MPA News
Notes and News
Canada Designates Hydrothermal Vents as First Official MPA Canada has designated the Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents as its first official Marine Protected Area under the country’s Oceans Act. The site, which features four known vent fields covering roughly 93 km2, was first selected as a pilot MPA in 1998 due to scientific interest in the area’s ultra-high temperatures, geologic structures, and associated life forms (MPA News 2:11). The MPA designation ensures the ecosystem remains relatively undisturbed for scientific study. Located at a depth of 2250 meters, 250 km southwest of Vancouver Island on Canada’s Pacific coast, the vent fields consist of…
Building Trust, Empowering Resource Users: Efforts Underway to Educate, Encourage Participation of Fishermen in MPA Processes
Consumptive users of marine resources often do not embrace the concept of marine protected areas, particularly no-take zones. These stakeholders may distrust resource managers when confronted with the prospect of losing customary access privileges, as can be the case for commercial and recreational fishermen. Such distrust can be especially common when stakeholders are not fully involved in the planning of protected areas. In efforts to build trust and empower resource-user groups, initiatives are underway worldwide to inform fishing communities about MPAs and the roles that fishermen can play in their planning. Several such initiatives have taken the form of workshops…
MPA Perspective: Integrity in Management
How much influence should community stakeholders have in planning an MPA? Below is a perspective piece by Graeme Kelleher, followed by a letter to the editor from Graham Edgar. Both pieces address the issue of community participation in MPA processes, drawing upon each writer’s experience. MPA News welcomes reader feedback: Do you agree or disagree with their viewpoints? E-mail us at mpanews@u.washington.edu. We will print responses. Graeme Kelleher is former Chairman and Chief Executive of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, and has edited and authored several MPA-related publications, including IUCN’s Guidelines for Establishing Marine Protected Areas (1999). Graham…
Letter to the Editor
Dear MPA News: I was interested to read comments published in MPA News Vol. 4, No. 7 (February 2003) on process and achievements associated with the new Victorian MPA system, particularly the recognition that an exceptional system of MPAs could be achieved without consensus amongst stakeholders. The need for an appropriate education campaign in this situation was stressed. During the past decade, much has been spoken and written about the importance of consensus and “bottom up” approaches when formulating successful MPAs, authoritative “top down” approaches being largely discredited. However, I would like to see this contention being rigorously re-examined. I…
Manager Profile: Ashraf Saad Al Cibahy
Editor’s note: This month, MPA News commences a new feature – the Manager Profile – to introduce readers to MPA managers around the world and the challenges they face. Position: Head of Marine Protected Areas (since 2001), Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency (ERWDA) of Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates. Age: 38 Background: Served as Deputy Manager of South Sinai Protected Areas (marine and terrestrial) of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, and was Egypt’s national representative for MPAs to the Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA). Has taught…
Notes and News
New Zealand approves marine reserve around terrestrial World Heritage site The New Zealand government has approved plans to designate a 4840-km2 marine reserve around the Auckland Islands, about 460 km south of the South Island of New Zealand. A formal gazetting process is to come. The upcoming designation, to include a ban on extractive activity, will provide a level of protection equal to that of the islands’ uninhabited terrestrial environment, already designated as a UN World Heritage area and national nature reserve. In recent years, little commercial or recreational fishing has occurred in the reserve’s waters, home to several rare…
Balancing Ecology and Economics, Part II: Lessons Learned from Planning an MPA Network in Victoria, Australia
In 2002, the Australian state of Victoria and the American state of California approved plans for representative networks of marine protected areas in their waters. Involving long and contentious planning processes, both efforts offer lessons to practitioners and stakeholders around the world who face similar challenges in designing MPA systems. In a two-part series, MPA News distills lessons learned during each process by examining the obstacles encountered and how participants might have improved the processes in hindsight. Part II of the series, focusing on Victoria, appears in this issue. (Part I, on the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary in California,…
MPA Perspective: Tips for Developing Marine Boundaries
Editor’s note: The following perspective piece, authored by David Stein, addresses a challenge often encountered by MPA managers: inexact or inconsistent boundary information. Stein, a geographer for the US-based Technology, Planning and Management Corporation (TPMC), is a contractor to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Services Center, site of the Training and Technical Assistance Institute for the National Marine Protected Areas Center. These tips were drawn from his and others’ work for the NOAA Coastal Services Center, the Training and Technical Assistance Institute, and the (US) Federal Geographic Data Committee’s Marine Boundary Working Group. The NOAA Coastal Services…
Letter to the Editor
Dear MPA News: I refer to your item “Designation expected soon: Antarctica’s first wholly marine protected area” in the December 2002/January 2003 issue (MPA News 4:6). While it is true that the Terra Nova Bay (approximately 30 km2) proposal will be the first wholly marine protected area designated under Annex V of the Madrid Protocol, it will not be the first wholly marine protected area designated under the Antarctic Treaty System. In 1987, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting accepted a Chilean proposal to designate three wholly protected marine areas: “Chile Bay” (Discovery Bay), Greenwich Island, South Shetland Islands (now Antarctic…
Notes & News
Correction: Due to an editorial error in last month’s issue (MPA News 4:6), the MPA Perspective essay by William Alevizon contained a temporarily faulty web link to a list of his cited literature. The link is now active at the URL provided with the article. Tunisia contemplates expanded MPA system A multidisciplinary science team has proposed nine sites in the three main Tunisian gulfs as potential marine protected areas, to be considered as part of Tunisia’s next five-year, national socioeconomic development plan, beginning 2006. The team’s research was ordered by the Tunisian Minister of Agriculture, Environment, and Water Resources. The…