Management Of Marine Areas Research Articles

Endangered, essential and exploited: How extant laws are not enough to protect marine megafauna in Madagascar

The decline of many marine megafauna species is of global concern; but many of these species, in particular marine mammals, have been afforded international and national protection and are the focus of conservation programmes. The existing national and international legislation are reviewed through which marine megavertebrates are afforded protection in Malagasy waters. The decline and protection of marine megafauna has followed a familiar pattern in Madagascar, with two main exceptions: marine turtles and elasmobranchs remain heavily exploited by national and international fishing fleets. The status of legislation governing both taxa is unclear and unknown by many working within the fisheries and marine sector. In Madagascar, marine turtles are fully protected from exploitation by national regulations in conjunction with a number of multilateral agreements. The numerous pieces of legislation that protect marine turtles are not coherent, regularly misunderstood and rarely enforced. Madagascar is taking steps to improve protection of marine turtles through the development of a national strategy, but it is recommended that the opportunity is also taken to improve understanding of current legislation and work more closely with local communities that consider turtle fishing a customary practice. Elasmobranchs however, receive minimal legal protection and only those listed under multilateral agreements are bound by any potential future management. Where legislation does exist to help manage elasmobranchs (eg. bycatch stipulations for foreign fishing vessels) it is incomplete and difficult to enforce. It is also recommended that Madagascar puts in place national elasmobranch legislation to help prevent their continued overfishing, especially in the face of increasing numbers of elasmobranch species on CITES and CMS. As such, both groups of species are rendered effectively unprotected and are in danger of overexploitation. With the growth and proliferation of locally managed marine areas (LMMAs) in Madagascar the potential for local communities to increase protection and management of these species should be considered, especially with the limited capacity available to monitor and enforce legislation along such a vast coastline.

Participation Throughout the Decades: How the Zeitgeist Influences both Theory and Practice – A Case Study

“Participation” is the cornerstone of democracy, applauded by virtually everyone. The multitude of definitions and interpretations given to participation however leads to difficulties in translating the concept into practice. These difficulties exist as participation is often dismissed as an infinite, intrinsic aspect of a society and merely used as a means to an end. Participation changes with the zeitgeist in which it is framed. This evolution is researched for this article and placed in relation to participation in Vietnam using the case of a Locally Managed Marine Area.

Modeling Coastal and Marine Environmental Risks in Belize: the Marine Integrated Decision Analysis System (MIDAS)

The livelihood of coastal communities is directly linked to the health of intertidal and marine ecosystems. Coastal zones and marine areas are rapidly changing and highly vulnerable to impacts from climate change, accelerating human development, and over-fishing. Quality of life and the benefits of coastal development can be greatly enhanced, and costs minimized, by projecting and comparing alternative policy outcomes before management decisions are made. This article describes the Marine Integrated Decision Analysis System (MIDAS), an interactive decision support tool designed to assist the users and managers of Belize's system of marine management areas (MMAs) in understanding the interactions among various ecological, socioeconomic, and governance conditions in a spatially explicit manner. MIDAS can simulate and visualize the likely effects of alternative management strategies and therefore provides an important tool for evaluating potential scenarios. We developed two MIDAS modules to address specific threats in Belize –spatial risk resulting from mangrove deforestation in coastal areas and the potential effect of an oil spill off the coast of Belize. Workshops conducted in Belize indicate that diverse user groups such as fishers, tourism operators, and public environmental agencies can successfully utilize MIDAS to understand MMA outcomes, and environmental risks.

Cultural bequest values for ecosystem service flows among indigenous fishers: A discrete choice experiment validated with mixed methods

Perhaps the most understudied ecosystem services are related to socio-cultural values tied to non-material benefits arising from human–ecosystem relationships. Bequest values linked to natural ecosystems can be particularly significant for indigenous communities whose livelihoods and cultures are tied to ecosystems. Here we apply a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to determine indigenous fishers' preferences and willingness-to-pay for bequest gains from management actions in a locally managed marine area in Madagascar, and use our results to estimate an implicit discount rate. We validate our results using a unique rating and ranking game and other mixed methods. We find that bequest is highly valued and important; respondents were willing to pay a substantial portion of their income to protect ecosystems for future generations. Through all of our inquiries, bequest emerged as the highest priority, even when respondents were forced to make trade-offs among other livelihood-supporting ecosystem services. This study is among a relative few to quantify bequest values and apply a DCE to model trade-offs, value ecosystem service flows, and estimate discount rates in a developing country. Our results directly inform coastal management in Madagascar and elsewhere by providing information on the socio-cultural value of bequest in comparison to other ecosystem service benefits.

