MPA News
“Sacrificial” Areas: An Appropriate Management Tool for MPAs?
In the course of researching the preceding article on mooring buoys, the subject of “sacrificial” areas arose: that is, the potential management strategy of directing visitors to areas that are already impacted (or even degraded) by visitation, thus leaving more-pristine areas untouched. MPA News asked several managers for their views on the concept of sacrificial areas, and their responses are below. Although the respondents are all from MPAs with coral reefs, their answers may also apply to MPAs with other sensitive habitats (seagrass, shipwrecks, etc.) and high visitation levels. Athline Clark, Special Projects Program Manager, Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources,…
The Role of MPAs in Protecting Against Coastal Disasters: Interview with Terry Hughes
Following the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004, experts analyzed how impacts of the disaster were influenced by coastal ecosystem alteration, including degradation of coral reefs and removal of mangrove forests. A primary conclusion was that more-natural coastal ecosystems were better able to dissipate the disaster forces, withstand stress, and recover from the event, as well as protect coastal communities. In general, natural systems were more resilient. For more on this, see the UN Environment Programme’s Rapid Environmental Assessment report on the tsunami, available at http://www.unep.org/tsunami/tsunami_rpt.asp. Coral biologist Terry Hughes of James Cook University (Australia) has co-authored recent papers in…
Notes & News
Funding available for coral reef projects Applications are due 15 November 2005 for the Coral Reef Conservation Grant Program, operated by the (US) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The program provides grants to international, governmental (except federal US agencies), and non-governmental entities working to protect coral reefs. Grants for Fiscal Year 2006 are available in four categories, including “Regional Enhancement of Marine Protected Area Management Effectiveness” and “Development of National Systems of Marine Protected Areas in the Wider Caribbean, Bermuda, Brazil, and Southeast Asia”. Proposed work must be conducted at non-US sites, and country eligibility varies by grant category. For…
“Sister MPAs”: Building International Relationships Between Sites to Share Lessons
When practitioners face the challenges of MPA planning and management – financing, monitoring, enforcement, and so forth – knowledge of how peers have addressed similar challenges can be invaluable. This sharing of lessons can take many forms. Among the most effective, and intensive, is the direct exchange of personnel between sites, allowing managers and stakeholders to experience first-hand how MPAs with similar goals and concerns do their work. Often a component of building “sister” relationships between MPAs, these exchanges can be mutually beneficial for both sides, stimulating better management through fresh ideas. Such exchanges are often easiest to conduct within…
MPA Perspective: Key Findings on the Sustainability of Integrated Coastal Management Processes
Editor’s note: The following essay represents the authors’ abridgement of several related research papers that appear in a special issue of the journal Ocean & Coastal Management, published July 2005 (Volume 48, pp. 205-483). The papers present the findings of a three-year project to assess the sustainability of integrated coastal management programs in Indonesia and the Philippines. Patrick Christie, an assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Marine Affairs, USA, was project leader. Nicole Milne, Risa Oram, Leila Sievanen, Joel Simonetti, and Monika Thiele were project assistants. All papers from the special issue of Ocean & Coastal Management…
MPA Spotlight: Tanzanian MPA Teams Up with Mobile Phone Company to Improve Communications
Effective management of an MPA, like any institution, depends on being able to communicate effectively. When an MPA is in a remote location, communication can be difficult, both internally among staff and externally between management and stakeholder communities. Preventing or responding to illegal activity, for example, becomes a challenge for managers when they cannot communicate immediately or securely with one another. To address such communications challenges, the 822-km2 Mafia Island Marine Park, located offshore of Tanzania in eastern Africa, has forged an innovative relationship with WWF and global telecommunications group Vodafone PLC. In November 2004, Vodacom Tanzania (a company of…
Notes & News
UNESCO World Heritage adds four marine sites Four sites with major marine components are among the newest additions to the World Heritage List, overseen by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Added to the list on 14 July 2005, these new World Heritage sites are: Coiba National Park (Panama) – possessing extraordinary biodiversity, with 760 species of fishes and 20 cetacean species; Geirangerfjord and Noeroyfjord (Norway) – two of the world’s longest and deepest fjords; Gulf of California (Mexico) – featuring 244 islands, 90 endemic fish species, and a third of the world’s total number of cetacean…
Letter to the Editor
Reply to letter on Pew Fellows MPA Statement Dear MPA News: Your July 2005 issue (MPA News 7:1) contained a letter from John Clark, who was responding to an earlier article about the Pew Fellows MPA Action Statement, described in your June issue (6:11). In his letter, John Clark wrote in part: “To say that 10-50% of all marine ecosystems should become no-take zones ignores reality. In each part of the sea where protection is necessary, there are areas where no-take is justified within MPA boundaries, and areas where other types of management are more appropriate.” We completely agree. The…
Developing a National System of MPAs: US Working To Promote Coordination of Existing and Future Sites
Several nations worldwide are wrestling with the challenge of building cohesive and effective systems of MPAs in their waters. In the US, when former President Bill Clinton declared by executive order in 2000 that his nation develop a comprehensive national system of MPAs (MPA News 1:9), few details were available on how that mandate should be accomplished. Fleshing out the details – including what exactly a “national system” of MPAs is – has largely been the responsibility of a federal interagency program, the National Marine Protected Areas Center, established by the same executive order. The MPA Center, as it is…
Feedback on the Roles of Science and Stakeholders in MPA Decision-making
In an essay in the June 2005 issue of MPA News, Nancy Dahl-Tacconi of the University of Queensland called on MPA managers to balance the roles of science and stakeholder participation in decision-making (“Science, Participation, and Politics in MPA Management”, MPA News 6:11). At the end of the essay, MPA News asked readers: What role should negotiation with stakeholders play, and are there times when decisions should be based primarily on natural science with less consideration of stakeholders’ concerns? Feedback, consisting of two letters and an interview, is presented below. Letter: Decision-making is always a negotiation Dear MPA News: Natural…