MPA News
As Ocean Warms, Will Great Barrier Reef Migrate Southward? (And If So, Should the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Follow It?)
In discussions on the effects of climate change on coral reefs, the talk often turns to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR), the world’s largest barrier reef system. Some high-profile reports have forecast that, due to coral bleaching caused by climate change, the GBR could be severely threatened in coming decades. Most recently, a draft report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – leaked to the media in January 2007 – said the GBR would become “functionally extinct” by 2050. (The leaked report was co-authored by Ove Hoegh-Guldberg at the University of Queensland, who has written other, similarly bleak forecasts…
MPA Planning Spotlight: Update on Implementation of California’s Marine Life Protection Act
The initiative to plan and designate a network of MPAs along the coast of the US state of California has entered its second phase, following the announcement in February 2007 of a task force to oversee planning for the state’s north central coast. The initiative’s first phase, which addressed the central coast, resulted in a proposal last August to designate 29 MPAs, covering 528 km2 (MPA News 8:3). Under that proposal, nearly half of the total MPA area on the central coast (46%) would be no-take; the remainder would allow limited recreational or commercial fishing. The California Fish and Game…
Notes & News
Error Due to an editorial error in our February 2007 issue, the feature “Informing stakeholders during a public planning process” misidentified the work affiliation of Tim Allen. He works for the Australian Government in its Natural Resource Management Division. Report proposes MPA network for Colombia’s Caribbean waters A new report proposes that Colombia designate a network of MPAs around priority areas in its Caribbean waters and include this network in the country’s system of National Natural Parks. Available in Spanish, the publication uses the planning software MARXAN to identify the priority areas for conservation, based on ecological criteria. The report…
Educating Stakeholders about MPAs: Practitioners Use an Array of Methods
Public awareness plays a central role in the success of coastal and marine conservation. Where MPAs are effective, there is usually strong community understanding of the benefits that can come from resource protection. By educating stakeholders on these benefits, and by honestly acknowledging and addressing an MPA’s potential costs, practitioners can build a base of public support for conservation. That support translates to stakeholder compliance with MPA regulations, and greater trust between site managers and the community. Effective MPA education programs can take many forms depending on the target audiences and program objectives. Public meetings, visitor centers, posters, brochures, radio…
MPA Perspective: Aligning the Interests of Anglers and Conservation Groups on MPAs
Editor’s note: Leon Roskilly is national coordinator of the Sea Anglers’ Conservation Network (SACN), a UK-based organization committed to sustainable recreational fishing. He adapted the following essay from a longer article of his, “Marine Protected Areas and Angling – A Discussion Document”, posted on the SACN website in November 2006 (http://www.sacn.org.uk/Articles/Marine_Protected_Areas_and_Angling.html). By Leon Roskilly According to government reports, there are two- to three-million recreational sea anglers in the UK alone. Worldwide, there are likely tens of millions more. Most anglers are very conscious of marine conservation issues and have seen first-hand the degradation of fish stocks and the marine environment….
Notes & News
Scientific consensus: sea level could rise half a meter this century The latest assessment from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that sea level will rise between 18 cm and 59 cm over the course of this century, due to human-caused global warming and the resultant thermal expansion of sea water. The range reflects six different models, each based on various assumptions. The IPCC notes that these models do not include the possibility that the melting of polar ice sheets could be nonlinear. That is, ice sheets might reach a point at which the speed of their…
In an Era of Climate Change, How Can Managers Ensure that Today’s MPAs Remain Relevant Over Time?
The oceans offer increasing evidence that global climate change is underway. Sea surface temperature is rising, while polar sea-ice is retreating. Coral reefs are suffering from severe bleaching events. Amid these and other phenomena – as well as the growing number of disturbing scientific forecasts on the effects of climate change on marine systems – MPA practitioners may feel somewhat helpless. Already faced with the day-to-day challenges of MPA management, many practitioners are simply not addressing the long-term issue of climate change in a focused, meaningful way. The ultimate answer to the climate-change challenge is, of course, beyond MPA managers’…
MPA Perspective: The Sea Search Partnership: A Community-Based Monitoring Program for MPAs in Victoria, Australia
Editor’s note: Rebecca Koss, with The People and Parks Foundation, is project officer for Sea Search, the program described in the following essay. Anthony Boxshall is manager of marine national parks research for Parks Victoria. Peter R. Brown is chief executive officer of The People and Parks Foundation. By Rebecca Koss, Anthony Boxshall, and Peter Brown Sea Search is a community-based monitoring program for the system of 24 marine national parks and marine sanctuaries in the state of Victoria, Australia. The program teaches volunteers and school groups how to identify and monitor marine flora and fauna in their local MPAs….
Results from the MPA News Reader Poll: The Relationship between MPAs and Ecosystem-Based Management
The October 2006 edition of MPA News featured an article on the role of MPAs in ecosystem-based management (EBM), and vice versa. We invited readers to participate in a short online poll on the subject, with the goal of measuring baseline attitudes on the relationship between these management measures. Several dozen readers from around the world participated in the poll – thank you. A summary of your answers is below. Three respondents were selected at random to receive an MPA News canvas tote bag. As ecosystem approaches to marine resource management become more widely applied,MPA News will continue to examine…
Notes & News
World Bank releases report on scaling up MPAs The World Bank has released a report that assesses factors likely to determine MPA success and identifies opportunities for the Bank and its partners to scale up MPA implementation to meet global conservation targets, such as those set at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (MPA News 4:3). The report focuses on the intersection of MPAs and poverty. It examines how best to capture the potential benefits of MPAs for helping the world’s poor, while addressing the sociocultural and political realities of restricting access to the sea and regulating what has traditionally…