Archive: National System of MPAs
Developing the National System of Marine Protected Areas
MPAs in the United States:
Tools for Marine Conservation and Management
Marine protected areas (MPAs) in the United States are widely used
as a tool for helping conserve the nation’s wealth of natural
and cultural resources for all Americans. These resources, including
coral reefs, kelp forests, whales, shipwrecks, and a wide variety
of marine life in the oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes, are vital
to the economic sustainability of the nation for this and future
generations. MPAs provide recreation and economic opportunities
for millions of Americans, help sustain critical habitats and marine
resources, and act as an “insurance policy” by helping
protect marine resources from human impacts.
Why Does the U.S. Need A National
System of MPAs?
Over the past two decades, the use of place-based marine conservation
and management tools, including the use of MPAs, has risen dramatically.
Currently, there are hundreds of federal, state, territory, and
tribal authorities and thousands of sites in U.S. waters. Each site
may have varying definitions of types and purposes. These sites
range from multiple-use to no-take reserves, although less than
1 percent of MPAs in the U.S. are no-take reserves.
The complexity of MPAs and their recognition as vital tools for
marine conservation and management are the foundation of Presidential
Executive Order 13158 on MPAs, which was signed on May 26,
2000. The Executive Order directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and the Department of the Interior to work
with other federal agencies and consult with states, territories,
tribes, and the public to develop a scientifically-based, comprehensive
national system of MPAs.
Most recently, the Bush Administration released
the U.S. Ocean Action Plan, which highlights the increasing pressure
on the nation’s marine resources and details immediate and
long-term actions. The Ocean Action Plan highlights the need for
further integration of the management of existing parks, refuges,
sanctuaries, and estuarine reserves in marine and coastal areas.
And it recognizes the need for coordination and integration efforts
under the MPA Executive Order. This includes taking steps to integrate
the existing network of marine managed areas in a new way to promote
coordination of research, public education, and management activities
at these marine areas.
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The MPA Executive Order and the National
System of MPAs
The MPA Executive Order calls for a national system to support the
long-term conservation and management of the nation’s cultural
and natural marine heritage through the efficient, effective use
of MPAs.
The Executive Order defines ‘‘marine
protected area’’ as:
“any area of the marine environment that has been reserved
by federal, state, territorial, tribal, or local laws or regulations
to provide lasting protection for part or all of the natural and
cultural resources therein.’’
Given the broad meaning of this definition and the
sites that is would include, further definition of its key terms
(“marine,” ‘‘lasting,’’ ‘‘protection,’’
“area,” and ‘‘reserved’’) is
needed.
The Executive Order does not create any new authority
to establish or manage MPAs. As a result, the national system will
rely entirely on existing MPA programs, authorities, and sites that
represent the nation’s diverse marine ecosystems, including
marine, coastal, estuarine, and Great Lakes waters. While the Executive
Order only applies to federal agencies, it calls for extensive consultation
with state, territory, tribal, regional fishery management councils,
and public stakeholders. Given the significant marine resources
outside of federal jurisdiction, a national system would be lacking
without the participation of state, territory, tribal and other
partner programs and sites. NOAA and the Department of the Interior
intend to work closely with these partners to facilitate their participation.
Developing the National System of Marine
Protected Areas
The national system of MPAs will be developed using three themes
that will identify existing MPAs and effective regional systems.
These three themes are:
- Natural Heritage: sustaining
natural and biological communities, habitats, ecosystems and processes,
and the ecological services, uses, and values they provide to
current and future generations.
- Cultural Heritage: protecting,
understanding, and interpreting submerged cultural resources that
reflect the nation’s maritime history and traditional cultural
connections to the sea.
- Sustainable Production: supporting
the continued sustainable extraction of renewable living resources
(e.g. fish, shellfish, plants, birds or mammals) within or outside
the MPA by protecting important habitat and spawning, mating or
nursery grounds, or providing harvest refuge for by-catch species.
While national in scope, the system will allow existing
agencies and programs at the regional level to continue to meet
their specific objectives and define ecosystem goals for MPAs that
are relevant to the resources and their use. The national system
will help build partnerships to provide tools, technologies, and
other assistance to agencies and stakeholders to enhance the stewardship
capabilities of sites.
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The National Marine Protected Areas Center’s
Role in Developing the National System
The National
Marine Protected Areas Center has outlined a multi-year process
to engage the nation in developing the national system of MPAs.
This process includes collecting and considering continuous stakeholder
and partner input, developing and applying sound science about
marine resources and their use, and communicating clear, consistent
information about the process. Throughout the effort, the National
Marine Protected Areas Center will also seek specific recommendations
from the MPA Federal Advisory
Committee.
The process to develop the national system includes
three major phases:
1. Understanding U.S. MPAs
2. Collaborating Planning
3. Coordinated Implementation
1. Understanding U.S. MPAs
This phase involves gathering baseline information to better understand
the scope of MPAs and their management. As part of this work,
the MPA Center has conducted numerous national and regional MPA
science, policy, and technical needs assessments, produced MPA-related
publications.
To better understand the scope of place-based marine management
in the nation, NOAA and the Department of the Interior first
focused on the term “marine managed area” (MMA).
