Incorporation of Spatial and Economic Analyses of Human‐Use Data in the Design of Marine Protected Areas

Abstract: Social, economic, and ecological criteria contribute to the successful design, implementation, and management of marine protected areas (MPAs). In the context of California's Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, we developed a set of methods for collecting, compiling, and analyzing data about the spatial extent and relative economic importance of commercial and recreational fishing. We interviewed 174 commercial fishers who represented the major fisheries in the initiative's north‐central coast region, which extends from Point Arena south to Pigeon Point. These fishers provided data that we used to map the extent of each of the fishing grounds, to weight the relative importance of areas within the grounds, to characterize the operating costs of each fishery, and to analyze the potential economic losses associated with proposed marine protected areas. A regional stakeholder group used the maps and impact analyses in conjunction with other data sets to iteratively identify economic and ecological trade‐offs in designations of different areas as MPAs at regional, port, and fishery extents. Their final proposed MPA network designated 20% of state waters as MPAs. Potential net economic loss ranged from 1.7% to 14.2% in the first round of network design and totaled 6.3% in the final round of design. This process is a case study in the application of spatial analysis to validate and integrate local stakeholder knowledge in marine planning.     

Current Status of Marine Protected Areas in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract: Marine protected areas (MPAs), including no‐take marine reserves (MRs), play an important role in the conservation of marine biodiversity. We document the status of MPAs and MRs in Latin America and the Caribbean, where little has been reported on the scope of such protection. Our survey of protected area databases, published and unpublished literature, and Internet searches yielded information from 30 countries and 12 overseas territories. At present more than 700 MPAs have been established, covering more than 300,000 km² or 1.5% of the coastal and shelf waters. We report on the status of 3 categories of protection: MPAs (limited take throughout the area), MRs (no‐take throughout the area), and mixed‐use (a limited‐take MPA that contains an MR). The majority of protected areas in Latin America and the Caribbean are MPAs, which allow some or extensive extractive activities throughout the designated area. These 571 sites cover 51,505 km² or 0.3% of coastal and shelf waters. There are 98 MRs covering 16,862 km² or 0.1% of the coastal and shelf waters. Mixed‐use MPAs are the fewest in number (87), but cover the largest area (236,853 km², 1.2%). Across Latin America and the Caribbean, many biogeographic provinces are underrepresented in these protected areas. Large coastal regions remain unprotected, in particular, the southern Pacific and southern Atlantic coasts of South America. Our analysis reveals multiple opportunities to strengthen marine conservation in Latin America and the Caribbean by improving implementation, management, and enforcement of existing MPAs; adding new MPAs and MRs strategically to enhance connectivity and sustainability of existing protection; and establishing new networks of MPAs and MRs or combinations thereof to enhance protection where little currently exists.     

Comparison of Marine and Terrestrial Protected Areas under Federal Jurisdiction in the United States

Abstract: There is a significant disparity in the protection of terrestrial and marine environments in the United States. Despite the considerable literature dedicated to the subject of protected areas, both terrestrial and marine, in the United States, we are not aware of work explicitly describing this dichotomy. We compared marine and terrestrial areas under federal jurisdiction to provide a quantitative assessment of the differences between the conservation of land and sea in the United States. Specifically, we compared national marine sanctuaries (including sanctuary preservation areas and ecological reserves) with national parks, national forests, and national wildlife refuges (including national wilderness preservation areas). Our results suggest that marine sanctuaries are fewer in number, smaller in total area, and smaller in percentage of area covered than are terrestrial protected areas.     

Striking a Balance between Biodiversity Conservation and Socioeconomic Viability in the Design of Marine Protected Areas

Abstract: The establishment of marine protected areas is often viewed as a conflict between conservation and fishing. We considered consumptive and nonconsumptive interests of multiple stakeholders (i.e., fishers, scuba divers, conservationists, managers, scientists) in the systematic design of a network of marine protected areas along California's central coast in the context of the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative. With advice from managers, administrators, and scientists, a representative group of stakeholders defined biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic goals that accommodated social needs and conserved marine ecosystems, consistent with legal requirements. To satisfy biodiversity goals, we targeted 11 marine habitats across 5 depth zones, areas of high species diversity, and areas containing species of special status. We minimized adverse socioeconomic impacts by minimizing negative effects on fishers. We included fine‐scale fishing data from the recreational and commercial fishing sectors across 24 fisheries. Protected areas designed with consideration of commercial and recreational fisheries reduced potential impact to the fisheries approximately 21% more than protected areas designed without consideration of fishing effort and resulted in a small increase in the total area protected (approximately 3.4%). We incorporated confidential fishing data without revealing the identity of specific fisheries or individual fishing grounds. We sited a portion of the protected areas near land parks, marine laboratories, and scientific monitoring sites to address nonconsumptive socioeconomic goals. Our results show that a stakeholder‐driven design process can use systematic conservation‐planning methods to successfully produce options for network design that satisfy multiple conservation and socioeconomic objectives. Marine protected areas that incorporate multiple stakeholder interests without compromising biodiversity conservation goals are more likely to protect marine ecosystems.     

