sign in sign up
<<
Home , Bowie Seamount, Great Barrier Reef

Vol. 14, No. 1 July / August 2012

International news and analysis on marine protected areas

Great Barrier on Way to ‘World Heritage in Danger’ List Unless Development Plans Stopped The may be listed as a World There are currently 35 applications for new coastal Heritage site “in danger” unless several proposed development in the region, including for large ports plans for new ports and other coastal development in and liquefied natural gas facilities. the Australian state of are shelved. Table of Contents If the Australian and Queensland governments cannot At its annual meeting in June 2012, the UNESCO show “substantial progress” in addressing the concerns Great Barrier Reef on gave the Australian raised, the World Heritage Committee has indicated Way to ‘World Heritage and Queensland governments less than a year (until it will consider inscribing the Great Barrier Reef to its in Danger’ List Unless February 2013) to develop and apply a highly precau- List of World Heritage in Danger. The committee Development Plans tionary process to consideration of coastal develop- uses such inscriptions to attract international atten- Stopped...... 1 ment proposals. That process will be expected to tion to threats and move governments to take action. New Calculation of World forbid any proposal — inside or adjacent to the site Both governments are now undertaking a compre- MPA Coverage is Twice — that would significantly impact the “outstanding hensive strategic assessment of the Great Barrier Reef Previous Estimates, but universal value” of the World Heritage area. to address each of the key issues confronting the Still Far Below Target.... 2 . New Global MPA There is nearly complete overlap between the Great Database Launched: Background on the Great Barrier Reef and Barrier Reef Marine Park and the Great Barrier Reef MPAtlas.org...... 3 marine World Heritage World Heritage Area: 99% of the World Heritage Area • The Great Barrier Reef was inscribed on the is covered by the federally managed Marine Park. The Announces World Heritage list in 1981. remaining 1% of the World Heritage Area is state- Final Proposal for MPA managed and comprises ports and most of the . Network, Including • The peer-reviewed Great Barrier Reef Outlook MPA...... 4 Report 2009 (www.gbrmpa.gov.au/outlook- Sophisticated management, yet still under threat MPA Perspective: Coral for-the-reef/great-barrier-reef-outlook-report ) The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is generally MPAs and the Need highlighted threats to the Great Barrier Reef and recognized in the global MPA community for its for Long-Term Local identified the following issues in priority order as sophisticated management, including a frame- Community Benefits..... 5 those reducing its resilience: work based on 70 bioregions and a comprehensive 1. ; water quality protection program that is co-managed Notes & News...... 6 2. Continued declining water quality from catch- by the Australian and Queensland governments. The LMMA Lessons: How ment runoff; possibility that the site could be added to the World Communities Prepare for 3. Loss of coastal habitats from coastal develop- Heritage in Danger list is a reminder that even well- Managing their Marine ment; and managed MPAs face threats and the potential for Resources...... 6 4. Remaining impacts from fishing and illegal decline. fishing/poaching. Songs for MPAs...... 8 In March 2012, IUCN and the World Heritage Cen- • Climate change is a global issue facing all tre conducted a joint mission to the Great Barrier Reef

natural World Heritage properties — particularly to examine the development situation. The resulting

n

•

o

marine sites, for which ocean acidification is a report expressed concerns regarding the lack of a i t

