Download Place-based protection

Some observations on…
Protecting
Seamounts:
Examples from
North America and
Hawaii
Brad Barr, Senior Policy Advisor
NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
Seamounts…
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/2minrelief.html
Don’t think I need to explain to this group
about seamounts…what they are, why
they’re important, or list the threats to
these ecosystems.
Geography Matters…
• “Remote” does not provide the
protection it once afforded…
•More than half of all seamounts are in
international waters - 53%, but good
news, as regards protection, is that the
other half is in EEZ’s.
(Alder & Wood 2004)
• Generally, the ability to protect areas
decreases with the distance from
shore…for reasons both practical and
legal.
Authority to Regulate
Jurisdiction…
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Source: Kimball, International Ocean Governance (p. 7), from Kopylova et al. (2005)
Current Protection…
Alder and Wood (2004) state: “… in comparison to
other critical habitats such as coral reefs and
seagrasses, seamounts are much less well protected
within EEZs , and completely unprotected in the high
seas.”
(Alder & Wood 2004)
• Within EEZ’s around 5%
currently within MPAs, but
probably overestimate.
(Alder & Wood 2004)
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• Likely to have changed a
bit since 2004, but how
much was and is truly
protected? (“paper parks”)
International Mechanisms…
Table 1: International Instruments and their Application in
Managing and Protecting Seamounts (after Alder and Wood 2004)
Binding
UNCLOS-Mining Agreemen (Article 145, 162.2.x)
UNCLOS – Pollution (Part XII)
UNCLOS - Fisheries
Fish Stocks Agreement
Regional Fisheries Agreements/Conventions
Convention on Biological Diversity and Jakarta Mandate (Article 4)
London Convention (ocean dumping/disposal)
IMO Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas
Regional Seas Programs
Non Binding
FAO Code of Conduct
Agenda 21 and World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
FAO International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal,
Unreported and Unregulated Fishing
Ecological/Societal Costs/Benefits
of High Seas MPAs
Benefits
Costs
+ Increase habitat quality,
species diversity and
community stability
+ Maintain species diversity
and habitat complexity
+ Create areas with intrinsic
value
+ Provide undisturbed control
sites for monitoring and
assessing human impacts
in other areas
(After Kopylova et al., 2005)
Fishery-Related Costs/Benefits
of High Seas MPAs
Benefits
Costs
+ Increase abundance,
- Decrease in catch
average size of target
- Congestion
organisms, reproductive
- User conflicts
output and genetic diversity - Higher transportation
+ Improved catch mix
and search costs
+ Enhance fishery yield in
- Increase in monitoring
adjacent grounds (spillover)
and enforcement costs
+ Guard against uncertainty
and reduce probability of overfishing and fishery collapse
+ Protect rare and valuable species
+ Provide basis for ecosystem
management
(After Kopylova et al., 2005)
Managerial Costs/Benefits…
of High Seas MPAs
Benefits
Costs
+ Improve scientific knowledge
+ Hedge against uncertain stock
assessments
(After Kopylova et al., 2005)
Arguably compelling case can be
made for using MPAs in the high seas
to protect seamounts, but what
mechanism is sufficient? …who is
responsible for management? …
International Mechanisms…RFMO
More than 30 Regional Fisheries
Management Organizations (RFMO)
Established under Art. 118 of UNCLOS
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http://www.fao.org/fishery/rfb/en
North Atlantic Fisheries Organization
Within the NAFO Regulatory Area,
there are two areas closed to
shrimp fisheries on the Flemish
Cap (Division 3M) (see map)
during certain times of the year.
Furthermore, in order to protect
vulnerable marine ecosystems
(VMEs) from adverse impacts of
bottom fisheries, NAFO members
agreed in 2006 to protect four
seamount areas from high seas
bottom trawling for a four-year
period (2007-2010). Two additional
seamount areas south of the Grand
Banks (Fogo seamounts 1 and 2)
were closed in 2008. In addition, a
coral protection zone was
established in NAFO Division 3O in
2007 and is closed to all fishing
activity involving bottom contact
gear.