Potential Spatial Overlap of Heritage Sites and Protected Areas in a Boreal Region of Northern Canada

Abstract:  Under article 8-J of the Convention on Biological Diversity, governments must engage indigenous and local communities in the designation and management of protected areas. A better understanding of the relationship between community heritage sites and sites identified to protect conventional conservation features could inform conservation-planning exercises on indigenous lands. We examined the potential overlap between Gwich'in First Nations' (Northwest Territories, Canada) heritage sites and areas independently identified for the protection of conventional conservation targets. We designed nine hypothetical protected-area networks with different targets for woodland caribou ( Rangifer tarandus caribou ) habitat, high-quality wetland areas, representative vegetation types, water bodies, environmentally significant area, territorial parks, and network aggregation. We compared the spatial overlap of heritage sites to these nine protected-area networks. The degree of spatial overlap (Jaccard similarity) between heritage sites and the protected-area networks with moderate or high aggregation was significantly higher ( p < 0.001) than random spatial overlap, whereas the overlap between heritage sites and the protected-area networks with no aggregation was not significant or significantly lower ( p < 0.001) than random spatial overlap. Our results suggest that protected-area networks designed to capture conventional conservation features may protect key heritage sites but only if the underlying characteristics of these sites are considered. The Gwich'in heritage sites are highly aggregated and only protected-area networks that had moderate and high aggregation had significant overlap with the heritage sites. We suggest that conventional conservation plans incorporate heritage sites into their design criteria to complement conventional conservation targets and effectively protect indigenous heritage sites .     

Combined Effects of Levels of Protection and Environmental Variables at Different Spatial Resolutions on Fish Assemblages in a Marine Protected Area

Abstract: The links between species–environment relations and species’ responses to protection are unclear, but the objectives of marine protected areas (MPAs) are most likely to be achieved when those relations are known and inform MPA design. The components of a species’ habitat vary with the spatial resolution of the area considered. We characterized areas at two resolutions: 250 m² (transect) and approximately 30,000 m² (seascape). We considered three categories of environmental variables: substrate type, bottom complexity, and depth. We sought to determine at which resolution habitat characteristics were a better predictor of abundance and species composition of fishes and whether the relations with environmental variables at either resolution affected species’ responses to protection. Habitat features accounted for a larger proportion of spatial variation in species composition and abundances than differences in protection status. This spatial variation was explained best by habitat characteristics at the seascape level than at the transect level. Species’ responses to protected areas were specific to particular seascape characteristics, primarily depth, and bottom complexity. Our method may be useful for prioritizing marine areas for protection, designing MPAs, and monitoring their effectiveness. It identified areas that provided natural shelter, areas acting as buffer zones, and areas where fish species were most responsive to protection. The identification of such areas is necessary for cost‐effective establishment and monitoring of MPAs.     

Modeling the Effects of Fishing and Implications for the Design of Marine Protected Areas: Juvenile Fish Responses to Variations in Seafloor Habitat

Abstract: A number of recent studies have linked post-settlement survivorship of Atlantic cod (  Gadus morhua ) with the complexity of the seafloor to which fish settle. Survivorship is greater in habitats of higher complexity (e.g., pebble-cobble substratum with emergent epifauna> pebble-cobble> sand), where cover provides shelter from predators. Fishing with mobile gear such as bottom trawls and dredges reduces the complexity of seafloor habitats. We used a dynamic model to (1) link patterns in habitat-mediated survivorship of post-settlement juvenile cod with spatial variations in habitat complexity, (2) simulate habitat change based on fishing activities, and (3) determine the role of marine protected areas in enhancing recruitment success. Density-dependent natural mortality was specified as three alternative functional response curves to assess the influence of different predator foraging strategies on juvenile survivorship during the first 12 months of demersal existence. We applied the model to a theoretical patch of hard-bottom substrata and to a case study based on seafloor habitat distributions at Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (Gulf of Maine, Northwest Atlantic). Our results demonstrate that patterns in the shape of response surfaces that show the relationship between juvenile cod survivorship and density as well as movement rate were similar regardless of functional response type, that juvenile cod movement rates and post-settlement density were critical for predicting the effects of marine protected-area size on survivorship, and that habitat change caused by fishing has significant negative effects on juvenile cod survivorship and use of marine protected areas can ameliorate such effects.     