n of a o c

significant threat. sufficiently precautionary approach to decision- ati c u

li making on new coastal development applications. b d

u • There are currently 46 marine sites inscribed on p E

As evidence, the report stated that since 1999, A

the World Heritage list within 35 countries. The d

Queensland government has approved 70% of all n

newest-listed marine site is the Rock Islands in a coastal development proposals that had the po- Palau, inscribed in 2012. h M c tential to impact the reef’s outstanding universal r a a ri e continued on next page ne es Affairs R value. The mission report is available at ly poses a risk to the health of the Great Barrier Reef,” http://whc.unesco.org/document/117104 . he says. “One of the best ways to build resilience to cope with climate change is to reduce these other “I think it is fair to expect more of the [decision- .“ making] process than was in place when the World Heritage delegation visited earlier this year,” says For more information: Queensland Environment Minister Andrew Powell. Powell is a member of the Liberal National Party, Marine World Heritage in Danger Alexandria Bernard Two marine World Heritage sites are currently (senior media advisor), which took power in Queensland in March. He says inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger: Ministry for Environment the state government is moving quickly to ensure high environmental standards are met. “We are pur- and Heritage Protection, Barrier Reef Reserve System (Belize) Brisbane, QLD, Australia. suing a strategic ports plan to make sure development • Inscribed on World Heritage List in 1996. E-mail: alex.bernard@ occurs in a measured and responsible manner in the • Inscribed on Danger List from 2009-present. ministerial.qld.gov.au future. Where projects are not environmentally or economically sound, I am confident the government • Threats to site value: sale and lease of public Jon Day, Great Barrier will take action.” lands for development within the site, leading to Reef Marine Park Authority, destruction of and marine . , Queensland, UNESCO is concerned that the potential coastal Australia. E-mail: development projects will cause the loss of critical Everglades National Park (United States) [email protected] habitat, including for and other threatened species. The development could also reduce overall • Inscribed on World Heritage List in 1979. ecosystem resilience to climate change — which, • Inscribed on Danger List from 1993-2007 and through and acidification, is consid- again 2010-present. ered the main threat facing the Great Barrier Reef. • Threats to site value: alterations in hydrological regime, increased nutrient pollution, and adjacent Jon Day, director of planning, heritage, and sustain- urban and agricultural growth. able funding for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, shares these concerns. “Expanding coastal development and the associated pressures undoubted-

New Calculation of World MPA Coverage is Twice Previous Estimates, but Still Far Below Target A coalition of six UK-based NGOs has concluded Society of London (www.marinereservescoalition.org ) . that global MPA coverage amounts to 3.2% of the Below, MPA News speaks with coalition coordinator world ocean. That figure is well below the 10% glob- Fiona Llewellyn and analyst Chris Yesson about their al MPA coverage target set by the UN Convention on calculations of MPA coverage and the implications for Biological Diversity for 2020. On the bright side, global MPA progress: the 3.2% figure is at least double what other experts MPA News: have estimated for coverage, as recently as Your 3.2% figure for global MPA cover- early 2012 (MPA News 13:5). age is twice as high as some other estimates. How do you explain this difference, considering your data came The Marine Reserves Coalition, which calculated the from the same source that other calculations have used global MPA coverage figure, also assessed MPA cover- — the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA)? age by country. The latter calculations resulted in a Fiona Llewellyn: Top 5 of: There are a number of large pro- tected areas that are missing from the WDPA. So 1. Monaco (100% MPA coverage of country’s total although our analysis was based primarily on the sea area) WDPA, we did have to manually add our own data as 2. Bosnia and Herzegovina (97.1%) well, where we were aware of missing areas. 3. Portugal (51.6%) Chris Yesson: 4. Kazakhstan (47.3%) The WDPA is continually updated, so 5. Estonia (45.7%) there are more MPAs in it now than, say, six months ago. For example, the 1 million-km2 South Georgia The coalition consists of the Blue Marine Foundation, MPA, designated by the UK, only appeared in the ClientEarth, Greenpeace UK, Marine Conservation WDPA in June 2012, and several relatively large Society, Pew Environment Group, and the Zoological MPAs (tens of thousands of square kilometers in size)

