Marine Planning

Don't be intimidated by the phrase, Marine Spatial Planning (MSP)!  Read the Marine Spatial Planning brochure (La Planification Spatiale Marine) for a succinct description of MSP and its integrated planning at multiple scales.  MSP is related to integrated island management which pursues goals such as intact forest ecosystems, intact coastal ecosystems, tourism, coastal protection, fisheries and food security, water securilty and health and more.

Marine Spatial Planning Initiative

The purpose of this initiative is to help countries implement ecosystem-based management by finding space for biodiversity conservation and sustainable economic development in marine areas. One way to do this is through marine spatial planning. Our work focusses on moving marine spatial planning beyond the conceptual level by

Whole of Island Approach: Integrated Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment

Abaiang Island, Kiribati - A Whole-of-Island Integrated Vulnerability Assessment

Abiang Atoll, Kiribati

The Conservation Planning Group

Ecosystem Based Adaptation (EbA) Project:  Choiseul, Solomon Islands

 

A Management and Adaptation Planning Guide for Natural Resource Managers. 2006. Pacific Islands Managed and Protected Areas Community (PIPMPAC) Document.

By subscribing to the services below you will be sent the latest news and publications on marine protected areas, oceans, planning, policy, science and so forth.  We urge you to subscribe to stay abreast of what is happening to the marine world and what can be done to protect the sea around us.

Each month this year, 2016, Green Fire is releasing one short video clip on marine planning from the Great Bear Seas film and other new material.

Below are links for downloading/viewing the mp4 file of the first video. Starting January 12, please feel free to post on your organization’s social media channels, websites and use in your work.  You are welcome to share with your communications staff – Green Fire will be sending out subsequent links the first week of the month. All clips are 2-3 minutes long.

Scientific research is something all of us were exposed to in school and something we hear routinely in the news.  In principle, science is supposed to interact with agencies and organizations entrusted with managing protected areas and other managed areas.  Science ultimately provides the information for management decisions and to understand ecological processes and patterns, even while identifying new issues not yet recognized by the public or protected area managers.  We have neither the expertise nor the funding to study everything that needs to be studied.  However, recently the Society for Conservation Biology’s Marine Section developed a list of 7

Underwater Mapping of Critical Areas Related to Biodiversity Conservation

An 18 month sea-bed mapping project and hydrographic survey on a specified 13.5 square miles (or 35 square kilometres) area off the coast of Tortola in the Virgin Islands, was completed last month.

The project entailed the partnership of the National Parks Trust of the Virgin Islands (NPT), the UK Hydrographic Office and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Sciences (CEFAS).

Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas

The EBSAs are special areas in the ocean that serve important purposes, in one way or another, to support the healthy functioning of oceans and the many services that it provides.

Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs): the identification process under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and possible ways forward Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs): Western South Pacific Identifying Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas on Seamounts

Under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) must list species as endangered or threatened regardless of where they are found. If a species occurs exclusively in foreign waters, NOAA refers to it as a "foreign species." To date, there are 42 listed foreign species under NMFS jurisdiction.

Marine Species Action Plans

The Marine Species Programme of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) outlines a regional strategy for the cooperative conservation and management of dugongs, marine turtles, whales and dolphins. Other marine species of conservation concern will be added as the need arise. The strategy, which will be implemented through Action Plans during 2013–2017, will enable Pacific Islanders to take a primary role in achieving the following vision:

A Primer on Marine Protected Areas

A regulation-based classification system for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

A regulation-based classification system for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

An Assessment of the Costs and Benefits of Mining Deepsea Minerals in the Pacific Island Region: Deep-sea Mining Cost-Benefit Analysis

This report describes a preliminary economic (cost-benefit) analysis of deep-sea minerals (DSM) mining in the Pacific Island region. Since mining has yet to occur anywhere in the world, the analysis is based on realistic yet hypothetical mining scenarios developed for three mineral deposits thought to have a high potential for economic viability:

This report outlines the process undertaken to define and describe the special, unique marine areas of Fiji. These special, unique marine areas provide an important input to decisions about, for example, permits, licences, EIAs and where to place different types of marine protected areas, locally managed marine areas and Community Conservation Areas in Fiji.

Full Report (Pdf)

Catchment Management and Coral Reef Conservation

The ecology of many coral reefs has changed markedly over recent decades in response to various combinations of local and global stressors. These ecological changes have important implications for the abundance of taxa that regulate the production and erosion of skeletal carbonates, and thus for many of the geo‐ecological functions that coral reefs provide, including reef framework production and sediment generation, the maintenance of reef habitat complexity and reef growth potential. These functional attributes underpin many of the ecosystem goods and services that reefs provide to society. In the absence of pervasive stressors, recovery of degraded coral communities has been observed, resulting in high net‐positive budgets being regained.

The aim of the present report is to provide a comparative assessment of commonly used pelagic sampling methods. We do this by undertaking a qualitative, yet comprehensive, review of the published literature to identify their potential advantages, limitations, and their relevance to monitoring efforts. A ‘silver-bullet’ approach to pelagic monitoring likely does not exist, nor is necessarily feasible. Instead, this comparative assessment provides a blueprint for guiding sampling activities in the context of pelagic monitoring efforts. Such information is essential to promoting transparency, repeatability, and standardisation across studies and institutions, so that method selection aligns with study objectives, with a clear understanding of benefits and limitations.

