Marine Protected Areas

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is one of the most widely used management tools in coral reefs conservation. It’s definition is simply any marine area being actively managed for conservation. Such a definition, as you all can see, is broad. At one end of the scale, a marine areas with just a few mere restrictions on harmful activities can be considered to be an MPA, even without the presence of any legal framework. The opposite of this definition extends to sites with more complete and comprehensive protection and programmes.

MPAs, at their most effective, are able to protect and maintain healthy reefs despite degradation in surrounding areas; provide support in recovery of coral areas that have been threatened; as well as build resilient coral reefs that are able to recover faster than non-protected sites. These areas are also valuable for research purposes, education and one of the most important aspects of MPA: raising awareness about the area and reef conservation. One of the most consistent features of MPAs is the establishment of some form of control, either partial or complete, over fishing and in many MPAs, over activities that are potentially harmful, like tourism. Even if the MPA site is ineffective, it still offers a base on which more effective management can be studied and built.

For MPAs to be most effective, it is crucial that they have support for local communities. This is often done by including the local stakeholder in planning processes, and may include participation in resource monitoring activities and such. An evidence of such an approach of involving local stakeholders is the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority which as a result of continuous consultation with local communities, are able to successfully expand the closed zones across the parks.

In some countries, the process of involving the stakeholders  is extended to full-on local ownership and management. An example is in Philippines, where local municipalities are given partial jurisdiction over inshore and nearshore coral reefs. This led to development of new fisheries regulations and MPAs. It is when the local people understand that only by complying fully with the management do they get the benefits, and then they are also more likely to police them more vigorously as well. Effectiveness of MPAs can be enhanced if they are within a board framework of protection that covers wide or multiple areas. This can be achieved via very big MPAs, or by developing network of multiples sites to maintain healthy reefs at multiple locations.

Locally Managed Marine Areas

The trend towards a local level of management of marine areas has lead to several more comprehensive strategies. These locally manage areas are known as Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs). LMMAs are largely or entirely managed at a local level by the communities, landowners and/or government representatives who are in or based in the immediate area. Under this definition, LMMAs are not really areas that are put aside for conservation per se, but instead are managed for sustainable use. This is because these local communities are dependable on the valuable reef systems for a livelihood. Most LMMAs establish restrictions on usage of resource and many have fishery closures, be it permanent, temporary or seasonal based.

Some of the very good examples of LMMAs are in the Pacific region, where most of the reefs are in under the ownership of adjacent villages for centuries. An added bonus for local management is that rapid transfer of ideas and information between neighboring
communities and island. An example is the rapid spread of small no-take reserves in LMMAs across Vanuatu. Involvement of local management as seen here is clearly important. It could be as important for reefs conservation as large-scale MPAs in areas where local threats are lower.