Parental features
Bassett edges, boulder ramparts, cemented platforms,
shingle ridges, beach-rocks.
Bibliography
Montaggioni, L. F. and Pirazzoli, P. A., 1984. The significance of
exposed coral conglomerates from French Polynesia (Pacific
Ocean) as indicators of recent relative sea-level changes. Coral
Reefs, 3, 29–42.
Scoffin, T.P., 1993. The geological effects of hurricanes on coral
reefs and the interpretation of storm deposits. Coral Reefs, 12,
203–221.
Scoffin, T.P. and McLean, R.F., 1978. Exposed limestones of the
Northern Province of the Great Barrier Reef. Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society of London, A, 291, 119–138.
Cross-references
Antecedent Platforms
Atoll Islands (Motu)
Bassett Edges
Beach Rock
Boulder Zone/Ramparts
Megablocks
Platforms (Cemented)
Shingle Ridges
CONSERVATION AND MARINE PROTECTION AREAS
Jon C. Day
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA),
Townsville, QLD, Australia
Definitions
Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and
protection, with a primary focus upon maintaining the
health and biological diversity of the natural world.
Cumulative impacts are the change in the environment
which results from the incremental impact of two or more
individual events which, when added to other closely
related past, present, and reasonably foreseeable probable
future events, will compound, magnify, or increase each
other or their own environmental impacts.
Ecosystem-based management is an integrated
approach to management that considers the entire ecosystem, integrating the ecological, social, economic, and
institutional perspectives, and emphasizing the protection
of ecosystem structure, functioning, and key processes.
Marine management is a continuous, interactive, adaptive, and participatory management process, comprising
a set of related tasks, which collectively work towards
achieving a desired set of goals and objectives.
Marine protected area (MPA) network is an organized
and systematic collection of individual MPAs, connected
in some way by ecological or other processes.
Protected area is a clearly defined geographical space,
recognized, dedicated, and managed through legal or other
effective means to achieve the long-term conservation of
nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural
values (Dudley, 2008). Hence, an MPA is a protected area
within the marine (intertidal or sub-tidal) realm.
Introduction
In many parts of the world, coral reefs have been actively
conserved for centuries to ensure continuing access to
food sources such as fish and shellfish. In most western
countries, however, the need to protect coral reefs, and
the importance of conserving marine areas, has only been
recognized in the last 50–70 years.
Problems arise when marine and coastal resources,
such as coral reefs or their resident species, are considered
as “open to everyone” with “free” access to virtually all
users. Often referred to as “The Tragedy of the Commons”
(Hardin, 1968), this commonly leads to excessive use and
habitat degradation. These generalizations, of course, vary
between countries according to cultural perceptions of private, public, and common property.
The long-held belief that marine resources were almost
unlimited and inexhaustible has now proven to be a myth;
many living marine resources may be renewable if
harvested sustainably, but there are finite limits to marine
exploitation. Today, as never before, there are many more
pressures on marine environments and a growing awareness of the cumulative impacts of those pressures. There
are many striking example around the world of the consequences of poorly managed coral reefs or untimely
responses to warning signs.
Marine protected areas (often abridged to the term
MPAs) are one of a variety of practices at the international,
regional, national, and local level to protect coral reefs.
Other conservation strategies are being applied at a range
of scales from international agreements to local
community-based management areas.
Globally, the rate of coral reef degradation, however,
greatly exceeds the rate of effective coral reef conservation; hence, far more needs to be done to effectively protect coral reef systems – arguably the most biologically
diverse ecosystems on the planet.
Status of coral reefs globally
Pressures on coral reef systems can be regarded as either
human-induced (e.g., mining/quarrying, unsustainable fishing, pollution, heavy-metal impacts, climate change, technological innovations enabling greater use) or natural
events (e.g., cyclones, tsunami). The effects of such pressures on coral reefs can range from negligible to catastrophic, and can be episodic or chronic. It is also
important to recognize issues such as cumulative impacts
(both direct and indirect) and the synergistic effects of such
pressures, none of which is easily considered. The combined chronic effects of over-fishing, by-catch, habitat
230
CONSERVATION AND MARINE PROTECTION AREAS
Bassett edges, boulder ramparts, cemented platforms,
shingle ridges, beach-rocks.