2 MPA News were not yet in the WDPA when I did our analysis. MPA News: Some practitioners have suggested there Also, I do not know what definition of “marine pro- should be greater attention paid to managing exist- tected area” other analyses have used in their coverage ing MPAs effectively, as opposed to designating new calculations. This might have led them to exclude MPAs in a effort simply to achieve coverage targets. some areas that are effectively fisheries management Are you concerned about a flurry of paper parks being zones (i.e., with very limited protection) that we designated by governments to achieve the 10% target For more information: included in our calculations. by 2020? Fiona Llewellyn, MPA News: The top five countries for MPA coverage Llewellyn: We want to see governments actively Zoological Society of include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, and working toward achieving – as an absolute minimum London, UK. E-mail: Estonia — each not often recognized for its MPA first step – the 10% target from the Convention on [email protected] work. Based on their rankings in your table, would Biological Diversity. However, we stress that effective you consider these countries to be leaders in marine management must accompany designation. Other- conservation? wise protection and restoration cannot be achieved. Llewellyn: No. In fact this was something we discussed on a number of occasions: that is, given the Editor’s note: The Marine Protected Areas League Table of hugely different EEZ sizes of nations, is analyzing Nations is available at www.marinereservescoalition.org/ progress by gross proportion of EEZ the best approach? files/2012/07/Marine_Reserves_Coalition_MPA_League_ Table_June2012.pdf . Yesson: The countries at the top of the ranking typi- cally have very small coastlines and hence small EEZs. The total sea area of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for ex- ample, is 21 km2. This makes it relatively easy to get to high area protection, and does not necessarily make New global MPA database launched: a country like Bosnia and Herzegovina a world leader MPAtlas.org in MPAs. That being said, Portugal — which is #3 in A new database that aims to provide more details and our ranking — does have a large, globally significant context on marine protected areas worldwide is in EEZ (1.7 million km2). Its position in the ranking is late-stage development. Called MPAtlas and already thanks to two very large no-trawl zones in the Azores viewable online (www.mpatlas.org ), the project is a and Madeira. joint effort of the Marine Conservation Institute and the Waitt Foundation. Llewellyn: Going forward we hope to build upon our analysis. We may look at more complex ways “We undertook this project to help the global MPA com- of ranking countries that take total size of EEZ into munity better understand where MPAs are and what they account. We believe that countries with larger EEZs are doing to protect marine life,” says Lance Morgan, have a greater responsibility (and opportunity) for project director and president of the Marine Conservation conservation, and therefore should be leading the way Institute. “One of the difficulties with a term as general in marine stewardship. as ‘’ is that it means different things to different people. The MPAtlas project provides MPA News: Do you plan to do a similar table to context, especially on the issue of fishing. For example, document no-take area coverage for each nation? the database categorizes no-take areas differently from Llewellyn: When we undertook this work, it was our areas with partial fishing restrictions and from areas with primary intention to analyze global no-take coverage no fishing restrictions at all.” alongside global MPA coverage to illustrate how much Most of the core functions of the MPAtlas.org website global MPA area is fully protected [against all extrac- are expected to be complete by the end of August 2012. tion]. A key message of the Marine Reserves Coali- Users will be able to click and explore existing and pro- tion is that our 3.2% coverage figure does not mean posed MPA sites, as well as filter information on MPAs that 3.2% of the ocean is fully protected. Protection by country, ecoregion, and protection level. The site also levels within these areas vary greatly. contains an “MPApedia”, a wiki page on marine protected Unfortunately, the no-take (and management) data areas where visitors can contribute their own knowledge within the WDPA are not comprehensive enough for on the subject. The MPAtlas project incorporates infor- analysis – there are simply too many missing entries in mation from the World Database on Protected Areas, the the no-take data field. So instead we looked at the 20 US MPA Inventory, and other sources. largest MPAs and investigated ourselves how much of the total area is actually no-take. This was surprisingly a very long process, due to lack of readily available information. It is an area of work we intend to pursue further.

