Local human activities limit marine protection efficacy on Caribbean coral reefs

Abstract

Marine ecosystems globally have suffered habitat, biodiversity and function loss in response to human activity. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) can limit extractive activities and enhance ecosystem resilience, but do not directly address external stressors. We surveyed 48 sites within seven MPAs and nearby unprotected areas to evaluate drivers of coral reef condition in the Mexican Caribbean. We found that local human activity limits protection effectiveness. Coral cover was positively related to protection characteristics, but was significantly lower at sites with elevated local human activity.Furthermore, we predict ongoing coastal development will reduce coral cover despite expanded protection within a regionwide MPA if an effective integrated coastal zone management strategy is not implemented. Policy makers must acknowledge the detrimental impact of uncontrolled coastal development and apply stringent construction and wastewater regulations in addition to marine protection.

Coral Reefs in the Gulf of Mexico Large Marine Ecosystem: Conservation Status, Challenges, and Opportunities

“…Nonetheless, Jackson et al (2014) established that in 1965 the coral cover of these areas was 34.1%, decreasing to 17.2% by 1999, showing a potentially important decrease in coral cover similar to the one documented in the Caribbean. In other areas such as Alacranes Reef, coral cover has been reported at 11.2% which, although lower than in the Veracruz Reef System, is still higher than some of the coral cover registered in Mexican Caribbean Reefs at <10% (Suchley and Álvarez-Filip, 2018), and very similar to the cover in Florida mentioned previously.…”

Land Use Impacts on Coral Reef Health: A Ridge-to-Reef Perspective

“…Likewise, MPA and fished sites in a case study from the Solomon Islands showed no differences in percent coral cover, likely due to excessive sedimentation at MPAs from destructive logging practices (Halpern et al, 2013). Analyses from Mexico and the Great Barrier Reef are more equivocal: MPAs can create resilience to short-term flood events (Olds et al, 2014), however, chronic or above-average flood exposure and human development ultimately outweigh MPA benefits, at times driving over 50% coral loss (Lamb et al, 2016;Wenger et al, 2016;Suchley and Alvarez-Filip, 2018). In sum, MPAs without forest conservation may be ineffective, and marrying vegetative land use with MPAs can improve crossecosystem outcomes.…”

Untitled

“…The Mexican Caribbean coast has experienced dramatic coastal development over the last decades. Over 10 million tourists visit the region annually and the local population has grown exponentially (Suchley & Alvarez-Filip, 2018). Consequently, coastal waters of the region have experienced eutrophication and increased sedimentation levels (Murray, 2007;Baker et al, 2013;Hernández-Terrones et al, 2015).…”

“…Eutrophication resulting from inadequate wastewater treatment has been previously identified as a major driver of declining reef condition in the region (e.g. Suchley & Alvarez-Filip, 2018). In addition and more recently, the Mexican Caribbean coast has regularly experienced a massive influx of drifting Sargassum that accumulates on the shores and rapidly decomposes, resulting in near-shore murky-brown waters that rapidly increases nutrient concentration in the water column and reduces light, oxygen and pH levels (van Tussenbroek et al, 2017).…”

“…In 2016 and 2017 we conducted an extensive effort to survey coral reefs systems through the Mexican Caribbean (e.g. Suchley & Alvarez-Filip, 2018;Perry et al, 2018). Although surveying the condition of coral communities was not part of the objectives of those campaigns we assessed coral communities in some sites using the AGRRA methodology (see above).…”