Source: Marine Protected Areas in the High
Seas. In: FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture
Department [online]. Rome. Updated 26 April
2007. [Cited 16 March 2009].
http://www.fao.org/fishery/topic/16204/en
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Challenges of RFMO Mechanism
• Not all RFMOs have the ability to manage
deep sea fisheries…
• Only useful, by itself, if fishing is most
significant ecological threat (many time it is).
• Problem of pacta tertiis…management
measures only apply to signatory countries.
• RFMOs do not cover all areas of the high
seas, so many seamounts may not be
included in these management regimes.
Challenges of Int’l. Protection
• Everybody being responsible results in nobody being
responsible…
• Enforcement/compliance (if mechanism is
enforceable) is challenging, expensive.
• Mechanisms have sectoral focus (fishing, seabed
mining, for example) and may need more than one
mechanism in place to afford any effective ecosystem
protection.
• Generally, no characterization, monitoring, adaptive
management. Places, but not “place-based.”
• Very difficult to get funding for high seas protection
when MPAs in EEZs are chronically underfunded.
Given high cost of managing remote sites, big problem.
“EEZ to MHW” Mechanisms…
Legislation
• Fisheries
• Minerals (including gas and oil)
• Transportation and Navigation
• Environmental Impact Assessment
• Hazardous Waste Disposal
• Protected Areas
• Biodiversity Protection
Policy
• Ocean and Coastal Planning
• Coast Guard and Defense Force Roles
(temporary and permanent exclusion areas…)
(Alder & Wood 2004)
Resource-targeted or Place-based
• “Resource-targeted” are regulatory and management
programs focused on a resource type (commercially
important marine species, oil and gas exploration and
development, for example) where jurisdiction is broadly
applied regionally or nationally. May used area-based
management measures, but not “place-based.”
• “Place-based” programs are those that address a
particular defined and bounded area, usually linked to
community with place-identification, where
management staff and facilities are located locally or
nearby, and where management is conducted in
consultation with that community. Communities can be
geographical, communities of interest, or encompass
both.
Resource-targeted, Fishery-focused…
• NMFS (advised by Fishery Management Councils)
in US, Department of Fisheries and Oceans in
Canada.
• Generally involve fishery management plans for
specific species applicable throughout its range in
that region…may include area closures, gear
restrictions, catch limits, for example)
• In US, use of Essential
Fish Habitat (EFH), Habitat
Areas of Particular Concern
(HAPC) generally focused on
DSC protection by prohibiting
bottom-contact gear
(trawling) for seamounts
PFMC/NMFS West Coast EFH/HAPC
Hawaii - WPFMC EFH/HAPC (PMNM)
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AK Seamount Habitat Protection Areas
Established by NPFMC/NMFS
Seamounts
Protected
Dickins
Denison
Brown
Welker
Dall
Quinn
Giacomini
Kodiak
Odyssey
Patton
Chikirof & Marchand
Sirius
Derickson
Unimak
Bowers
From: Oliver and Madsen (2006)
Bowie Seamount MPA
Sgaan Kinghlas "Supernatural Being Looking Outward”
• Established under
Canada’s Oceans Act
…managed by DFO.
• Permits fishing for
specific species in specific
zones within the MPA,
sablefish below 250
fathoms, halibut and
rockfish above 250,
pelagic permitted
everywhere.
• Currently no monitoring
or enforcement
http://assets.panda.org/downloads/bowie_seamount_mpa_for_we
bsite_final.pdf
+/- for Resource-targeted Protection
+ Includes broad geographies…stuff doesn’t have to be
in a box…
+ good if only single threat (like just bottom-contact
fishing gear) but not so good if multiple threats
- “arm’s length” management…area-based
management just one of many facets of programs.
- financial and personnel resources supporting and
conducting research, characterization, monitoring and
enforcement must be allocated regionally rather than for
one particular area.
- lacks “place-based” connection to community of
interest, which can be important in attracting external
investment in protection.
