Marine protected areas (MPAs) in relation to fisheries management: challenges and experiences from developing countries

As pressure from human activities on the natural world intensifies, and as humans become more aware of their impact on the environment, our interest in and need for protection and planning for sustainable use of our environment has increased tremendously. Numerous  traditional  societies  developed  an  understanding  of  the  limited  resources  of  the natural world, in fisheries in particular where societies were dependent upon ocean resources, and understood the need for sustainable use and effective management. Management schemes from such societies often included protection of marine areas such as closed areas or seasons (Ruddle, 1994). Today we have come to know spatial measures in various forms by numerous names; marine reserves, closed areas, refugia, fisheries management areas, no-take areas, and marine protected areas are just a few. However, the predominant term that, today, tops the list of frequently mentioned marine managed areas is marine protected area (MPA). This paper discusses the definition of the term MPA but does not make a rigorous distinction between no-take reserves and multi-use reserves in which some extractive use is allowed. Both have a role to play and the literature reflects experiences from a mixture of both. In practice, the choice will depend on the objectives for a particular MPA or network of MPAs and the local human and non-human ecological context. This paper will attempt to provide an overview of MPAs and to consider, both within the context of the international instruments and beyond, what roles MPAs are likely to be able to play in fisheries management, while also taking into account their potential contribution to biodiversity conservation.

MPAs have also become an important tool within the broader management of integrated ocean management (IOM), ecosystem-based management (EBM) and the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF). Many of these larger planning frameworks have come about in the last few decades in response to the realization that the long-term sustainability of fisheries and marine ecosystems has, in general, not been adequately addressed by conventional approaches to fisheries management. The goal of such ecologically aware frameworks is to ensure that, in addition to other objectives, management addresses “conserving the structure, diversity and functioning of ecosystems through management actions that focus on the biophysical components of ecosystems” (FAO, 2003). Integrating a wider ecosystem approach into fisheries management necessitates the inclusion of biodiversity perspectives,  and  the  inclusion  of  tools  that  are  able  to  encompass  multiple  objectives.  This will often include the use of protected areas.

The escalating interest in and advocacy for MPAs that has contributed to international agreements and the global proliferation of the use of the tool, has been driven by a mixture of conceptual reasoning, scientific experience and investigation, and almost certainly some measure of political opportunism (Cochrane, 2006). This paper seeks to present some of the relevant background on the politics, science, and issues associated with the use of marine protected areas as a tool in fisheries and conservation based management.