Lessons Learned from the Marine Management Area Science Program: Insights for Global Conservation Science Programs

Drawing on experiences from the four regions and the overall conduct of the Marine Management Area Science (MMAS) program, this concluding article highlights emergent cross-cutting themes that affected MMAS programs across the regions, summarizes the important conservation outcomes of the MMAS program, and then discusses lessons gained from the actual process of conducting the MMAS program. Based on these insights, particularly the last section, this article concludes with recommendations for other conservation programs, specifically those that are global in scope and are science-based with a specific intent to apply that science to conservation action.

Implementing Regional Marine Policies at the Eastern Mediterranean, Through an Ecosystem Based Marine Spatial Planning

As demands for maritime space have significantly been increased the last decades, management of marine areas has been turned out into complicated and sensitive procedures, by involving different levels of authorities and various stakeholders, including the public. Future uses of maritime space such as blue energy, gas and oil exploration, extraction of raw materials, together with permanent activities such as shipping, fishing, aquaculture, tourism, indicate the involvement of economic operators and the necessity of an integrated management approach, succeeding to an effective marine spatial planning [1]. Consultation of authorities, stakeholders and public during the preparation of any plans, should result to an adequate marine spatial planning and regarding the particularities of marine regions, existing national policies and legislation, and by securing the compliance with relative regulations [2].

A Study on Hydrodynamic Behaviour of SW Coast of India – Implication to Ecosystem Model

Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management – Project Directorate (ICMAM-PD), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt of India is implementing a project on ecosystem modelling for SW Coast of India to study the anthropogenic and natural influences on ecosystem character of SW Coast of India during the 12th plan period (2012-17). The study area covers the coastal stretch from Goa to Kanyakumari including the offshore waters, the estuarine and the inlet waters. In order to develop an ecosystem model for the SW Coast, extensive data sets on various physical and biogeochemical parameters (water levels, currents, temperature, salinity, nutrients, DO, chlorophyll, primary production etc) have been collected since 2012 through various field measurements. The available past data from ICMAM database, COMAPS datasets, institutional reports etc have also been collected to understand the hydrodynamic behaviour of the SW Coast. The hydrodynamic processes such as tidal propagation, currents and circulation, density distribution, etc have been studied to understand the dispersal mechanisms of particulate matter derived from land run off. Model simulations were carried out to investigate the dynamics of the shelf flow response to the spatial and temporal variability of the tidal forcing along the SW Coast. An attempt has been made to understand the variability of the surface circulation and associated SSC in different seasonal condition during 2013 and 2014 as a response of wind and tidal forcing under variable land run off conditions. Temperature, salinity, and density profiles were used to study the variability in circulation and stratification characteristics along the coast. Tide models were utilized to study the tidal excursion along the coast and the results were validated with the tide data from the survey of India. The regions of hydraulic heads, and zones of possible accumulation of particulate matter along the coast and the subsequent influences on ecosystem character has been studied and discussed.

Building Participation in Large-scale Conservation: Lessons from Belize and Panama

Motivated by biogeography and a desire for alignment with the funding priorities of donors, the twenty-first century has seen big international NGOs shifting towards a large-scale conservation approach. This shift has meant that even before stakeholders at the national and local scale are involved, conservation programmes often have their objectives defined and funding allocated. This paper uses the experiences of Conservation International's Marine Management Area Science (MMAS) programme in Belize and Panama to explore how to build participation at the national and local scale while working within the bounds of the current conservation paradigm. Qualitative data about MMAS was gathered through a multi-sited ethnographic research process, utilising document review, direct observation, and semi-structured interviews with 82 informants in Belize, Panama, and the United States of America. Results indicate that while a large-scale approach to conservation disadvantages early national and local stakeholder participation, this effect can be mediated through focusing engagement efforts, paying attention to context, building horizontal and vertical partnerships, and using deliberative processes that promote learning. While explicit consideration of geopolitics and local complexity alongside biogeography in the planning phase of a large-scale conservation programme is ideal, actions taken by programme managers during implementation can still have a substantial impact on conservation outcomes.