July - August 2012 3 Australia Announces Final Proposal for MPA Network, Including MPA On 14 June, the announced in the world. The reserve will adjoin the seaward its proposal for a national representative system of edge of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. A coali- MPAs — a plan that, if implemented, will increase tion of 15 conservation groups led by the Pew Envi- the nation’s MPA system from 27 sites to 60 and ronment Group campaigned for years for Australia’s cover more than 3 million km2 in total. Coral Sea to be completely off-limits to fishing. The proposed sites have each been the focus of Anticipating impacts of the proposed national MPA regional planning processes for months or years, system on fishermen, the Australian Government is stretching from the South-west Marine Region (“Aus- instituting a financial assistance package of roughly tralia Announces Plan For Large Network of MPAs AU $100 million (US $104 million). The pack- off SW Coast”, MPA News 12:6) to the Coral Sea in age, to be developed in partnership with industry, is the northeast (“Australian Government Releases Pro- intended to meet case-by-case needs of fishermen and posal for Large Coral Sea MPA”, MPA News 13:4), businesses, including through: and regions in-between. • Transitional business assistance to support The proposal is now undergoing a final public con- changes to fishing business operations; sultation period, lasting until 10 September 2012. • Assistance for employees including payments; Although legally the maps could still change before the new MPAs are designated, Australian Environ- • Investment in research and monitoring; ment Minister Tony Burke has indicated his intent to • Removal of commercial fishing effort from stick with the sites as proposed. “It’s too late for peo- impacted fisheries through possible purchase of ple to say I want this line shifted or I want this zone entitlements; and painted a different color,” he said in a press release. “The question now is very straightforward. Do we • Targeted assistance to vertically integrated fishing go ahead with the most comprehensive marine park businesses. network in the world or do we not?” He noted that Fisheries Minister Joe Ludwig said, “Those who can in developing the final proposed network, the govern- change their business model, or who opt to leave the ment has already consulted with thousands of people industry, will get the assistance they require.” at more than 250 meetings. The Australian Marine Alliance, which represents The final MPAs are expected to be designated by the commercial and recreational fishing sectors, has cal- end of this year. The proposed plan, which includes culated that the adverse impact of the new MPAs on new MPAs in all mainland-adjacent marine regions of business could be massive, including 36,000 jobs lost the Commonwealth except the South-east, is at www. and a decline in fishing-related revenue of environment.gov.au/coasts/mbp/reserves/index.html . AU $4 billion. The official government estimates of (The South-east marine region designated a network MPA impacts, however, are much lower: a potential of MPAs in 2007.) loss of up to 125 jobs and $23.2 million in decreased revenue across fishing-dependent communities. In Coral Sea MPA; assistance for fishers the latter case, such losses would be readily covered by The “jewel in the crown” of the national MPA system, the $100-million assistance package. The govern- in the words of the environment ministry, will be the ment estimates the new MPAs will displace 1-2% of Coral Sea Marine Reserve, a nearly 1 million-km2 the total annual value of wild catch fisheries produc- area of which roughly half will be no-take. Upon des- tion in Australia. ignation, it will be one of the largest individual MPAs

Australian Government press releases: On the proposed network: www.environment.gov.au/minister/burke/2012/mr20120614.html On the assistance package: www.environment.gov.au/minister/burke/2012/mr20120614a.html On the final public consultation process: www.environment.gov.au/minister/burke/2012/mr20120711.html

4 MPA News MPA Perspective: Coral MPAs and the Need for Long-Term Local Community Benefits

By Douglas Fenner Editor’s note: Douglas fisheries are among the most diverse fisher- No-take MPAs can increase the abundance of large Fenner is a coral reef ies in the world. In the Indo-Pacific region alone, as fish, which are just the fish that divers most like to monitoring ecologist with many as 300 species are taken. see. Systems need to be devised so that benefits from the Department of Marine & These fisheries are also among the most difficult of the dive industry flow not only to the local villages in Wildlife Resources, Ameri- all fisheries to manage, and most are undermanaged general but also to fishermen, who can be employed can Samoa. His essay here or not managed at all. Most coral reefs are located in the dive industry. Again this helps to ensure com- is adapted from an article in poor countries (where many millions of people munity support for the no-take MPAs. he published this year in Diversity journal, “Challeng- depend on reef fish to feed their families), and there is To sum up: in poor nations with high population es for Managing Fisheries little to no money available to manage the large num- growth, MPAs are good conservation tools, mod- on Diverse Coral Reefs” ber of species. Conventional fisheries stock assess- est fisheries management tools, and probably only (www.mdpi.com/1424- ment is far too expensive in these cases and requires temporary aids for increasing food supply. The best 2818/4/1/105/pdf ). too much expertise. Most conventional fisheries bet for ensuring long-term community support for management approaches are not feasible. no-take MPAs is to manage them as a devel- It is said that no-take MPAs are promoted in the opment tool. tropics as fisheries management tools not because they are such great fisheries tools but because there are For more information: few if any viable alternatives for managing coral reef Douglas Fenner, Dept. of Marine and Wildlife Resources, fisheries. There has been a great rush to implement American Samoa. E-mail: [email protected] no-take areas, even though the scientific evidence that they provide significant net benefits to fishers remains thin. The primary purpose of these no-take areas is, rather, conservation. And for that they are probably the best available tool for protecting coral reef ecosys- tems from fishing. The catch is that in order to implement no-take MPAs effectively, the sites require stakeholder sup- port — to ensure community compliance with site regulations. For that support to exist, there must be some benefits from the MPAs for local populations, and not just in terms of conservation. For fishermen in poor countries like Indonesia and the Philippines (which have the second- and third- In poor nations with high population growth, largest coral reef areas), anything that increases their MPAs are good conservation tools, modest fisheries fish catch will win their strong support. So even management tools, and probably only temporary aids modest increases in fish catch from waters surround- for increasing food supply. The best bet for ensuring ing the no-take area can be sufficient to garner strong long-term community support for no-take MPAs is to support, compliance, and enforcement of the MPA manage them as a tourism development tool.” from villagers — at least in the short term. Bear in mind, however, that these same countries have high population growth rates, particularly among poor ru- ral villages. The increasing populations, and resulting increases in food demand, may offset over time any short-term growth in fish catches from MPAs. Dive tourism holds the potential to produce much greater total economic benefits for villagers. And, in its own way, dive tourism is a renewable resource.