Place-based protection
National Marine Sanctuaries
“Areas of the marine environment with special
conservation, recreational, ecological, historical,
cultural, archeological, or esthetic qualities…”
Northeast and
Great Lakes
Region
Olympic Coast NMS
Cordell Bank NMS
Gulf of the Faralllones NMS
Monterey Bay NMS
Papahanaumokuakea
Marine National
Monument
Hawaiian Islands
Humpback Whale
NMS
Thunder Bay NMS
and Underwater Preserve
MONITOR NMS
Channel Islands NMS
Gray’s Reef NMS
West
Coast
Region
Flower
Garden
Banks
NMS
Pacific
IslandsR
egion
The National Marine Sanctuary System
Fagatele Bay NMS
Stellwagen Bank NMS
Florida Keys NMS
Southeast, Gulf of
Mexico and
Caribbean Region
Core Elements of NMSP
“Comprehensive and coordinated conservation and management” NMSA
Resource
Protection
Ops, Vessels,
Staffing, Admin.
Education
& Outreach
Research,
Monitoring,
Enforcement
Characterization
NMS System Assets and Resources…
Photo: Dave Lot, ONMS
Purpose-built Research Vessels…operational infrastructure
Insitu Scan Eagle
4000 Volunteers, Large and active communities
of interest…strong Congressional support…
Fully-Protected Marine Reserves
• As knowledge of
ecosystems increases,
sophistication and
complexity of
management increases…
• FPMR have large body
of literature
demonstrating their
effectiveness in
contributing to preserving
biodiversity and
sustainable
ecosystems…
• FPMR in CINMS,
FKNMS, and PMNM.
Papahānaumokuākea
Papahānaumokuākea MNM
• Designated under Antiquities Act.
• Soon to be World Heritage Site…
• Managed by co-trustees (NOAA, USFWS, State of
Hawaii)
• All commercial activities prohibited, PSSA, access
requires permit in some zones. Commercial fishing
will phase out completely in 2011.
• Active management…research, education,
outreach, enforcement…ships, aircraft (soon)
facilities, worldwide interest.
• Broad suite of protections in place,being
evaluated…ecosystem protection…many
seamounts within boundary.
Davidson Seamount (MBNMS)
• DSMZ added to MBNMS
in 2008
• EFH prohibits use of
bottom-contact gear.
Pelagic fishing permitted.
• ONMS Regulations
prohibit all other
disturbance.
• Characterization,
monitoring, and research
being implemented.
• Regional focus for
research…
Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary
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Source: Cordell Bank NMS Web Page
http://cordellbank.noaa.gov
Ongoing Research - Cordell Bank NMS
ArcRstats GLM Model Prediction
Best, B.D., S. Loarie, S. Qian, P. Halpin, D. Urban. 2005. ArcRstats – multivariate habitat modeling
with ArcGIS and R statistical software. Available at http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/geospatial/software.
Stylaster californicus
Swiftia spp.
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+/- of Place-based Protection
+ established management infrastructure to help
facilitate and enable research, and to protect
resources and qualities of area through active
enforcement of regulations….”MPA systems”
+ engages community of interest to offer support
for continued research and effective management
- given generally remote locations of seamounts,
even in EEZs, and that relatively few existing MPAs
target seamounts, may not be a lot of opportunities
to use place-based protections.
- Greatest apparent threat, commercial fishing
using bottom contact gear, requires engagement of
commercial fishermen, the group most skeptical of
MPAs as a conservation tool.
Concluding thoughts…
• Given significant interest in preserving deep coral
assemblages, seamounts are “hot properties”…
fishing industry folks less willing to fight this battle…
• High seas seamount protection is an important
frontier for marine conservation… Half the
seamounts in the world’s oceans are in international
waters and current international mechanisms are
largely inadequate.
• Seamounts in EEZs are the better candidates for
protection, and “EEZ to MHW” mechanisms offer
better opportunities for effective protection.
• “Research Zones” within MPAs gaining traction…
• Costs for managing remote sites major challenge