Through a public process, key criteria, including “lasting,”
“protection,” “area,” “marine,”
and “reserved,” were defined to describe MMAs. Marine
managed areas cast a wider net over place-based conservation
efforts and provide an initial understanding of the different
types and goals of existing sites managed in the marine environment.
The Marine
Managed Areas Inventory is an ongoing effort of the MPA
Center that currently tells us that there may be as many as
1,500 to 2,000 marine managed areas throughout the U.S.
Initial analysis shows that these sites overlap
federal, state, and territory MMAs and involve a maze of more
than 150 federal, state, territory, local, and tribal management
authorities and programs. The ongoing analysis and information
from the MMA Inventory reinforces the complexity of U.S. place-based
marine management and further highlights the critical need for
a coordinated national system.
2. Collaborative Planning
This phase begins with developing the framework
for the national system of MPAs, which is the guiding document
for defining, developing, and implementing the national system.
The framework will define goals for the national system, MPA
criteria, processes for regional MPA planning, coordination
and governance options, and mechanisms for stakeholder participation.
In developing the framework, the MPA Center will
engage the nation’s stakeholders at federal, state, tribal,
and public levels, to discuss their suggestions about the role
the national system should play in the conservation and sustainable
use of the nation’s natural and cultural marine resources.
Once completed, the MPA Center will work with agencies and stakeholders
to identify existing sites that meet the goals and criteria detailed
in the framework. For each MPA identified, the MPA Center will
consult with the relevant managing agency to determine whether
their site should participate in the national system.
The set of existing programs and sites that are
included at this stage will be the initial national system of
MPAs and the immediate focus of partnerships and resources to
support monitoring, evaluation, training, and other technical
assistance for enhancing stewardship capabilities. Each site that
participates in the national system will continue to be administered
by its appropriate managing agency and authority.
With these existing sites as the foundation of
the national system, the MPA Center will support strong stakeholder
engagement in regional ecosystem-based MPA planning efforts. This
coordinated planning effort will provide stakeholders and agencies
at the regional level with an opportunity to collaboratively assess
priority ecosystem resources and uses, set relevant goals and
objectives, and develop the most efficient, effective regional
systems of MPAs. As interested regions identify their MPA priorities,
they will be integrated into the plan for the comprehensive national
system of MPAs.
3. Coordinated Implementation
In this final but ongoing phase to implement the national system,
identified priorities can be used by interested agencies and stakeholder
at the regional level to guide their efforts to efficiently, effectively
adapt MPAs as a marine conservation tool. Partner agencies and
stakeholders can then work together to leverage resources and
assistance to address priority needs, including research, monitoring,
evaluating effectiveness, and education.
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Benefits of the National System of
Marine Protected Areas
The science-based national system of MPAs will result in a myriad
of benefits to the nation, users and stakeholders, and to MPA agencies.
Benefits to the Nation:
- Efficient, effective conservation of vital natural
and cultural resources for current and future generations.
- MPA efforts coordinated at the regional level
to maximize the efficient use of government resources and minimize
inefficient regulation.
- Ecosystem-based planning framework to promote
MPA systems that are optimized for the natural and cultural resources
and sustainable uses that are regionally important.
- Best available science to support ecologically-based
networks that effectively meet regional ecosystem goals.
- Regional MPA systems that fill an integral piece
of the broader ecosystem management approach to marine resource
management.
Benefits to MPA Agencies:
- Forum for planning and management of MPAs across
federal, state, tribal, and territory boundaries through coordination
at the regional ecosystem level.
- Neutral mechanism to cooperatively explore and
identify regional needs for place-based conservation and management.
- Resources and partnerships meet needs such as
research, training, technical assistance, and monitoring effectiveness.
- Coordination, for the public good, across government
agencies and programs.
- Consistent forum for engaging stakeholders in
the MPA process.
Benefits to Users and Other Stakeholders:
- Clearly defined opportunities for meaningful
participation in the MPA process.
- Recognition of the significance of the human
dimension in MPA design and management.
- Access to science, tools, and technologies to
assess and respond to MPA proposals.
- Consistent, clear MPA terminology and information.
Envisioning
a National System of Marine Protected Areas: Regional Public Dialogues
The National Marine Protected Areas Center is developing
the framework for the national system of marine protected areas
(MPAs), as directed by MPA Executive Order 13158. A main step in
this process will be to engage the nation in a participatory dialogue.
Input and recommendations from stakeholders, agencies, authorities,
and the MPA Federal Advisory Committee are a cornerstone to the
development of this guiding document. The framework will describe
in straightforward terms the rationale, goals, and components of
the national system, as well as the processes for designing and
implementing it based on sound science and broad stakeholder input.
To ensure that the national system of MPAs fully
represents the nation's interests in the marine environment, the
MPA Center is holding a series of regional public dialogues around
the country to solicit and collect input that will be used to develop
the national system. Each dialogue session will begin with a presentation
from MPA Center staff on our current plans. We will then ask participants
to break into small groups to ask questions, discuss relevant issues,
and provide input on the national system.
March 7, 2005: Washington, D.C.
May 16, 2005: Portland, Maine
July 18, 2005: New Orleans, Louisiana
December 12, 2005: San Francisco, California
December 13, 2005: Seattle, Washington
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