PENGATURAN WEWENANG DALAM PENGELOLAAN WILAYAH LAUT

The concept of a sea area becomes of great importance in relation to the effort against the structuring and setting boundaries utilization and management of marine areas to pay attention to the conception of the country which insists on (1) the boundaries of the Homeland ; and (2) the rights contained within it 's own territory . The above concept is consistency of affirmation of the principle and characteristic of the archipelago island nation as stipulated in Article 25A NRI Constitution of 1945 and the right to control the state of the earth and water and natural resources contained therein as intended in Article 33 paragraph (3) Constitution NRI Year 1945 the nature of the provision is to achieve national development goals as defined in the preamble of the Year 1945 NRI in such understanding , the concept of a sea area is related to the philosophical aspects , principles of management and organization authority in the management of marine areas

Social capital as an ecosystem service: Evidence from a locally managed marine area

Social capital is an important ecosystem service, yet we lack common understanding of how it fits, and can be operationalized, within the ecosystem services framework. We review the literature to clarify the role of social capital in this context, establishing it as a multidimensional concept and a fundamental constituent of human well-being that is both supported by, and affects, all categories of ecosystem services. We then draw on qualitative and quantitative data to assess and value social capital as an ecosystem service and explore its role in facilitating management goals in a Malagasy locally managed marine area. We find high levels of social capital, gauged by trust, community involvement, and social cohesion. Results of a choice experiment show positive utilities associated with high levels of social cohesion. Respondents also ranked social cohesion higher than some provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services. Qualitative data suggest social capital increased as a result of the community based management institution, and has facilitated the success of marine management measures. Our results offer insight into the ways in which social capital can both affect, and be affected by, the management of natural resources, and how it can be assessed and valued as an ecosystem service.

Governance fit for climate change in a Caribbean coastal-marine context

Coastal-marine systems in small island developing states of the Caribbean are highly vulnerable to both current and future climate change. Societies navigate these changes in part through processes of governance and the institutions through which governance takes place. The concept of institutional adaptive capacity is used to explore how governance processes and institutional arrangements can be adapted to match the scale and extent of climate change in a case study of the Soufriere Marine Management Area, St. Lucia. Institutional adaptive capacity is analyzed based on the following factors: institutional variety, analytical deliberation and nesting and networks. The analysis is based on 36 semi-structured interviews conducted with key informants from NGOs, cooperatives, management authorities and government agencies. The findings suggest that governance to address climate change in the case study is contingent upon developing holistic, integrated management systems, improving flexibility in existing collaborative decision making processes, augmenting the capacity of local management authorities with support from higher-level government, exploring opportunities for private–social partnerships, and developing adequate social–environmental monitoring programs. These findings have potential implications and lessons for similar settings throughout the Caribbean.

Building the regional perspective: platforms for success

ABSTRACTRegional approaches to protecting the marine environment have gathered momentum over the past 40 years. Pioneered by UNEP's Regional Seas Programme, such approaches have broadened their remit from pollution prevention to the conservation of biodiversity, promoting management tools such as networks of marine protected areas (MPAs).Formal intergovernmental approaches are increasingly complemented by a range of regional projects committed to ambitious targets to establish MPAs and Local Marine Managed Areas (LMMAs). These regional efforts have been inspired by political leaders, non‐governmental organizations, coastal communities and committed individuals.Regional networks of MPA managers have drawn together professionals to share good practice and further develop management tools. They focus on partnerships and capacity building opportunities with support from international donors and implementing agencies.Collective ecosystem‐based management delivered using a regional approach is identified as a preferred solution to environmental challenges in polar regions. Crossing boundaries and fostering regional synergies can help ensure ecologically coherent regional networks and support resilience. There is also the potential to reap tangible rewards from applying such a regional approach in many other areas.Regional coherence of MPA network design, compliance and enforcement policies, and information sharing is an optimal way to understand and counter commercial and industrial resource extraction forces actively working against sustainable development. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cultural Bequest Values for Ecosystem Service Flows Among Indigenous Fishers: A Discrete Choice Experiment Validated with Mixed Methods

