THE UPS AND DOWNS OF MARINE PROTECTED AREAS

Are marine protected areas (MPAs) really as beneficial as we think? Mongabay gets to the truth with their examination of the effectiveness of marine protections

If we conservationists and biologists do not think of the planet as one – earth and water – then I ask, who will? If we do not press for marine as well as terrestrial sanctuaries and for regulations over our marine activities, then I ask again, who will?

Carleton Ray

Countries are now frenziedly creating more marine protected areas, increasingly very large ones, either out of genuine concern for marine life or to meet international targets. In the midst of it all, the efficacy of this conservation tool remains heavily debated. Is establishing marine parks better for species and habitats than leaving areas unprotected? Do marine parks improve fisheries and the well-being of fisheries dependent communities?

1962

FIRST WORLD CONFERENCE OF NATIONAL PARKS

Carleton Ray, a marine biologist at the University of Virgina, pleaded the cause of setting aside “unmolested areas in the sea”

1985

Number of marine protected areas had risen to 430

1992

RIO EARTH SUMMIT

Countries agreed to establish networks of marine protected areas as scientists proved that fishing was causing the world’s fish stocks to collapse

2004

UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY (CBD)

The world’s governments committed to conserving at least 10 percent of coastal and marine areas by 2012

2010

CBD extended the deadline to 2020 as the coverage was still below two percent

PRESENT

According to the United Nations Protected Planet data repository, more than 15,600 marine protected areas are in place, covering more than 25 million square kilometres, or nearly seven percent of the Earth’s oceans

Blue Maomao at poor knights Islands