Success Of Marine Protected Areas Research Articles

Promoting equity in the use of algorithms for high-seas conservation

Promoting equity in the use of algorithms for high-seas conservation

Repeatability of baited remote underwater video station (BRUVS) results within and between seasons.

Baited remote underwater video stations (BRUVS) are increasingly being used to evaluate and monitor reef communities. Many BRUVS studies compare multiple sites sampled at single time points that may differ from the sampling time of another site. As BRUVS use grows in its application to provide data relevant to sustainable management, marine protected area success, and overall reef health, understanding repeatability of sampling results is vital. We examined the repeatability of BRUVS results for the elasmobranch community both within and between seasons and years, and explored environmental factors affecting abundances at two sites in Indonesia. On 956 BRUVS, 1139 elasmobranchs (69% rays, 31% sharks) were observed. We found consistent results in species composition and abundances within a season and across years. However, elasmobranch abundances were significantly higher in the wet season. The elasmobranch community was significantly different between the two sites sampled, one site being more coastal and easily accessed by fishermen. Our results demonstrate that while BRUVS are a reliable and repeatable method for surveying elasmobranchs, care must be taken in the timing of sampling between different regions to ensure that any differences observed are due to inherent differences amongst sampling areas as opposed to seasonal dissimilarities.

Purpose vs performance: What does marine protected area success look like?

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an increasingly deployed spatial management tool. MPAs are primarily designed for biodiversity conservation, with their success commonly measured using a narrow suite of ecological indicators. However, for MPAs to achieve their biodiversity conservation goals they require community support, which is dependent on wider social, economic and political factors. Despite this, research into the human dimensions of MPAs continues to lag behind our understanding of ecological responses to MPA protection. Here, we explore stakeholders’ perceptions of what MPA success is. We conducted a series of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with a diverse group of stakeholders local to a South Australian MPA. What constitutes success varied by stakeholder group, and stakeholders’ stated understanding of the purpose of the MPA differed from how they would choose to measure the MPA’s success. Indeed, all interviewees stated that the primary purpose of the MPA was ecological, yet almost all (>90%) would measure the success of the MPA using social and economic measures, either exclusively or in conjunction with ecological ones. Many respondents also stated that social and economic factors were key to the MPA achieving ongoing/future success. Respondents generated a large range of novel socio-economic measures of MPA success, many of which could be incorporated into monitoring programs for relatively little additional cost. These findings also show that success is not straightforward and what constitutes success depends on who you ask. Even where an MPA’s primary ecological purpose is acknowledged by stakeholders, stakeholders are likely to only consider the MPA a success if its designation also demonstrates social and economic benefits to their communities. To achieve local stakeholder support MPAs and associated monitoring programs need to be designed for a variety of success criteria in mind, criteria which reflect the priorities and needs of the adjacent communities as well as national and international conservation objectives.

Making marine protected areas work

Globally consistent surveys of five factors influencing the success of marine protected areas — age, size, isolation, protection and enforcement — reveal that only when all five are present does nature thrive. See Letter p.216 Marine protected areas are an important and increasing component of marine conservation strategy, but their effectiveness is variable and much debated. These authors assemble data from a global sample of fished regions and 87 marine protected areas and demonstrate that the effectiveness of a protected area depends on five key properties: how much fishing is allowed, enforcement levels, how long protection has been in place, area and degree of isolation. Conservation is assured only when all five of these boxes have been ticked.

Accurate assessment of marine protected area success depends on metric and spatiotemporal scale of monitoring

Marine protected areas are being monitored to determine whether they increase abundance of fished populations, with responses often expected within a few years. Evaluations typically compare abundance inside versus outside or after versus before implementation, but the temporal and spatial scales over which these measures can reflect marine protected area success are untested. We modeled the response of fished populations for a range of marine protected area sizes, fishing intensities, larval dispersal distances, and adult movement ranges. Our results, which can inform experimental design and interpretation of monitoring, show that the spatial and temporal scale of population responses to marine protected areas will be determined by simple relationships between marine protected area size, larval and adult movement distances, and generation time, in addition to the effects of exploitation rate. The largest effects of marine pro- tected areas should be expected with 'outside' samples located at least 2 dispersal units from the edge, and after 2 generations have passed since establishment. In general, monitoring studies over time (after versus before) should provide better assessment of marine protected area success than monitoring over space (inside versus outside), but understanding of the limitations of each type of measurement is key. Because it may take many years for marine protected area effects to be fully realized, we strongly caution against judgment of marine protected area effectiveness at inappropriately short time frames.

Back to Basics: An Empirical Study Demonstrating the Importance of Local-Level Dynamics for the Success of Tropical Marine Ecosystem-Based Management

This analysis of marine ecosystem-based management (EBM) and marine protected area (MPA) networks in the Philippines demonstrates that local-level governance and institutional dynamics are central to management effectiveness. Using survey and interview data from 36 communities in the Central Visayas, key variables are identified that are correlated with and predictive of marine protected area success. Empirically based management guidelines are: (1) EBM and MPA design must be context appropriate, (2) capacity development to develop MPA leadership and the technical skills are a good investment, (3) strict and fair punishment for infractions of legitimate rules should be utilized and appear to be welcomed by local residents, and (4) conflict and controversy are a predictable part of MPA design and implementation and need to be planned for. Most importantly, while scaling up management interventions can make both biological and institutional sense, there is a point at which institutional capacity is exceeded. This study strongly suggests that in the Philippines, and likely many other tropical contexts, establishing large-scale EBM, MPA networks, or extensive centrally planned zonation schemes based primarily on national law, international targets, and command-and-control policy are likely to fail. The pressing imperative of ocean-wide environmental decline should not be used to justify infeasible and poorly designed management interventions that ignore local dynamics and institutional constraints.