Bibliography
Montaggioni, L. F. and Pirazzoli, P. A., 1984. The significance of
exposed coral conglomerates from French Polynesia (Pacific
Ocean) as indicators of recent relative sea-level changes. Coral
Reefs, 3, 29–42.
Scoffin, T.P., 1993. The geological effects of hurricanes on coral
reefs and the interpretation of storm deposits. Coral Reefs, 12,
203–221.
Scoffin, T.P. and McLean, R.F., 1978. Exposed limestones of the
Northern Province of the Great Barrier Reef. Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society of London, A, 291, 119–138.
Cross-references
Antecedent Platforms
Atoll Islands (Motu)
Bassett Edges
Beach Rock
Boulder Zone/Ramparts
Megablocks
Platforms (Cemented)
Shingle Ridges
CONSERVATION AND MARINE PROTECTION AREAS
Jon C. Day
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA),
Townsville, QLD, Australia
Definitions
Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and
protection, with a primary focus upon maintaining the
health and biological diversity of the natural world.
Cumulative impacts are the change in the environment
which results from the incremental impact of two or more
individual events which, when added to other closely
related past, present, and reasonably foreseeable probable
future events, will compound, magnify, or increase each
other or their own environmental impacts.
Ecosystem-based management is an integrated
approach to management that considers the entire ecosystem, integrating the ecological, social, economic, and
institutional perspectives, and emphasizing the protection
of ecosystem structure, functioning, and key processes.
Marine management is a continuous, interactive, adaptive, and participatory management process, comprising
a set of related tasks, which collectively work towards
achieving a desired set of goals and objectives.
Marine protected area (MPA) network is an organized
and systematic collection of individual MPAs, connected
in some way by ecological or other processes.
Protected area is a clearly defined geographical space,
recognized, dedicated, and managed through legal or other
effective means to achieve the long-term conservation of
nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural
values (Dudley, 2008). Hence, an MPA is a protected area
within the marine (intertidal or sub-tidal) realm.
Introduction
In many parts of the world, coral reefs have been actively
conserved for centuries to ensure continuing access to
food sources such as fish and shellfish. In most western
countries, however, the need to protect coral reefs, and
the importance of conserving marine areas, has only been
recognized in the last 50–70 years.
Problems arise when marine and coastal resources,
such as coral reefs or their resident species, are considered
as “open to everyone” with “free” access to virtually all
users. Often referred to as “The Tragedy of the Commons”
(Hardin, 1968), this commonly leads to excessive use and
habitat degradation. These generalizations, of course, vary
between countries according to cultural perceptions of private, public, and common property.
The long-held belief that marine resources were almost
unlimited and inexhaustible has now proven to be a myth;
many living marine resources may be renewable if
harvested sustainably, but there are finite limits to marine
exploitation. Today, as never before, there are many more
pressures on marine environments and a growing awareness of the cumulative impacts of those pressures. There
are many striking example around the world of the consequences of poorly managed coral reefs or untimely
responses to warning signs.
Marine protected areas (often abridged to the term
MPAs) are one of a variety of practices at the international,
regional, national, and local level to protect coral reefs.
Other conservation strategies are being applied at a range
of scales from international agreements to local
community-based management areas.
Globally, the rate of coral reef degradation, however,
greatly exceeds the rate of effective coral reef conservation; hence, far more needs to be done to effectively protect coral reef systems – arguably the most biologically
diverse ecosystems on the planet.
Status of coral reefs globally
Pressures on coral reef systems can be regarded as either
human-induced (e.g., mining/quarrying, unsustainable fishing, pollution, heavy-metal impacts, climate change, technological innovations enabling greater use) or natural
events (e.g., cyclones, tsunami). The effects of such pressures on coral reefs can range from negligible to catastrophic, and can be episodic or chronic. It is also
important to recognize issues such as cumulative impacts
(both direct and indirect) and the synergistic effects of such
pressures, none of which is easily considered. The combined chronic effects of over-fishing, by-catch, habitat
230
CONSERVATION AND MARINE PROTECTION AREAS