Marine Zoning in Saint Kitts and Nevis a Path Towards Sustainable Management of Marine Resources
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Protecting nature. Preserving life.TM Marine Zoning in Saint Kitts and Nevis A Path Towards Sustainable Management of Marine Resources Saint Kitts Nevis Report by: Vera N. Agostini, Shawn W. Margles, Steven R. Schill, John E. Knowles, Ruth J. Blyther Protecting nature. Preserving life.TM Marine Zoning in Saint Kitts and Nevis A Path Towards Sustainable Management of Marine Resources Report by: Vera N. Agostini, Shawn W. Margles, Steven R. Schill, John E. Knowles, Ruth J. Blyther This report was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the terms of its Cooperative Agreement Number 538-A-00-09-00100-00 (Biodiversity Threat Abatement Program) implemented by prime recipient The Nature Conservancy and partners. The contents and opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the Biodiversity Threat Abatement Program and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID. Core Project Team: Vera Agostini, PhD Ruth Blyther Core Project Team: Senior Scientist Director, Eastern Caribbean Global Marine Team Caribbean Program Vera Agostini, PhD The Nature ConservancyRuth Blyther The Nature Conservancy Senior Scientist Director, Eastern Caribbean Global Marine Team Robbie J. Bovino Caribbean Program JohnJohn KnowlesKnowles The Nature Conservancy Eastern CaribbeanThe Policy Nature Associate Conservancy Conservation Information Manager The Nature Conservancy Caribbean Program Robbie J. Bovino John Knowles The Nature Conservancy Eastern Caribbean Policy Associate Conservation Information Manager The Nature Conservancy Shawn Margles Caribbean Program Steven Schill, PhD Conservation PlannerThe Nature Conservancy Senior Scientist Caribbean Program Caribbean Program Shawn Margles The Nature ConservancySteven Schill, PhD The Nature Conservancy Conservation Planner Senior Scientist Caribbean Program JaniceJanice HodgeHodge Caribbean Program Patrick Williams The Nature Conservancy Principal The Nature Conservancy Environmental Consultant Caribbean Development and St. Kitts, West Indies Janice Hodge Environmental Consultants,Patrick Williams Inc. Principal Nevis, West IndiesEnvironmental Consultant Caribbean Development and St. Kitts, West Indies Environmental Consultants, Inc. Nevis, West Indies Published by: TheThe NatureNature ConservancyConservancy Contact: Published by: The Nature ConservancyVera N. Agostini, PhD Senior Scientist Contact: Global Marine Initiative Vera N. Agostini, PhD The Nature Conservancy Senior Scientist 255 Alhambra Circle, Suite 312 Global Marine Initiative Coral Gables, FL 33134 USA The Nature Conservancy Ph: 305.445.8352 255 Alhambra Circle, Suite 312Email: [email protected] Coral Gables, FL 33134 USA Ph: 305.445.8352 Cover photographs: Top photograph by Shawn W. Margles. All others by Steven R. Schill. Email: [email protected] Suggested Citation: Cover photographs: Top photographAgostini, by V. Shawn N., S. W.M. Margles.Margles, AllS. R. others Schill, by J. Steven E. Knowles, R. Schill. and R. J. Blyther. 2010. MarineMarine ZoningZoning inin SaintSaint KittsKitts and Nevis: A Path Towards Sustainable Management of Marine Resources.. TheThe NatureNature Conservancy.Conservancy. Suggested Citation: Agostini, V. N., S. M. Margles, S. R. Schill, J. E. Knowles, and R. J. Blyther. 2010. Marine Zoning in Saint Kitts and Nevis: A Path Towards Sustainable Management of Marine Resources. ©The 2010 Nature The Conservancy.Nature Conservancy AllAll Rights Reserved. © 2010 The Nature Conservancy All Rights Reserved. Shawn W. Margles W. Shawn Participants in one of the project’s workshops. Steven R. Schill Steven The skilled staff from St. Kitts and Nevis Coast Guard played a key role in seabed mapping. iii CoNtENtS Executive Summary . vi Acknowledgements . vii 1 INtRoduCtIoN . .1 1.1 Clarifying Terms: Marine Spatial Planning and Marine Zoning . 1 1.2 The Need for Marine Zoning . 2 1.3 Selecting a Pilot Site for Zoning in the Caribbean . 2 1.4 Objectives of the Project . 4 2 THE CoNtExt: Saint KIttS ANd Nevis . 5 2.1 Geography and Physical Setting . 5 2.2 Marine Ecology . 7 2.3 Historical Context . 9 2.4 Economy . 9 2.5 Governance . 10 2.6 Human Uses . .10 3 Generating A Draft Zoning dESIGN . 11 3.1 Engaging Stakeholders . 12 3.2 Establishing Clear Objectives . 15 3.3 Building a Multi-Objective Database . .15 3.3.1 Expert Mapping . 16 3.3.2 Benthic Habitat Survey . 16 3.3.3 Fisher Survey . 18 3.4 Providing Decision Support Products . 21 3.4.1 Spatial Information Products . 23 3.4.1.a Spatial Database . 23 3.4.1.b Georeferenced Portable Document Format (PDF) Product . 23 3.4.1.c Web-Based Map Viewer . 24 3.4.2 Fisheries Uses and Values Maps . 24 3.4.3 Benthic Habitat Maps . 25 3.4.4 Compatibility Maps . 