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 been considered common property. Included are studies of MPA implementation in three countries – the Philippines, Chile, and Brazil. The 100-page report, Scaling Up Marine Management: the Role of Marine Protected Areas, is available in PDF format athttp://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTCMM/Publications/21108865/Final_Printed_Version_MPA_ESW.pdf.
Report proposes MPA-planning framework for eastern Canada, northeastern US
A new report co-produced by WWF-Canada and the US-based Conservation Law Foundation applies a MARXAN-centered framework to propose a network of priority areas for marine conservation in eastern Canada and the northeastern US. (The planning framework was detailed in a sister publication, released in October 2006 by WWF-Canada [MPA News 8:5].) The report marks the culmination of a six-year collaboration between the two NGOs. Marine Ecosystem Conservation for New England and Maritime Canada: A Science-Based Approach to Identifying Priority Areas for Conservation, is available in PDF format at http://www.wwf.ca/marinepriorityareas.
Report: Consulting firm examines Australian MPA processes
One of the world’s largest business-consulting firms has produced a report on the designation of MPAs in Australia. In the 195-page report Australia’s Marine Protected Areas: Challenging Times Ahead, the firm Ernst & Young examines why and how MPAs are being designated there, and recommends a strategy for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of these MPAs. The report was prepared for two industry groups – the Australian Fishing Tackle Association (AFTA) and the Boating Industry Association of New South Wales. It is available online at http://www.afta.net.au.
Paper available on lessons from Victoria (Australia) MPA planning
A new paper in the journal Ocean & Coastal Management (vol. 49, no. 12) describes lessons learned from a 10-year public process to plan a network of MPAs in the Australian state of Victoria. The Victoria government approved the network in 2002 (MPA News 4:7). Paper reprints of the journal article, “The long and winding road: The development of a comprehensive, adequate and representative system of highly protected marine protected areas in Victoria, Australia”, are available from the author – Geoff Wescott of Deakin University – at geoffrey.wescott@deakin.edu.au.
Report: Synthesizing all natural knowledge at a Canadian coastal park
The Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site, on the Pacific coast of Canada, has released a 413-page report synthesizing nearly all information available about the site – traditional indigenous knowledge, modern human uses, geology, biodiversity, habitat distribution, and more. It is the fifth report in a series of baseline marine science inventories for the Haida Gwaii region, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands. Report editor Norm Sloan says a synthesis such as this is particularly helpful for remote areas with histories of relatively little scientific synthesis. “The Haida Gwaii region is Pacific Canada’s most isolated archipelago with a population of just 5000 people spread across six communities, all in very rural settings,” he says. “So there is little resident technical infrastructure, yet a great need for technical information, given current land-use planning and marine conservation planning processes [for an adjacent proposed National Marine Conservation Area] underway.” For a hard copy of the report Living Marine Legacy of Gwaii Haanas V: Coastal Zone Values and Management around Haida Gwaii, e-mail Norm Sloan at norm.sloan@pc.gc.ca, or provide an FTP site to which the document may be sent.
Conference session to share lessons between terrestrial, marine protected areas
The 21st Pacific Science Congress – to be held 12-18 June 2007 in Okinawa, Japan – will feature a half-day session focusing on lesson-sharing between management of terrestrial and marine protected areas in the Asia-Pacific region. Topics will include establishing successful models of community-driven conservation, incorporating future climate change into resource management, and other subjects. For more information on the session, e-mail John Burke Burnett at burnett@bishopmuseum.org. Background information on the Congress in general is available at http://www.psc21.net.
Research Spotlight: The EMPAS Project
A project is underway to develop fisheries management plans for MPAs within the German EEZ of the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Called the Environmentally Sound Fishery Management in Protected Areas project (EMPAS), it is analyzing conflicts between nature conservation goals and fishing activities. In evaluating all fishing activities of all fleets operating in and adjacent to the 10 sites, EMPAS is expected to significantly improve the quality of data used in studying such conflicts. The project was initiated in 2005 by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), and will deliver its recommendations to the German government.
The 10 sites under study were nominated to the European Commission by Germany in 2004 to bring the nation into compliance with the EU Birds and Habitats Directives. Two of the nominated MPAs are designed specifically to protect birds, and took effect immediately upon nomination; the remaining eight are to protect fauna, flora and/or habitats and are still under consideration by the European Commission. The EU Birds and Habitats Directives aim to maintain biodiversity through conservation of species and natural habitats, including development of a coherent European ecological network of protected zones by 2010 – called the Natura 2000 network. In total, the 10 sites comprise 31.5% of Germany’s EEZ in the North and Baltic Seas combined.
The EMPAS management plans, which could involve a mix of spatial and temporal regulations, will apply only to the 10 sites, not to adjacent waters. However, project coordinator Soren Anker Pedersen of ICES says he expects the proposals and lessons learned from EMPAS to be useful for other projects to develop ecosystem-based fisheries management plans in EU waters, whether inside or outside of MPAs.
For more information: Soren Anker Pedersen, ICES, H. C. Andersens Boulevard 44-46, 1553, Copenhagen V, Denmark. Tel: +45 3338 6700; E-mail: sorenap@ices.dk