeast Asia. The publication analyzes the MPA networks through their various stages of development, including planning and design, implementation, and evaluation. Best practices for each stage are provided. The report represents the final phase of the MPA Learning Partnership, a project initiated in 2005 by the U.S. Agency for International Development and four international NGOs (The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, Conservational International, and the Wildlife Conservation Society). The goal…
Planning Spotlight: Using “Sliding Windows” to Design MPAs
A paper in the December 2008 issue of the journal Ocean & Coastal Management describes a new approach to designing MPAs. Rather than defining the size and shape of an MPA’s boundaries at the end of a planning process, as is typically done, the described approach sets the size and shape as the first step, even before any aspects of physical location are considered. The paper calls this the “sliding windows” approach. Once the outline of the potential MPA is set, planners can shift it back and forth throughout the study area to gauge its ideal location, similar to how…
Notes & News
U.S. closes large, melting Arctic area to fishing On 5 February, the U.S. North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) designated a vast fishery closure in an area that until recent years was covered with ice and had never been actively fished before. Totaling more than 500,000 km2 and including all U.S. waters north of the Bering Strait, the so-called Arctic Management Area is undergoing climate change and its ice sheets are melting. The NPFMC, which oversees management of commercial fisheries in U.S. waters off Alaska, applied the closure for precautionary reasons. The area will remain closed “until such time in…
MPA Tip: On a Simple Method for Gap Analysis
“MPA Tip” is a recurring feature that presents advice on MPA planning and management gathered from practitioners and publications. Below, Nick Pilcher, a sea turtle biologist and Executive Director of the Marine Research Foundation in Malaysia, describes how to address a challenge often faced in MPA-planning processes – the perceived need for more data before conservation decisions can be made. He offers a simple method for identifying what is already known and where knowledge gaps exist. Tip: “I managed a workshop for a conservation planning group that was looking at prioritizing research and conservation needs for marine turtles in the…
Ocean Acidification: What It Could Mean for MPAs
When scientists and policy-makers gathered in Poland this month for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, significant attention was paid to the effects of increased greenhouse gases on the oceans. The threats of sea level rise and warming sea temperatures, including the latter’s impact on coral reefs by causing bleaching, received a major focus. A lesser-known impact of the rise in carbon dioxide levels will be “ocean acidification”, a term coined just five years ago. Early evidence suggests acidification could have as great an impact on ocean ecosystems – and, by extension, MPAs – as the other threats. Disconcertingly, a…
The Honolulu Declaration on Ocean Acidification and Reef Management
Although ocean acidification will have effects throughout the world’s oceans, most of the research on it so far has been in a tropical context, where its implications for coral reef health pose a major concern. Reduced pH levels of seawater are expected to lead to the breakdown of corals’ calcium carbonate skeletons, causing significant and potentially irreversible changes in reef ecosystems. In August 2008, The Nature Conservancy convened a meeting in Hawai’i of climate experts, marine scientists, and coral reef managers to identify strategies for addressing acidification and safeguarding the value of coral reef systems. It resulted in the Honolulu…