July - August 2012 5 National governments make MPA commitments Notes & News at Rio+20 meeting OSPAR designates large MPA on high At the June 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable De- In June the OSPAR Commission — the intergovern- velopment (the “Rio+20 Summit”), several national mental body responsible for protecting and conserv- governments made commitments with regard to their ing the Northeast Atlantic and its resources — MPA systems, including: designated an MPA encompassing the water column • Antigua and Barbuda committed to protecting of an area of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The Charlie- 20% of its nearshore marine area in MPAs by 2020 as Gibbs North High Seas MPA covers an area of nearly part of the country’s joining the Caribbean Challenge 180,000 km2. Initiative. The country also committed to protect It is the seventh MPA that OSPAR has designated on 15% of its terrestrial area. More information on the the high seas, beyond any nation’s jurisdiction. The Caribbean Challenge is at http://campam.gcfi.org/ prior six were designated in 2010 (“Large New MPAs campam.php . Designated in North Atlantic”, MPA News 12:3) • Grenada announced it will co-host a Caribbean The Charlie-Gibbs North High Seas MPA contains a Political and Business Leaders Summit in 2013 with meandering sub-polar front that separates warm wa- the British Virgin Islands to discuss expansion of the ters to the south from cold waters of the north. It is Caribbean Challenge Initiative and to develop sus- a highly productive zone and includes several species tainable financing programs for protected areas. that OSPAR considers to be threatened or declining, • The Seychelles announced its willingness to desig- including deep water , blue whales, leatherback nate 30% of its nearshore waters as protected areas in , and orange roughy. A brief OSPAR press return for forgiveness of national debt. The swap — release on the new MPA is at www.ospar.org/html_ proposed as debt for adaptation to climate change — documents/ospar/news/ospar_pr_12_ospar12_en.pdf . could create a funding stream for the Seychelles of US $2.5 million per year.

LMMA Lessons: How communities prepare for managing their marine resources The LMMA Network is a group of practitioners working to improve • Encourage community-wide participation in management planning locally managed marine areas (LMMAs) in the Indo-Pacific by — otherwise you risk having limited views in developing goals and sharing knowledge and resources. Active for more than a decade, objectives, and only a few individuals active in the implementation of the network now involves hundreds of LMMA sites across seven the plan. countries: Fiji, Indonesia, Palau, , Philippines, • Recognize the different roles played in communities by different Pohnpei, and Solomon Islands. stakeholder groups — for example, elders, women, youth, teachers, Practitioners in other world regions are starting to look to the LMMA etc. Planning should address each group’s concerns and activities Network for lessons and inspiration (“Creation of a Network of within the marine areas. Locally Managed Marine Areas in the Western Indian Ocean”, MPA • Resource rules should be stated simply in a way that is understand- News 13:3). In this light, MPA News presents this new feature able to everyone in the community. “LMMA Lessons”, drawing on the accumulated knowledge of LMMA practitioners. • Choose a location for the protected area where coral health is al- ready good and where there are a lot of fishes. It is difficult to achieve Below is an excerpt from the 2009 report Coming Together: Sharing timely and persuasive results with an area that is heavily damaged. Lessons from the 2008 LMMA Network-wide Meeting Community Exchange, available at www.lmmanetwork.org : • Ultimately, aim to have more than one protected area in each com- munity. For example, having two protected areas — one temporary Keys to successful resource management planning: and one permanent — allows for one to be opened for food con- • Recognize “management planning” is not just for conservation sumption on very special occasions, such as a death or traditional goals. Communities have various issues outside of dwindling function in the village, while the permanent one stays closed. marine resources, such as health, sanitation, livelihoods, poverty, etc. Communities should discuss and incorporate these into their management plan.

