Assessing Marine Protected Areas Effectiveness: A Case Study with the Tobago Cays Marine Park

Rodriguez, Alba Garcia; Fanning, Lucia

doi:10.4236/ojms.2017.73027

“…This highlights an inconsistent and fragmented approach to data used for cumulative effects assessments and management, and indicates the need for a more transparent process for determining which factors should be incorporated into cumulative effects assessments for effective MCA management (Canter and Ross 2010). Rodriguez and Fanning (2017) noted household income levels, possible displacement issues, and employment rates are also important considerations in marine conservation areas; however, few managers we surveyed indicated using these in their assessments and decision-making.…”

Section: Social and Economic Factors And Types Of Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges to incorporating social and economic factors into cumulative effects assessments in Canada’s marine conservation areas

Curren¹,

Fanning²,

Lawton³

et al. 2022

E&S

5

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The cumulative effects of human stressors are threatening marine ecosystems. While spatial management tools such as marine conservation areas can help mitigate cumulative effects, several decision-making challenges remain. A limited availability of information and lack of knowledge, inconsistent management approaches, and ineffective consideration of social-ecological interactions hinders current cumulative effects assessment and management efforts. We examined if and how ocean managers assess cumulative effects and incorporate them into their management practices. A survey of the three Canadian federal departments responsible for marine conservation areas was conducted, and focused on the extent to which social and economic factors are considered. Managers seemed to favor ecological factors over social and economic ones when evaluating cumulative effects, such as when defining the spatial and temporal scales to use in their assessments. Managers also indicated a need for greater access to social and economic data and information to improve their assessment and management decisions. Lastly, the lack of a standardized cumulative effects assessment framework and fragmented management approaches appeared to limit managers' ability to adequately incorporate social and economic factors into assessments. The survey results indicated that a cumulative effects assessment framework that explicitly includes social and economic factors in addition to an enhanced understanding of the suite of factors that influence social-ecological interactions should be developed. This type of framework is essential to help achieve the long-term management solutions required to conserve the health and integrity of Canada's oceans and beyond.

show abstract

“…system-level changes in productivity caused by predatory release [ 15 ]; or favorable environmental conditions [ 16 ]) for which one must control [ 17 ] in order to causally attribute a biological change to the reserve. Other studies have used a control-impact comparison approach that uses control sites but does not address temporal variability [ 4 , 7 , 18 – 20 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A user-friendly tool to evaluate the effectiveness of no-take marine reserves

Villaseñor-Derbez¹,

Faro²,

Wright³

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Marine reserves are implemented to achieve a variety of objectives, but are seldom rigorously evaluated to determine whether those objectives are met. In the rare cases when evaluations do take place, they typically focus on ecological indicators and ignore other relevant objectives such as socioeconomics and governance. And regardless of the objectives, the diversity of locations, monitoring protocols, and analysis approaches hinder the ability to compare results across case studies. Moreover, analysis and evaluation of reserves is generally conducted by outside researchers, not the reserve managers or users, plausibly thereby hindering effective local management and rapid response to change. We present a framework and tool, called “MAREA”, to overcome these challenges. Its purpose is to evaluate the extent to which any given reserve has achieved its stated objectives. MAREA provides specific guidance on data collection and formatting, and then conducts rigorous causal inference analysis based on data input by the user, providing real-time outputs about the effectiveness of the reserve. MAREA’s ease of use, standardization of state-of-the-art inference methods, and ability to analyze marine reserve effectiveness across ecological, socioeconomic, and governance objectives could dramatically further our understanding and support of effective marine reserve management.

show abstract

“…system-level changes in productivity caused by predatory release [15]; or favorable environmental conditions [16]) for which one must control [17] in order to causally attribute a biological change to the reserve. Other studies have used a control-impact comparison approach that uses control sites but does not address temporal variability [4,7,[18][19][20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A user-friendly tool to evaluate the effectiveness of no-take marine reserves

Villaseñor-Derbez¹

2018

Preprint

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Marine reserves are implemented to achieve a variety of objectives, but are seldom rigorously evaluated to determine whether those objectives are met. In the rare cases when evaluations do take place, they typically focus on ecological indicators and ignore other relevant objectives such as socioeconomics and governance. And regardless of the objectives, the diversity of locations, monitoring protocols, and analysis approaches hinder the ability to compare results across case studies. Moreover, analysis and evaluation of reserves is generally conducted by outside researchers, not the reserve managers or users, plausibly thereby hindering effective local management and rapid response to change. We present a framework and tool, called “MAREA”, to overcome these challenges. Its purpose is to evaluate the extent to which any given reserve has achieved its stated objectives. MAREA provides specific guidance on data collection and formatting, and then conducts rigorous causal inference analysis based on data input by the user, providing real-time outputs about the effectiveness of the reserve. MAREA’s ease of use, standardization of state-of-the-art inference methods, and ability to analyze marine reserve effectiveness across ecological, socioeconomic, and governance objectives could dramatically further our understanding and support of effective marine reserve management.

show abstract

Assessing Marine Protected Areas Effectiveness: A Case Study with the Tobago Cays Marine Park

Cited by 5 publications

References 28 publications

Challenges to incorporating social and economic factors into cumulative effects assessments in Canada’s marine conservation areas

Challenges to incorporating social and economic factors into cumulative effects assessments in Canada’s marine conservation areas

A user-friendly tool to evaluate the effectiveness of no-take marine reserves

A user-friendly tool to evaluate the effectiveness of no-take marine reserves

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About