Conservation science in NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuaries: description and recent accomplishments

This report describes cases relating to the management of national marine sanctuaries in which certain scientific information was required so managers could make decisions that effectively protected trust resources. The cases presented represent only a fraction of difficult issues that marine sanctuary managers deal with daily. They include, among others, problems related to wildlife disturbance, vessel routing, marine reserve placement, watershed management, oil spill response, and habitat restoration. Scientific approaches to address these problems vary significantly, and include literature surveys, data mining, field studies (monitoring, mapping, observations, and measurement), geospatial and biogeographic analysis, and modeling. In most cases there is also an element of expert consultation and collaboration among multiple partners, agencies with resource protection responsibilities, and other users and stakeholders. The resulting management responses may involve direct intervention (e.g., for spill response or habitat restoration issues), proposal of boundary alternatives for marine sanctuaries or reserves, changes in agency policy or regulations, making recommendations to other agencies with resource protection responsibilities, proposing changes to international or domestic shipping rules, or development of new education or outreach programs. (PDF contains 37 pages.)

The marine protected area planning process in Washington state: Recommendations for increased effectiveness

In Washington State, the Department of Natural Resources (WA DNR) is responsible for managing state-owned aquatic lands. Aquatic reserves are one of many Marine Protected Area (MPA) designations in WA State that aim to protect sensitive aquatic and ecological habitat. We analyzed the designation and early planning processes of WA State aquatic reserves, identified gaps in the processes, and recommend action to improve the WA State aquatic reserve early planning approach. (PDF contains 4 pages)

Village fisheries management and community-owned marine protected areas in Samoa

As in many tropical countries, subsistence fishers in Samoa live in discrete communities which have a high level of marine knowledge and some degree of control of adjacent waters. These factors provide an ideal basis for motivating communities to manage their marine resources. In Samoa, a community-based fisheries extension program encouraged each village community to define its key problems, discuss causes, propose solutions and take appropriate actions. Various village groups provided information which was recorded as problem/solution trees. The extension process culminated in a Village-Fisheries Management Plan which listed the resource management and conservation undertakings of the community. Undertakings range from enforcing laws banning destructive fishing methods to protecting critical marine habitats. Within the first eighteen months, the extension process commenced in 57 villages of which 40 have produced Village Fisheries Management Plans. An unexpectedly large number (32) or these villages chose to establish Marine Protected Areas, the first community-owned marin reserves in the country.

Efforts to save the marine environment in Tanzania

The Tanzanian marine environment has been under threat for quite a long time now due to human activities. With the establishment of the Marine Parks and Reserve Act in 1994, several areas have been earmarked as marine parks. This act is aimed at conserving and protecting the marine environment all along the Tanzanian coastline. Once the parks and reserves are established and these areas brought under control, there will be a reduction in the illegal operations along the coast. The measures recently introduced by the government to eradicate dynamite fishing practices along the Tanzanian coastline are highly commendable.

An integrated biogeographic assessment of reef fish populations and fisheries in Dry Tortugas: Effects of No-take Reserves

The Tortugas Integrated Biogeographic Assessment presents a unique analysis of demographic changes in living resource populations, as well as societal and socioeconomic benefits that resulted from the Tortugas Ecological Reserves during the first five years after their implementation. In 2001, state and federal agencies established two no-take reserves within the region as part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The northern reserve (Tortugas Ecological Reserve North) was established adjacent to the Dry Tortugas National Park, which was first declared a national monument in 1935. The reserves were designed to protect a healthy coral reef ecosystem that supports diverse faunal assemblages and fisheries, serves as important spawning grounds for groupers and snappers, and includes essential feeding and breeding habitats for seabirds. The unique ecological qualities of the Tortugas region were recognized as far back as 1850, and it remains an important ecosystem and research area today. The two main goals of the Tortugas Ecological Reserve Integrated Ecological Assessment were: 1) to determine if demographic changes such as increases in abundance, average size and spawning potential of exploited populations occurred in the Tortugas region after reserve implementation; and 2) whether short-term economic losses occurred to fishers displaced by the reserve. This project utilized a biogeographic approach in which information on the physical features (i.e., habitat) and oceanographic patterns were first used to determine the spatial distribution of selected fish populations within and outside the Tortugas Ecological Reserve. Before-and-after reserve implementation comparisons of selected fish populations were then conducted to determine if demographic changes occurred in reef fish assemblages. These comparisons were done for the Tortugas region and also for a subset of available habitats within the Tortugas Ecological Reserve Study Area. Social and economic impacts of the reserves were determined through: 1) analyses of commercial landings and revenues from fishers, operating in the Tortugas region before and after reserve implementation and 2) surveys of recreational tour guides. Analyses of the commercial landings and revenues excluded areas inside Dry Tortugas National Park because commercial fishing has been prohibited within park boundaries since 1992. Key findings and outcomes of this integrated ecological assessment are organized by chapter and listed below.