6 MPA News intends for entire EEZ to be MPA within network would be designed to protect critical large- five years scale Southern Ocean ecosystem processes, as well as a MPA News Also at the Rio+20 Summit in June, President Mo- wide and representative range of habitats. The report Antarctic Ocean Legacy: A Vision for Circumpolar Pro- EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: hamed Waheed of the Maldives announced his intent John B. Davis to designate a marine protected area over the entirety tection is at www.antarcticocean.org/pdf/circum/11241- AOA-Circumpolar-Report-FINAL.pdf SPANISH TRANSLATION: of his country’s waters within five years. Although . Ricardo Gonzalez sustainable forms of fishing will be allowed to con- The AOA proposal aims to influence CCAMLR, the EDITORIAL BOARD: tinue in the MPA, he said, the MPA will likely ban intergovernmental body responsible for managing Chair - David Fluharty fishing with certain gears, including purse seining and Antarctica’s marine living resources, which is engaged University of Patrick Christie bottom . The size of the Maldives’ Exclusive in a year-long process to plan a network of MPAs in Economic Zone is 923,000 km2. University of Washington the region. CCAMLR (www.ccamlr.org ) has called Michael Murray on its member states to submit detailed proposals. Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary AOA includes Greenpeace, WWF, and other groups, and receives support from Virgin Group CEO CORRESPONDENCE: California approves final open-coast segment of MPA News state MPA network Richard Branson as well as other funders School of Marine & In June, the California Fish and Game Commission (www.antarcticocean.org ). Environmental Affairs approved a plan for a systematic network of MPAs University of Washington 3707 Brooklyn Ave. NE along the north coast of the US state of California. Seattle, WA 98105, USA. The approved system includes 19 MPAs as well as ad- [email protected] ditional management areas; all together, 13% of the France releases strategy to guide overseas MPA Tel: +1 425 788 8185 network state’s north coast marine region is now under protec- France’s Council of Ministers has released a national MPA News is published tion. The new sites are expected to go into effect by strategy for the planning and management of MPAs bimonthly by Marine Affairs early 2013. Research and Education in the country’s overseas territories. It follows France’s (MARE), a 501(c)(3) not- The approval marked the completion of the open- first national MPA strategy, released in 2007, which for-profit corporation, in association with the School coast portion of the state’s Marine Life Protection Act focused on MPAs in home waters. of Marine & Environmental (MLPA) initiative — a multi-year, region-by-region The result of two years of consultation, the new strat- Affairs, University of process to re-examine and redesign California’s MPA Washington. Financial support egy aims to help France reach its national objective of is provided in part by a grant system. The north coast is one of four open-coast covering 20% of its waters in MPAs by 2020. Cur- from the David and Lucile study regions in the MLPA planning process, along rently 11% of French waters are in MPAs. Owing in Packard Foundation. with the north central coast, central coast, and south part to its overseas territories, France has the All content has been written by coast. The study region of San Francisco Bay, not second-largest EEZ in the world: 11 million km2. the MPA News editorial staff considered part of the open coast, remains in unless otherwise attributed. The views expressed herein planning. The strategy document is in French and is at www. are those of the author(s) aires-marines.fr/Documentation/Strategie-nationale- and should not be interpreted The California MPA network is the first in the US to pour-la-creation-et-la-gestion-des-aires-marines- as representing the opinions be designed from the start as a science-based network, protegees or policies of the Packard rather than a patchwork of independent protected Foundation or other funders of MPA News. areas. Stretching northward from the Mexico border to the state line of Oregon, the network now includes Subscriptions to 119 MPAs, 5 recreational management areas and 15 MPA News are free. 8% of US waters in MPAs; most sites allow To subscribe, send an e-mail to special closures covering approximately 16% of all fishing [email protected]. state marine waters. Roughly half of California’s new An analysis of US marine protected areas by the Na- Type “subscribe” on the subject or modified MPAs are multiple-use areas; the rest are tional MPA Center indicates that 8% of the country’s line and include your name, mailing address and daytime no-take. For more information on the MLPA process waters are in MPAs focused on conserving natural or phone number in the text of the in general or the north coast MPAs in particular, go cultural resources. In most MPAs in the US, fishing message. Please note whether to www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa . is allowed: nearly nine out of every ten US MPAs you would like your subscription to be delivered electronically or in are multiple-use. The analysis, based on data from paper form. Thank you. the national MPA Inventory, is at www.mpa.gov/pdf/ helpful-resources/mpa_analysis_2012_0320.pdf . Antarctic coalition calls for MPAs across 40% of Southern Ocean As an indication of the multiple-use of many In May 2012, an alliance of global conservation US marine protected areas, the National Marine Sanc- groups proposed the designation of a network of tuary Program is hosting a recreational fishing contest 19 MPAs covering more than 40% of the Southern this year — the Sanctuary Classic — at four national Ocean. The Antarctic Ocean Alliance (AOA) identi- marine sanctuaries: Channel Islands, Monterey Bay, fied the areas based on previous conservation plan- Gray’s Reef, and the Keys. Most (98%) of ning analyses in the region and new research. The US national marine sanctuary waters are open to