Linking Management Effectiveness Indicators to Observed Effects of Protected Areas on Fire Occurrence in the Amazon Rainforest

Management‐effectiveness scores are used widely by donors and implementers of conservation projects to prioritize, track, and evaluate investments in protected areas. However, there is little evidence that these scores actually reflect the capacity of protected areas to deliver conservation outcomes. We examined the relation between indicators of management effectiveness in protected areas and the effectiveness of protected areas in reducing fire occurrence in the Amazon rainforest. We used data collected with the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) scorecard, adopted by some of the world's largest conservation organizations to track management characteristics believed to be crucial for protected‐area effectiveness. We used the occurrence of forest fires from 2000 through 2010 as a measure of the effect of protected areas on undesired land‐cover change in the Amazon basin. We used matching to compare the estimated effect of protected areas with low versus high METT scores on fire occurrence. We also estimated effects of individual protected areas on fire occurrence and explored the relation between these effects and METT scores. The relations between METT scores and effects of protected areas on fire occurrence were weak. Protected areas with higher METT scores in 2005 did not seem to have performed better than protected areas with lower METT scores at reducing fire occurrence over the last 10 years. Further research into the relations between management‐effectiveness indicators and conservation outcomes in protected areas seems necessary, and our results show that the careful application of matching methods can be a suitable method for that purpose. Vinculación de Indicadores de Efectividad de Manejo con los Efectos Observados de la Ocurrencia de Fuego en Áreas Protegidas en la Amazonia     

Chemical Tracking and Marine Environmental Impact of Ocean Disposal of Calcium Carbonate Residue in the North Yellow Sea

The objective of this study is to determine the sedimentation rate and dispersion area of calcium carbonate residue dumped at sea and the impact to marine environment of dumping by a laboratory simulation experiment; chemical tracking in the field with the help of acoustic and optical tracking; and a comparative study of baseline conditions and marine environmental impact after dumping. Turbidity, pH and phosphate are selected as the chemical tracers to be monitored.

Results show that in the dumping area of 15 square miles with water depth of 50 m, if 217 t calcium carbonate residue is dumped (spot dumping) in the presence of a pycnocline with a current velocity of 60 cm/s (close to the maximum) the maximum dispersion distance of the calcium carbonate residue plume front is less than 2100 m; the dispersion area is less than 0.56 km²; and the maximum dispersion time is about 60 min when the turbidity and pH in the whole dispersion area return to background level. Therefore, the ocean disposal of calcium carbonate residue is feasible.     

Chemical Tracking and Marine Environmental Impact of Ocean Disposal of Calcium Carbonate Residue in the North Yellow Sea

The objective of this study is to determine the sedimentation rate and dispersion area of calcium carbonate residue dumped at sea and the impact to marine environment of dumping by a laboratory simulation experiment; chemical tracking in the field with the help of acoustic and optical tracking; and a comparative study of baseline conditions and marine environmental impact after dumping. Turbidity, pH and phosphate are selected as the chemical tracers to be monitored.

Results show that in the dumping area of 15 square miles with water depth of 50 m, if 217 t calcium carbonate residue is dumped (spot dumping) in the presence of a pycnocline with a current velocity of 60 cm/s (close to the maximum) the maximum dispersion distance of the calcium carbonate residue plume front is less than 2100 m; the dispersion area is less than 0.56 km²; and the maximum dispersion time is about 60 min when the turbidity and pH in the whole dispersion area return to background level. Therefore, the ocean disposal of calcium carbonate residue is feasible.     

乌梁素海流域土壤盐分和pH值空间分布格局研究

土壤盐碱化是制约乌梁素海流域农业可持续发展的重要瓶颈之一,该文针对乌梁素海流域土壤盐碱化的空间复杂性与反复发生性,根据乌梁素海流域植被特征,采集了20个代表性样点的土壤0~30cm分层样品.利用电导法和电位法分别测定了土壤中总含盐量和pH,运用surfer插值软件克里金插值法(Kriging)得到了研究区的土壤盐分和pH值的空间分布.研究结果表明:在空间分布上乌梁素海流域土壤中盐分和pH呈现出显著地表聚趋势,而且随着土层的加深盐碱化程度呈现降低的趋势.总体上说,乌梁素海流域土壤的盐碱化现象仍较严重,除春季压盐措施外,需要进行灌溉方式改善和化学改良剂使用等盐碱化治理措施.