Perhaps the most understudied ecosystem services are related to socio-cultural values tied to non-material benefits arising from human-ecosystem relationships. Bequest values linked to natural ecosystems can be particularly significant for indigenous communities whose livelihoods and cultures are tied to ecosystems. Here we apply a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to determine indigenous fishers’ preferences and willingness-to-pay for bequest gains from management actions in a locally managed marine area in Madagascar, and use our results to estimate an implicit discount rate. We validate our results using a unique rating and ranking game and other mixed methods. We find that bequest is highly valued and important; respondents were willing to pay a substantial portion of their income to protect ecosystems for future generations. Through all of our inquiries, bequest emerged as the highest priority, even when respondents were forced to make trade-offs among other livelihood-supporting ecosystem services. This study is among a relative few to quantify bequest values and apply a DCE to model trade-offs, value ecosystem service flows, and estimate discount rates in a developing country. Our results directly inform coastal management in Madagascar and elsewhere by providing information on the socio-cultural value of bequest in comparison to other ecosystem service benefits.

Challenges facing local communities in Tanzania in realising locally-managed marine areas

This study explores how the history and process of establishing a marine protected area (MPA) under the control of the state has led to limited interest in community-based management amongst local stakeholders. The study contributes to the understanding of historical events that have discouraged the take-off and scale-up of community-based conservation approaches, such as locally-managed marine areas (LMMAs). LMMAs are being promoted increasingly as a desirable approach in marine conservation. However, there are a limited numbers of cases where such initiatives have been used as a strategy for marine management in sub-Saharan Africa, and very few operational examples of such schemes exist in the Western Indian Ocean region. Through semi-structured questionnaires, 193 community members selected randomly from 15 villages of the Mnazi Bay-Ruvuma Estuary Marine Park (MBREMP), Mtwara district, Southern Tanzania, were interviewed about their attitudes towards efforts to promote local management and the conservation of marine resources. The study also involved 17 focus group discussions, 13 in-depth key informant interviews, participant observation, and a review of secondary information. Over 85% of the questionnaire respondents commented that there was insufficient participation by legitimate community representatives in the development of the MBREMP. Almost 90% of the respondents agreed that the management of marine areas has increased significantly, particularly in the last two decades following initiatives by the government, donors and external NGOs. However, 70% of the questionnaire responders had observed that a rapid shift from centralised to community-based management has been hindered by a lack of acceptable community rules and by communities frequently equating conservation with prohibition. Developing LMMAs in areas based on the lessons learned from MPAs could be a better alternative to developing entirely new community-managed areas; however, this can only succeed if limitations including the key principles of community participation and empowerment are addressed.

Differential use of the Argentine shelf by wintering adults and juveniles southern giant petrels, Macronectes giganteus, from Patagonia

To study habitat use and at-sea movements of southern giant petrels (SGP) during non-breeding period, we deployed 15 satellite transmitters (six adults, nine juveniles) at Isla Arce and Isla Gran Robredo colonies in Patagonia, Argentina. Birds were instrumented during 81.4 ± 37 days. Adult birds used 74% of the Argentine shelf concentrating mainly at the shelf break, middle shelf waters, and the surroundings of the colony. After fledging, juveniles spread to the Argentine, Uruguayan and Brazilian shelves within the South Atlantic. Adults alternated at-sea excursions (12 ± 5 days) with periods at the colony of 3 ± 0.3 days. Contrarily, juveniles moved first to the shelf break and then traveled northwards reaching the south of Brazil. There was some spatial overlap between age classes, but only during the first 30 days after juveniles had fledged; thereafter there was not overlap between the areas used by both age classes. The Argentine shelf is widely used by different species offering a suitable environment for foraging; this may be why adults SGP from Patagonian colonies spend all year-round within the Argentine shelf. The identification of used areas of non-breeding SGP fills a gap in the species knowledge contributing not only to the preservation the species, but also to the management of marine areas globally recognized as important for many other Procellariiformes.

Towards a network of locally managed marine areas (LMMAs) in the Western Indian Ocean.

In the Western Indian Ocean (WIO), local communities are increasingly assuming responsibility for inshore marine resources either on their own or through collaborative management arrangements with governments or non-state actors. In this paper, we trace the evolution and expansion of community management in the WIO and present the first ever inventory and assessment of the region’s locally managed marine areas (LMMAs). We compare the key attributes of these areas to those under government stewardship and assess their relative contributions to progress towards the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) target of 10% of marine and coastal ecological regions to be effectively conserved by 2020. We also explore the legal frameworks that underpin locally managed marine initiatives in Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique and Tanzania to assess the potential for future expansion. A principal finding is that whilst LMMAs protect more than 11,000 square kilometres of marine resource in the WIO, they are hampered by underdeveloped local and national legal structures and enforcement mechanisms. In our recommendations to improve local management, we suggest establishing a network of LMMA practitioners in the WIO region to share experiences and best practice.

