Ocean Zoning Research Articles

Managing for cumulative impacts in ecosystem-based management through ocean zoning

Multiple activities affect the marine environment in concert, yet current management primarily considers activities in isolation. A shift towards a more comprehensive management of these activities, as with recent emphasis on ecosystem-based approaches to management, requires a means for evaluating their interactive and cumulative impacts. Here we develop a framework for this evaluation, focusing on five core concepts: (1) activities have interactive and cumulative impacts, (2) management decisions require consideration of, and tradeoffs among, all ecosystem services, (3) not all stressors are equal or have impacts that increase linearly, (4) management must account for the different scales of activities and impacts, and (5) some externalities cannot be controlled locally but must be accounted for in marine spatial planning. Comprehensive ocean zoning provides a powerful tool with which these key concepts are collectively addressed.

Ocean zoning, first possession and Coasean contracts

Abstract Governments are being asked to integrate uses of ocean resources and space by developing comprehensive zoning plans. The current, sectoral practice establishes individual areas, such as marine protected areas, that satisfy constituents’ first-possession strategies to claim de facto ownership, but the zones are not integrated. Also, the emphasis on exclusive-use zoning to minimize spillovers in both approaches is costly when the value of excluded production is greater than spillover damages. Alternatively, property rights could be allocated to claimants and exchanged in contracts that internalize spillovers, account for all sources of value, and result in an optimal pattern of mixed-use and exclusive-use zones.

Assessing gaps in marine conservation in California

Implementation of marine conservation strategies lags far behind terrestrial conservation efforts. Quantifying what is protected and what is not, or “gap analysis”, helps to show just how much work there is to do; systematic conservation planning provides guidance on how to best fill those gaps. We conducted the first marine gap analysis for California by comparing distributions of major ecosystems and habitats with existing marine protected areas. Less than 0.3% of state and federal waters (to the bottom of the continental slope) are within no-take or limited-take marine protected areas (MPAs). With few exceptions, less than 5% of marine habitats are within no-take or limited-take MPAs that afford a high level of ecosystem protection. Efforts to create new MPAs to include representative habitats will help to fill some gaps, but additional conservation strategies, such as ocean zoning and ecosystem-based management of fisheries, are needed to balance protection and sustainable use of marine biodiversity.

Ocean zoning in the Northwest Atlantic

A workshop held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, brought together marine policy makers, resource users and experts to discuss spatial planning in the marine environment. Participants explored concepts of ocean zoning and learned from other jurisdictions and related integrated management initiatives. An ocean user perspectives panel featured plenary addresses on the significance of ocean zoning to various sectors. Discussions at the workshop emphasized the need for involving all key players and clearly defining terms used in the spatial planning process.

From Mare Liberum to Mare Reservarum

Four hundred years ago, Hugo Grotius defined the notion of Mare Liberum, leading to the concept of the ‘Freedom of the Seas’. This concept has dominated humanity's relationship with the oceans and its renewable resources ever since. We present the conceptual reasons for society having arrived at the current ecological, economic and policy dilemma of widespread overfishing by global marine fisheries. We propose a call for global action to change our attitudes and behaviour towards the oceans away from ‘free and open’ towards ‘heritage’. We then propose one mechanism (ocean zoning) that we consider crucial to address what is clearly a supra-national problem of global dimensions.