July - August 2012 7 recreational fishing. More information on the fishing Under Canadian law, the government has roughly contest is at http://sanctuaryclassic.org . four months from receipt of the petition to respond. This is believed to be the first time the government has been petitioned with regard to developing a management plan for a particular MPA. A copy of NGO lodges complaint regarding government’s the petition is at http://awsassets.wwf.ca/downloads/ slow progress on MPA management plan cesdbowieseamountpetition_final.pdf . For infor- WWF- has lodged a formal complaint with mation on the Marine Protected Areas program of the Canadian government, citing the government’s Oceans Canada, go to www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans/ lack of progress on developing a management plan marineareas-zonesmarines/mpa-zpm/index-eng.htm . for an MPA designated four years ago. The site in question is the Bowie Marine Protected Another NGO, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Area, a 6131-km2 MPA located near the western Society (CPAWS), released a report in May 2012 edge of Canada’s Pacific EEZ. The NGO’s petition assessing the federal government’s progress in also asked the government to examine whether it is designating new MPAs. The report Is Canada on track honoring its commitment to developing a national to create 12 new marine protected areas by December system of MPAs under the country’s Oceans Act. 2012? is at www.cpaws.org/uploads/pubs/oceans/ OceanProgressReport_May142012_Final.pdf .

Songs for MPAs Reports: FAO case studies on MPAs in For Pacific Islander populations, music plays a central role in developing nations society and culture. Through song and chant, the music provides The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) a means of recording and communicating history, and of has released two reports with case studies from devel- celebrating the natural world. oping nations on the use of marine protected areas: In light of the connection that Pacific Islanders hold to their marine • Marine protected areas: country case studies on environment, songs have even been composed for some MPAs policy, governance and institutional issues in the region. Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, Examining opportunities and challenges for located in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands of the US, is one MPAs in Brazil, India, Palau and Senegal. MPA with its own official chant. Keoni Kuoha, Native Hawaiian www.fao.org/docrep/015/i2191e/i2191e00.htm Program Coordinator for the Monument, explains the basis for • Governance of marine protected areas in the least- this: developed countries: Case studies from West Africa “An important ingredient in our Monument’s ability to build Illustrating the challenges of MPA governance in relationships with the Hawaiian community — and, thus, the Mauritania, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau. reason we have a chant composed for the Monument — is that www.fao.org/docrep/015/i2378e/i2378e00.htm our leadership and staff are able to connect with this commu- nity. Several of us are Native Hawaiian, and communication with the public is often enhanced when folks have a common iPhone app educates public on marine World experience to pull from. Heritage sites “The relationship between the Monument — both the place The UNESCO World Heritage Centre has released and the people who help to care for it — and Hawaiians a free iPhone app to educate the public on marine engenders connection, emotion, and genuine aloha [affection, World Heritage sites worldwide. The Marine compassion]. In turn, people are inspired to express their World Heritage app provides information on each of feelings about this relationship, and for some Hawaiians, song 45 sites, as well as links to related videos, websites, composition is a natural means of expression.” and the Facebook page of the Marine World Heritage Programme. To download, go to Two recordings of the chant No Papahānaumokuākea (“For http://mpapps.net/MarineWH . Papahānaumokuākea”), composed by Kainani Kahaunaele and Halealoha Ayau, are available at www.mpanews.org/song.htm www.mpanews.org Searchable back issues, Spanish translations, conference calendar, and more

8 MPA News