Conservation standards: From rights to responsibilities

Although conservation interventions aim to protect biological and cultural diversity, they can affect communities in a number of ways. The vast body of international law, norms and standards protecting human rights offers little rights-based, practical guidance for conservation initiatives. Focusing on indigenous peoples, this paper aims to provide a set of draft conservation standards that outline:

• how indigenous peoples’ rights are enshrined in international law

• how conservation interventions can infringe these rights

Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean

 

Coral reefs underpin a range of ecosystem goods and services that contribute to the well‐being of millions of people. However, tropical coral reefs in the Anthropocene are likely to be functionally different from reefs in the past. In this perspective piece, we ask, what does the Anthropocene mean for the provision of ecosystem services from coral reefs? This synthesis of the coral reef ecosystem services literature suggests the field is poorly prepared to understand the changing service provision anticipated in the Anthropocene. A new research agenda is needed that better connects reef functional ecology to ecosystem service provision.

Draft Precautionary Management of Deep Sea Mining Potential in Pacific Island Countries

 

 

 

Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs) Special places in the world’s oceans (Western South Pacific)

Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs) and Commercial Activities

Deep Sea Mining contract areas in ABNJ Purse seiner pollution observer incidents across region Regional fishing vessel density Purse seiner pollution observer incidents and purse seiner vessel density

These Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines for Coastal Tourism Development in Pacific Island Countries and Territories (Guidelines) represent a sector specific version of SPREP’s regional EIA Guidelines first published in 1993 and recently expanded and updated in 2016. These Guidelines aim to assist with the implementation of national EIA legal requirements and to promote best practice in EIA process for Coastal Tourism Development in the Pacific.This publication provides general guidance to support environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for coastal tourism development. It is designed to be tested and revised over time based on experiences in Pacific island countries and territories, and the development and progression of EIA in Pacific island countries and territories.

First World Ocean Assessment

Global Environment Outlook GEO - 6 Regional Assessment for Asia and the Pacific

Global Observing Systems Information Center (GOSIC) - NOAA

Good Coastal Management Practices in the Pacific: experience from the field

 

Pomeroy, R.S., Parks, J.E., Watson, L. M. 2004.  How is Your MPA Doing? A Guidebook of Natural and Social Indicators for Evaluating Marine Protected Area Management Effectiveness. IUCN Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK

This comprehensive guidebook was developed to assist MPA managers in assessing the performance of their MPA. It contains step-by-step instructions on how to carry out effective monitoring including on selecting indicators, planning and conducting the evaluation and communicating the results for adaptive management.

IUCN Joint SSC/WCPA Task Force on Marine Mammal Protected Areas (MMPATF)

Identifying and mitigating potential impacts of seabed mining on whale, dolphins and other marine megafauna 

The LMMA Network

The Locally-Managed Marine Area Network is a group of practitioners involved in various community-based marine conservation projects around the globe, primarily in the Indo-Pacific, who have joined together to learn how to improve our management efforts. We are interested in learning under what conditions using an LMMA strategy works, doesn’t work, and why.

The Network’s membership consists largely of conservation and resource management projects that are using (or planning on using) an LMMA approach, and includes:

Community members

Land-owning groups

Traditional leaders

Elected decision-makers

Conservation staff

University scientists and researchers

Donors

Making Protected Areas Relevant: A guide to integrating protected areas into wider landscapes, seascapes and sectoral plans and strategies

Managing Coasts with Natural Solutions

Guidelines for Measuring and Valuing the Coastal Protection Services of Mangroves and Coral Reefs

Manta Trust

Our Vision

A sustainable future for the oceans where manta rays thrive in healthy, diverse marine ecosystems.

Our Mission

The Manta Trust takes a multidisciplinary approach to the worldwide conservation of manta rays and their habitat through robust science and research, while raising awareness and providing education to the general public and community stakeholders alike.

Mapping Governance Gaps on the High Seas

The objective of MACBIO is to improve management of the marine and coastal biodiversity of mountainous volcanic islands (Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu) and flat islands and atolls (Kiribati, Tonga).

Marine Protected Areas - Smart Investments in Ocean Health

MPAs - Investing in a Sustainable Blue Economy

Human lives depend on marine ecosystems that are healthy, resilient and productive. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an essential tool in the recovery and protection of our ocean and the vital services it provides. 

Marine Spatial Planning in Washington

Memorandum of Understanding for the Conservation of Cetaceans and their Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region

 

SkyTruth discusses their use of AIS in the Phoenix Islands protected area

Global Fishing Watch outlines in Science details about the the use of AIS and makes policy recommendations that will improve our ability to monitor the rest of the world’s oceans

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ocean Health Index

 

A healthy ocean sustainably delivers a range of benefits to people now and in the future. The Ocean Health Index is the comprehensive framework used to measure ocean health from global to local scales.

Ocean Health Index - Science

The Daily Catch

The Daily Catch aggregates current ocean news, stories and original reports.

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Ocean Unite

Definitive science and clear policy options point the way to what must be done to restore and protect marine life. But like many global challenges, the intelligence, science, policy knowledge and expertise is often fragmented and frequently does not reach the right ears.

Ocean Unite has been set up to assist with this unique challenge: to unite and amplify impactful voices to secure a healthy and vital ocean.