National System MPA Definitions and Criteria
Definitions of MPA and its Key Terms
With the goal of standardizing the term “marine protected area”
for the purposes of the National System, the Order defines “MPA”
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.”
Without further clarification, the key terms of “area,”
“marine environment,” “reserved,” “lasting,”
and “protection” found in the MPA definition are subject
to a range of interpretations and lead to an uncertain scope for the
National System. Without clear definitions for these five key terms,
identifying the sites that should be considered MPAs for the purposes
of participating in the National System would be unclear and efforts
to fully implement the Order would be fragmented, diffused, and ultimately
unsuccessful.
In order to better define these key terms, the MPA Center and its partners
compiled the inventory of MMAs described in section V.A of this document,
using criteria developed through a formal public comment process. The
inventory provided a more comprehensive understanding of the diversity
of areas that could apply under the broadest interpretation of the MPA
definition and its key terms. This subsequent analysis also provided
a more thorough understanding of the breadth of place-based conservation
around the country. In doing so the information revealed common MPA
themes and characteristics from among the larger MMA category, and therein
helped to define the following key terms of MPA for the National System.
The definitions of key terms for “MPA” listed below were
guided by recommendations from stakeholders, including the MPAFAC, as
well as the analysis of existing place-based conservation efforts. The
Order’s definition of MPA, when taken together with the definitions
of the five key terms of “area,” “marine environment,”
“reserved,” “lasting,” and “protection,”
and the “Additional National System MPA Criteria” listed
below represent the complete set of criteria for determining the participation
of existing MPA sites, programs and/or systems in the National System.
The public comment process for the Draft Framework and these proposed
criteria are intended to ensure that subsequent final criteria represent
the nation’s interests – governmental, non-governmental,
and public alike—in the National System.
For the purposes of the National System, the key terms of the MPA definition
are defined as follows:
| Key Term |
Definition |
| Area |
Must have legally defined geographical boundaries, and may be
of any size, except that the site must be a subset of the U.S. federal,
State, commonwealth, territorial, local or tribal marine environment
in which it is located. Application of this criterion would exclude,
for example, generic broad-based resource management authorities
without specific locations and areas whose boundaries change over
time based on species presence. The area must be one over which
the U.S. has jurisdiction,
consistent with international law.
|
Marine
environment |
Must be: (a) ocean or coastal waters (note: coastal waters may
include intertidal areas, bays or estuaries); (b) an area of the
Great Lakes or their connecting waters; (c) an area of submerged
lands under ocean or coastal waters or the Great Lakes or their
connecting waters; or (d) a combination of the above. The term ‘‘intertidal’’
is understood to mean the shore zone between the mean low water
and mean high water marks. An MPA may be a marine component part
of a larger site that includes uplands. However, the terrestrial
portion is not considered an MPA. For mapping purposes, an MPA may
show an associated terrestrial protected area.
For the purposes of the National System, NOAA and DOI intend to
use the following definition for the term ‘‘estuary’’:
‘‘Part of a river or stream or other body of water having
unimpaired connection with the open sea, where the sea water is
measurably diluted with fresh water derived from land drainage,
and extending upstream to where ocean derived salts measure less
than 0.5 parts per thousand during the period of average annual
low flow.’’ Application of this criterion would exclude,
for example, strictly freshwater sites outside the Great Lakes region
that contain marine species at certain seasons or life history stages
unless that site is a component of a larger, multiunit MPA.
Upon request, the agencies will work with individual federal, state
and tribal MPAs and programs to examine unique conditions which
may affect applicability of the term ‘‘estuary’’
or “coastal waters” for sites that have national or
regional significance or representativeness.
Estuarine-like sites on tributaries of the Great Lakes will be considered
for inclusion if they are located within the eight-digit USGS cataloging
unit adjacent to a Great Lake or its connecting waters.
|
| Reserved |
Must be established by and currently subject to federal, state,
commonwealth, territorial, local or tribal law or regulation. Application
of this criterion would exclude, for example, privately created
or maintained marine sites.
|
| Lasting |
Must be established with the intent at the time of designation
to provide permanent protection.
