Tools for marine management
MPA managers generally do not manage natural systems
or specific marine species per se; rather they manage the
human impacts associated with those resources. Marine
management is usually undertaken to achieve a desired
set of goals and objectives; it is important that these goals
and objectives are clearly established and widely known.
Ecosystem-based management and adaptive management are two key aspects of the effective management of
any MPA, and these are particularly important because
of the following:
1. The interconnectedness of different habitats of the
marine environment and the interdependency upon
neighboring biological communities;
2. The impacts from adjacent land or sea areas that may
threaten the integrity of even the best managed MPA;
3. The three-dimensional aspects of what needs to be
managed (few MPAs are well known, easily viewed,
or easily “delineated” for management purposes, which
means they are hard to see, hard to manage, and
enforce). “Out-of-sight, out-of-mind” is part of the
problem;
Conservation and Marine Protection Areas, Figure 2 GBRMP “activities matrix”.
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CONSERVATION AND MARINE PROTECTION AREAS