Marine protected areas for whales, dolphins, and porpoises: a world ...

Introduction 3
or non-geographically based conditions that more precisely define such an area
as critical habitat.
What we need to do now, adopting a precautionary approach, is to conserve
sufficiently large marine areas that include cetacean hot spots as well as the areas
that we believe may have such conditions so that we can ensure that the options
for future conservation are left open.
gap by making species distribution and oceanographic data fully available on
the web (see p70). Still, there is much, much more that has never been collected
or written down – the local knowledge and wisdom of field biologists who
come into contact with cetaceans; whale watch operators and their teams of
naturalists, researchers, volunteers and others who spend long days, year in and
year out, with whales and dolphins at sea; as well as those who watch from
fishing boats, cruise and container ships, private yachts and other ships. Finding,
processing and using this knowledge is much more difficult. This book, with its
basic details on each proposed or existing MPA, should be seen as a starting
point – a grass-roots document to assist with local conservation and to forge
new links and connections to existing networks.
Third, cetaceans, because of their educational, scientific and economic
value, as well as, in general, their need for large conservation areas, may provide
a key to protecting ocean habitats and bringing large new areas under
conservation management (Hoyt, 1992; Agardy, 1997; Augustowski and
Palazzo, 2003). Some cetaceans are rare or endangered and this provides the
most basic conservation rationale. Still, it must be kept in mind that single
species, or exclusively cetacean-oriented, approaches are generally of limited
value. The best conservation projects consider the entire ecosystem, monitoring
and protecting animals, plants and microorganisms, as well as considering
people. They integrate marine areas with coastal communities. Such projects
can only come from people with broad ecological and social perspectives.
Unlike ocean management on a multijurisdictional basis, in which different
species are managed separately by various agencies that apply regulations
independently of each other, an ecosystem-based management model provides
the best approach. That means managing human interactions with ecosystems
in order to protect and maintain ecosystem integrity and to minimize adverse
impacts. This requires a whole ecosystem approach through ongoing scientific
analysis and a commitment to adapt management practice quickly when new
information signals a need for change. However, in adopting an ecological, high
biodiversity-oriented approach, whales and dolphins should not be overlooked
as they have been in the past. Pragmatically, cetaceans attract public awareness
and tourism, and they require a large habitat area, which can protect many other
species. As long as calls for cetacean MPAs are underpinned by solid ecological
studies, they may well produce great gains for many more – if not most – of
the species involved, including humans.
In February 1992, I attended the IV World Parks Congress (World
Congress on National Parks and Protected Areas) in Caracas, Venezuela, which