Marine Regions: Towards a Global Standard for Georeferenced Marine Names and Boundaries

GIS has become an indispensable tool for managing and displaying marine spatial data. However, a unique georeferenced standard of marine place names and boundaries has yet to be established. As such, an online, open-access, standardized, hierarchical list of geographic names, that is, Marine Regions, has been developed, linking each of these names to information and maps of the geographic location. The objectives are to capture all geographic marine names worldwide, including ocean basins, seas, seamounts, sandbanks, ridges, bays, and other marine geographical place names and attributes, and to display univocally the boundaries of marine biogeographic or other managed marine areas in order to facilitate marine data management, marine (geographic) research and the management of marine areas. Marine Regions is freely available at http://www.marineregions.org.

Successful community engagement and implementation of a conservation plan in the Solomon Islands: a local perspective

The indigenous people and clans of Choiseul Province, or Lauru as it is known locally, retain strong customary ownership over their lands and seas, and maintain many customs relating to the use of their natural resources. The rural population of Lauru also has a strong collective voice through the Lauru Land Conference of Tribal Community (LLCTC). The activities of the LLCTC Environmental Office resulted in the establishment of eight Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs) by 2008, and word of mouth on the value of these LMMAs generated numerous community requests to LLCTC for assistance in establishing additional protected areas. In 2009 a stakeholder-driven conservation plan for the whole of Lauru was developed, which led to a political commitment from the LLCTC and the government to establish a provincial-wide Lauru Protected Area Network, the first such commitment in Melanesia. By 2012, 15 LMMAs and several terrestrial community conserved areas had been established. This paper outlines the process of community engagement that the LLCTC Environmental office uses when establishing protected areas and some of the common misunderstandings that frequently need to be addressed. The paper also outlines how the stakeholder-driven implementation process is informed by the Choiseul Ridges to Reefs Conservation Plan that was developed using the best available scientific and local knowledge.

Protecting the Commons: the use of Subtidal Ecosystem Engineers in Marine Management

Abstract Biodiversity conservation often focuses on threatened or rare species. While this structural asset of biodiversity is indeed important, the functional diversity aspect has to be considered as an even more important criterion for marine management and conservation. This paper explores the use of functionally important ecosystem engineers in North Sea management approaches. An overview of several North Sea ecosystem engineering species shows that ecosystem engineers such as bulldozing echinoderms and burrowing shrimps as well as bio‐irrigating polychaetes are bound to receive more attention in the management of marine areas than they do now, given their important structuring aspect in associated fauna and implications for seafloor ecosystem functioning. The use of ecosystem engineers could contribute considerably to the concept of Ecosystem‐Based Management in the marine realm. This is clearly illustrated in the present case study of the bio‐irrigating polychaete Lanice conchilega. Since this species manifests both autogenic and allogenic ecosystem engineering properties, the management of human activities that affect common species such as L. conchilega reefs can enhance protection of the entire local ecosystem. In the North Sea, some commonly occurring ecosystem engineers and their engineered habitat can be protected under the European Habitats Directive and the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Bird-Borne Video-Cameras Show That Seabird Movement Patterns Relate to Previously Unrevealed Proximate Environment, Not Prey

The study of ecological and behavioral processes has been revolutionized in the last two decades with the rapid development of biologging-science. Recently, using image-capturing devices, some pilot studies demonstrated the potential of understanding marine vertebrate movement patterns in relation to their proximate, as opposed to remote sensed environmental contexts. Here, using miniaturized video cameras and GPS tracking recorders simultaneously, we show for the first time that information on the immediate visual surroundings of a foraging seabird, the Cape gannet, is fundamental in understanding the origins of its movement patterns. We found that movement patterns were related to specific stimuli which were mostly other predators such as gannets, dolphins or fishing boats. Contrary to a widely accepted idea, our data suggest that foraging seabirds are not directly looking for prey. Instead, they search for indicators of the presence of prey, the latter being targeted at the very last moment and at a very small scale. We demonstrate that movement patterns of foraging seabirds can be heavily driven by processes unobservable with conventional methodology. Except perhaps for large scale processes, local-enhancement seems to be the only ruling mechanism; this has profounds implications for ecosystem-based management of marine areas.