25 3.4.5 Outputs of Multi-objective Analysis . 27 3.5 Generating Draft Zones . .27 iv Marine Zoning in Saint Kitts and Nevis: A Path Towards Sustainable Management of Marine Resources 4 DiscuSSIoN . 30 4.1 Putting Saint Kitts and Nevis on the Zoning Map Worldwide . 30 4.2 Moving From Design to Implementation . .31 4.3 Incorporating Expert Knowledge and Supporting a Participatory Process . .32 4.4 Challenges and Lessons Learned . .32 4.4.1 Establishing In-country Partnerships . 32 4.4.2 Conducting Stakeholder Workshops . 33 4.4.3 Representing Habitats and Uses at the Edges . 33 4.4.4 Implementing a Future Vision . 34 4.4.5 Integrating Ecological and Socioeconomic Data . 35 4.4.6 Using Systematic Conservation Planning Tools . 35 4.4.7 Matching the Scale of the Problem and the Solutions . 36 4.5 Looking to the Future . .36 5 REfERENCES . 38 AppENdices . 40 Appendix A Summary Results of the St. Kitts Nevis National Marine Zoning Workshop: October 5th & 6th, 2009 . 41 Appendix B Key to the Benthic Habitats of St. Kitts and Nevis . 87 Appendix C St. Kitts and Nevis Habitat Metadata Compilation . .93 Appendix D St. Kitts and Nevis Fisheries Uses and Values Project . .118 Appendix E Marxan with Zones Analysis . .152 Appendix F Building a Legal Framework for Marine Zoning in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, Notes for Policymakers . 242 v ExECutIVE Summary Human activities are placing increased and often conflicting demands on coastal and marine waters worldwide. As a result, important coastal areas are under intense pressure, threatening the biological diversity of marine habitats and the ecosystem services they provide, such as coastal protection, food security, tourism amenities and biodiversity protection. Marine zoning, one of the possible outcomes of a marine spatial planning process, has emerged recently as an approach to address these issues. The case for marine zoning is particularly strong in the Caribbean, but there are few examples to date of comprehensive marine zoning for tropical island nations. This project initiated a marine spatial planning process and developed a draft marine zoning design for a small island nation in the Eastern Caribbean. St. Kitts and Nevis was chosen as the project site because it met a set of selection criteria, including that its government was aware of marine zoning as a useful management approach and was interested in applying it in their country. The goal of this project was to lay the groundwork for future implementation of marine zoning in St. Kitts and Nevis by assisting in the development of a marine zoning design and providing a set of tools that could inform this and other management efforts. The project had two primary guiding principles: (1) rely on the best available science for making decisions and (2) engage stakeholders at all possible levels. The project team used the following process: 1. Engage Stakeholders. The project included more than a dozen formal and numerous informal meetings with diverse stakeholders and decision makers from government, community groups, the private business sector, and fishers’ associations. 2. Establish Clear Objectives. Through a participatory process, stakeholders and decision makers defined a vision for marine zoning in their waters. This vision was used as a basis for all project activities. 3. Build a Multi-objective Database. The project team devoted significant resources to gathering, evaluating and generating spatial data on ecological characteristics and human uses of the marine environment. Three main approaches were used to fill data gaps: (a) expert mapping, (b) fisher surveys, and (c) habitat surveys. 4. Develop Decision Support Products. To help the people of St Kitts and Nevis to make planning decisions, finalize a zoning design, and implement a marine zoning plan, the project team produced a spatial database, georeferenced portable document format (PDF) files, a web-based map viewer, maps of fisheries uses and values, seabed habitat maps, compatibility maps, and outputs of multi-objective analysis. 5. Generate Draft Zones. As a culmination of the aforementioned activities, the project team created a marine zoning design that was reviewed by select government agency staff and stakeholder groups. The draft marine zoning design and all of the project activities leading up to it have built a strong foundation for marine zoning in St. Kitts and Nevis. To build on this foundation, we recommend additional steps that the government and stakeholders of St. Kitts and Nevis can take to finalize and implement a marine zoning plan. Every effort should be made to continue this process of open debate between sectors that helped identify conflicts and means of co-existence between different users of the marine environment. By adopting marine zoning,