This webinar originally aired on 14 March, 2019.
The Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee (MPAFAC) provides recommendations to the US Departments of Commerce (NOAA) and Interior on ways to ensure the effective design, establishment, and adaptive management of US MPAs. Created in 2003 and reauthorized by the White House in 2017, the Committee comprises 20 members representing diverse sectors and interests in ocean matters. In 2018, the Committee was directed to document examples of the ecological, economic, and cultural benefits provided by federal and other MPAs around the country, and to recommend specific actions that should be undertaken by MPA agencies to sustain those benefits in the face of rapidly changing ocean conditions and uses. After a thorough investigation, the MPAFAC found extensive, and sometimes surprising, examples of benefits from existing MPAs, including: ecological resilience; coastal storm protection; revenue from ocean tourism and recreation; cultural and historical education; diverse public engagement in ocean conservation; and capacity-building for local ocean decision-makers. The Committee also provided specific recommendations for sustaining MPA benefits, including a unanimous call to “Fully support, fund, maintain, evaluate and adaptively manage the nation’s MPAs …”. In this webinar, three of the Committee’s leaders, and the NOAA liaison, will provide an overview of the Committee’s findings and recommendations and will discuss their implications for MPAs in the US and elsewhere.
Presented by: Brian Baird, an Ocean and Coastal Policy Advisor; Samantha Murray of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Mark Carr of the University of California Santa Cruz; and Charlie Wahle of NOAA.
Webinar co-sponsored by the NOAA National MPA Center, MPA News, and the EBM Tools Network (co-coordinated by OCTO and NatureServe).
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