Synthesis of marine ecosystem monitoring activities for the United States Virgin Islands: 1990-2009

The ecological integrity of coral reef ecosystems in the U.S. Caribbean is widely considered to have deteriorated in the last three decades due to a range of threats and stressors from both human and non-human processes Rothenberger 2008, Wilkinson 2008). In response to the threats to Caribbean coral reef ecosystems and other regions around the world, the United States Government authorized the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 to: (1) preserve, sustain, and restore the condition of coral reef ecosystems; (2) promote the wise management and sustainable use of coral reef ecosystems to benefit local communities and the Nation; and (3) develop sound scientific information on the condition of coral reef ecosystems and the threats to such ecosystems. The Act also resulted in the formation of a National Coral Reef Action Strategy and a Coral Reef Conservation Program. The Action Strategy (Goal 2 of Action Theme 1) outlined the importance of monitoring and assessing coral reef health as a mechanism toward reducing many threats to these ecosystems. Monitoring was considered of high importance in addressing impacts from climate change; disease; overfishing; destructive fishing practices; habitat destruction; invasive species; coastal development; coastal pollution; sedimentation/runoff and overuse from tourism. The strategy states that successful coral reef ecosystem conservation requires adaptive management that responds quickly to changing environmental conditions. This, in turn, depends on monitoring programs that track trends in coral reef ecosystem health and reveal patterns in their condition before irreparable harm occurs. As such, monitoring plays a vital role in guiding and supporting the establishment of complex or potentially controversial management strategies such as no-take ecological reserves, fishing gear restrictions, or habitat restoration, by documenting the impacts of gaps in existing management schemes and illustrating the effectiveness of new measures over time. Long-term monitoring is also required to determine the effectiveness of various management strategies to conserve and enhance coral reef ecosystems.

Assessment of the efficacy of Myanmar's shark reserves

A formal evaluation of the reserves efficacy was undertaken using an adapted version of the Philippines Marine Protected Area (MPA) Management Effectiveness Assessment Tool (MEAT). This report details the results and major findings of the evaluation

Understanding marine reserve function in a seascape genetics context: Nucella lapillus in Strangford Lough (Northern Ireland) as an example

A conservation priority in the marine environment is the establishment of ecologically coherent reserve networks. Since these networks will integrate existent reserves, an understanding of spatial genetic diversity and genetic connectivities between areas is necessary. Using Strangford Lough marine nature reserve (MNR) as a model, spatial genetic analyses were employed to evaluate the function of the lough. Samples of the marine gastropod Nucella lapillus (L.) from 7 locations in the reserve and adjacent areas were screened at 6 microsatellites. Genetic variation was temporally stable. Significant genetic structuring (F-ST = 0.133) was observed among samples. Genetic divergence and isolation by distance indicated reduced gene flow between the marine reserve and coastal samples relative to that between adjacent coastal samples. Partitioning of genetic variation between the reserve and coast was significant (AMOVA, 7.45%, p

The effectiveness of interpretive methods in informal educational facilities : an experimental study with reference to marine parks

Interpretation has been used in many tourism sectors as a technique in achieving building hannony between resources and human needs. The objectives of this study are to identify the types of the interpretive methods used, and to evaluate their effectiveness, in marine parks. This study reviews the design principles of an effective interpretation for marine wildlife tourism, and adopts Drams' five design principles (1997) into a conceptual framework. Enjoyment increase, knowledge gain, attitude and intention change, and behaviour modification were used as key indicators in the assessment of the interpretive effectiveness of the Vancouver Aquarium (VA) and Marineland Canada (MC). Since on-site research is unavailable, a virtual tour is created to represent the interpretive experiences in the two study sites. Self-administered questionnaires are used to measure responses. Through comparing responses to the questionnaires (pre-, post-virtual tours and follow-up), this study found that interpretation increased enjoyment and added to respondents' knowledge. Although the changes in attitudes and intentions are not significant, the findings indicate that attitude and intention changes did occur as a result of interpretation, but only to a limited extent. Overall results suggest that more techniques should be added to enhance the effectiveness of the interpretation in marine parks or self-guiding tours, and with careful design, virtual tours are the innovative interpretation techniques for marine parks or informal educational facilities.

Gender, tourism, and participatory appraisals at the Corumbau Marine Extractive Reserve, Brazil

The Corumbau Marine Extractive Reserve was created in a region of rich biodiversity, located in the South of Bahia State, Brazil, to meet the revindications of artisanal fishermen in a context of increasing predatory industrial fisheries. The aim of the Marine Extractive Reserve is to improve the sustainability of fisheries stocks and the economy of artisanal fishermen's families, protecting the local biodiversity for the locals' collective use. However, at Corumbau the natives are facing social problems that have increased due to tourism growth. The present research contributes to the Management Plan in sectors that are crucial to assess the aspirations and subjective aspects related to the natives' daily life at individual, familiar and communitary levels. The Participatory Appraisal with a Gender Equity Perspective (PAGP) was applied to five communities at RESEX Corumbau, showing, by gender, the greatest problems artisanal fisheries' families are facing. Tourism is growing in the area, reflecting the residents different and contradictory interests. It can develop commerce and jobs, but also intensify some social and environmental problems in this area. © Society for Human Ecology.

Assessment of the initial state of two reserves, Micro áreas Ecoturísticas Litorales (MAEL), in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

Máster en Oceanografía

Source data for Plos ONE publication Redefining thermal regimes to design reserves for coral reefs in the face of climate change

Reef managers cannot fight global warming through mitigation at local scale, but they can use information on thermal patterns to plan for reserve networks that maximize the probability of persistence of their reef system. Here we assess previous methods for the design of reserves for climate change and present a new approach to prioritize areas for conservation that leverages the most desirable properties of previous approaches. The new method moves the science of reserve design for climate change a step forwards by: (1) recognizing the role of seasonal acclimation in increasing the limits of environmental tolerance of corals and ameliorating the bleaching response; (2) including information from several bleaching events, which frequency is likely to increase in the future; (3) assessing relevant variability at country scales, where most management plans are carried out. We demonstrate the method in Honduras, where a reassessment of the marine spatial plan is in progress.