MPA News
MPA Spotlight: Profiling the Debate Over Reopening Tsitsikamma National Park to Fishing
In South Africa in 2006-2007, a debate was waged over whether to reopen part of Tsitsikamma National Park to fishing. Designated in 1964, the park is among the oldest MPAs in Africa and has been fully no-take since 2000. The nation’s Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) proposed last year that roughly one-tenth of the park be reopened to line-fishing by members of local communities on a controlled and monitored basis. The proposal was contested by biologists and conservationists who said reopening the protected area would be a step backward for marine conservation. Below, MPA News summarizes the cases…
Notes & News
Uganda designates first aquatic reserve In November 2007, Uganda designated a reserve in Lake Victoria with the goal of protecting and restoring populations of Nile perch and other fish stocks. Commercial fishing is now banned inside the 100-km2 Commonwealth Lake Reserve, while recreational fishing is permitted under strict conditions. The protected area took effect in December and is Uganda’s first aquatic reserve. The largest lake in Africa, Lake Victoria is subject to territorial administration by Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. More details on the new reserve are available at www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/599178. DVD: India workshop on marine reserves Proceedings from an October 2007…
MPA Tip: On restoring seagrass after vessel damage
“MPA Tip” is a recurring feature that presents advice on MPA planning and management gathered from practitioners and publications. Below we describe an innovative technique for restoring damaged seagrass beds. If you have a useful tip for addressing a problem in MPA planning or management, please tell us about it at mpanews@u.washington.edu. We would like to feature it in a future issue of MPA News. Seagrasses are underwater plants that provide vital services to marine ecosystems, both as food and habitat. They often occur in extensive “meadows” in nearshore waters, and their shallow location exposes them to multiple stressors, including…
What Should Be Done When MPAs Do Not Meet Their Goals?: Poll Reveals Range of Views
A successful marine protected area is one that meets its goals. Whether those goals relate to conserving biodiversity, making resource use sustainable, or other purposes, MPA effectiveness is measured by what the site was designed to achieve. Of course, defining success for an MPA is the easy part. Actually achieving it – amid the normal array of budgetary, ecological, and socio-political challenges that managers face – is more difficult. Evaluation of MPA performance should be considered a normal component of good management processes. In recent years, the emergence of multiple methods for measuring effectiveness has allowed MPA managers to clarify…
Special Feature: Insights on Fisheries and Marine Protected Areas from the European Symposium on MPAs
The European Symposium on Marine Protected Areas, held in September 2007 in Murcia, Spain, provided a wide range of findings and perspectives on the use of MPAs for ecosystem conservation and fisheries management (www.mpasymposium2007.eu). MPA News attended the symposium and featured selected presenters and findings in our October 2007 and November 2007 editions (MPA News 9:4 and 9:5). Coverage of the symposium concludes in this month’s edition, in which we examine questions on two aspects of MPA planning: What is the right amount of fishing industry involvement in MPA planning? What is the right balance between conventional fisheries management activities…
MPA Spotlight: Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, a World Heritage Site, Addresses Illegal Fishing and Seismic Exploration
Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, located in the Sulu Sea of the Philippines, is considered to have among the biologically richest ecosystems on Earth. Equal in biodiversity to any coral reef of its size worldwide, the park is a 968-km2 no-take area, and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site (www.tubbatahareef.org). This past year the site has faced some significant challenges. Management has had to deal with a major case of illegal fishing and a slow-moving prosecution. Also, there has been the possibility that seismic exploration for petroleum could be carried out either inside or just outside the park – an…
Notes & News
Reserve network completed for Channel Islands (U.S.) with closure of jurisdictional gaps The designation of a network of marine reserves in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) in the U.S. is now complete, following a vote by the California Fish and Game Commission to close several small jurisdictional gaps between reserves in state and federal waters of the sanctuary. The state-level commission voted in October 2007 to extend the boundaries of its state reserves to 3 nm from shore – the outer limit of state jurisdiction. As a whole, the marine reserve network totals 21% of the 3869-km2 CINMS….
MPA Tip: Managing MPAs for Resilience Amid Climate Change
“MPA Tip” is a recurring feature that presents advice on MPA planning and management gathered from various publications. The advice below, from Heidi Schuttenberg, appeared in the December 2006 edition of MPA News, which featured insights from practitioners on managing MPAs in an era of climate change. Schuttenberg is co-author, with Paul Marshall, of A Reef Manager’s Guide to Coral Bleaching, available atwww.coris.noaa.gov/activities/reef_managers_guide. Tip: Managing for ecological and social resilience recognizes that a process of uncertain change is underway, and aims to support the ability of the environment and dependent human communities to absorb shocks, regenerate, and reorganize so as…
New Zealand Designates Network of Deep Sea Protected Areas Covering More than One Million Square Kilometers
On 15 October 2007, the New Zealand government designated an enormous network of protected areas spanning 1.2 million km2 of the nation’s deep sea. The 17 “benthic protection areas” (BPAs) that comprise the network will be off-limits to bottom trawling and dredging. The network covers 30% of New Zealand’s entire Exclusive Economic Zone, and is considered to be the largest single marine protection measure ever designated within a nation’s EEZ. The BPAs, which take effect on 15 November 2007, extend from subantarctic waters south of Campbell Island to the subtropical Kermadec region, comprising a range of depths and habitats, including…
Special Feature: More Lessons from the European Symposium on MPAs
The European Symposium on Marine Protected Areas, held in September 2007 in Murcia, Spain, provided a wide range of findings and perspectives on the use of MPAs for ecosystem conservation and fisheries management (www.mpasymposium2007.eu). MPA News attended the symposium and featured selected presenters and findings in our October 2007 edition (MPA News 9:4). Coverage of the symposium continues in this and next month’s editions as well. This month, we offer lessons on two aspects of MPA planning: Why it is useful for fisheries and conservation agencies to decide how they will resolve future conflicts in MPA planning; and Why it…