Must provide the same level and type of protection at a fixed location
and fixed and regular period of any duration during a year in a
location that corresponds to the timing of a predictable ecological
process or anthropogenic threat.
Sites and/or protections that must have a specific legislative or
other administrative action to be decommissioned shall be considered
to have been established with the intent to provide permanent protection.
For example this would include sites that include a requirement
for periodic renewal contingent on evaluation of effectiveness,
with no specified expiration date.
Sites established to meet sustainable production goals such as stock
rebuilding will be considered to have been established with the
intent to provide permanent protection if site expiration is triggered
by achieving a defined biological or ecological goal(s) with no
specified duration.
|
| Protection |
Must have existing laws or regulations that are designed and applied
to afford the site with increased protection for part or all of
the natural and submerged cultural resources therein for the purpose
of maintaining or enhancing the long-term conservation of these
resources, beyond any general protections that apply outside the
site.
Application of this criterion would exclude restricted areas that
are established for purposes other than conservation. For example,
the term would not include areas closed for navigational safety,
areas closed to safeguard modern man-made structures (e.g., submarine
cable no-anchor zones), polluted shellfish-bed closure areas, areas
closed to avoid fishing gear conflicts, and areas subject to area-based
regulations that are established solely to limit fisheries by quota
management or to facilitate enforcement.
|
<top>
Additional National System MPA Criteria
In addition to the definitions of MPA and its key terms above, partner
National System MPA sites and systems also must address the relevant
criteria listed below.
- National System MPA sites or systems must address the following additional criteria:
- Contribution to National System Goals and Objectives: the purposes for which sites or systems of sites were established and/or their regulatory framework must contribute to a minimum of one objective under one National System goal listed in Section VI.A.
- Management approval: The appropriate state, tribal, local, or federal management agency (or agencies) or authority (or authorities) must provide written approval for their MPA site, program or system to participate in the National System. Where management authority is retained solely by one federal, state, tribal, or local agency, that managing agency must provide such approval. Where MPA sites, programs, or systems have an explicit agreement governing shared management authority (e.g., NERRS sites, tribal/state co-management arrangements, etc.), all relevant managing agencies must provide final approval for participation in the National System. Agencies will consider all public comment submitted under Section VII.B below in making their determination of final approval.
- In addition, given the cultural resource management community’s
widespread acknowledgment of the standards developed by the National
Park Service for inclusion of a cultural resource in the National
Register of Historic Places, the National System will integrate core
elements of those standards into its criteria for MPAs with cultural
marine resources. As such, MPAs whose protections are solely focused
on cultural marine resources must also meet the following criteria:
- Age: To qualify, the age of the protected cultural resource must be at least 50 years of age, unless otherwise determined to be unique to the nation’s maritime history or traditional connections to the sea as defined by the National Register Criteria for Evaluation NRCE).
- Significance and Context: A cultural resource must represent a significant part of the history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, or culture of an area, and it must have the characteristics that make it a representative example of resources associated with that aspect of the past. The resource must be associated with one or more important historic contexts, as defined by the NRCE. Historic contexts are historical patterns that can be identified through consideration of the history of the resource and the history of the surrounding area. In addition, the historic context of a cultural resource must be relevant on a regional or national geographic scale (i.e., resources must be significant to the history of the state, region, or nation as a whole).
- Integrity: A cultural resource’s physical features must have the ability to convey its significance by retaining the identity for which it is significant.
Again, the Order’s definition of MPA, when taken together with
the definitions of the five key terms of “area,” “marine,”
“reserved,” “lasting,” and “protection,”
and the additional National System MPA criteria listed above represent
the complete set of criteria for existing MPA sites and systems to determine
their participation in the National System.
|
