Marine Protected Areas

Levels of protection within a marine protected area

no-use, no-take, buffer, multi-use

No-use zone

no activities permited

No-take zone

non-extractive activities permitted

Buffer zone

transitional zone from no-take to multi-use, moderate activies allowed, such as hood and line fishing, limited aquaculture, limited tourism

Multi-use zone

all tourism activies, fishing, and aquaculture permited with ranging levels of what is truly permited and enforced

Ecological benefits of MPAs

refuge for targeted fish populations (especially no-take zones), more fish (increased biomass, abundance, and diversity), habitat protection and recovery, higher reproductive rates (b/c bigger fish)

Benefits outside of MPAs

spillover, larvaue and juveniles disperse out of reserves, adults migrate out of reserves, up to 90% increase in catch outside of reserves

MPAs improve the health of oceans by:

protecting and restoring marine habitats, increasing resilience to environmental changes, protecting species and rebuilding fish stocks

Key principles for MPAs to work

well designed networks of MPAs, local community engagement, enforced and complied with, part of an intergrated management plan, sustainably financed

Risk-reduction

socioeconomic benefits of MPAs, “insurance policy” against fishery collapse, investment in future ocean productivity, ecosystem services: coastal protection

Simpler fishery management

socioeconomic benefits of MPAs, no-take is much easier to manage than dataless fisheries, defined enforcement areas, offer baseline population data

Offer non-extractive economic alternatives

socioeconomic benefits of MPAs, tourism, research, management

Key features of successful MPAs

over 10% is no-take, the MPA is greater than 100 km², good enforcement, greater than 10 years old (established), isolated, an MPA needs at least 3 of these to be considered successful

Social factors

best indicator/determinent of success