A guide for planners and managers - IUCN

144 MARINE AND COASTAL
PROTECTED AREAS
– develop specific national MPA legislation, including broader management plans
(with linkages to Coastal Zone Management, where available)
– ultimately, regional and global integration into significant networks (including use
of the relevant treaties, see below)
Behind all these options, however, lies the paramount issue of enforcement and
the danger of so-called paper parks. Enforcement is always the most sensitive aspect
of law making. This is particularly true in the case of MPAs because enforcement
operations at sea may be difficult, particularly for very large MPAs. At the same
time, the means of enforcement of the MPA managers are often limited. For this reason,
a significant portion of the enforcement needs to be carried out by the users themselves,
which requires genuine “buy-in” on their part. As indicated before, the users will only
respect an MPA if they understand its significance and if they believe that they will
ultimately benefit from it. This is particularly problematic in the case of fisheries notake
zones where in the short term, fishers tend to see only that they are prohibited
from fishing in that area. Yet, if the same fishers believe that this will give the stocks
a much needed chance to recover, or even that the spillover will lead to higher catches
outside the MPA, they are more likely to abide by the restrictions imposed (see Part
III, Cases 1, 4 , 11 and 13).
In this regard, the way in which the MPA is set up will likely be much more
important than what the final product looks like. There are no bad MPAs, only MPAs
that have been set up the wrong way. For this particular reason, the MPA manager
must bear in mind all the options that are available and understand that a given solution
may not be appropriate in the short term but remain an option later on. The degree
to which the MPA manager or the legislating authority is able to “read” the situation
is a better forecaster of success than the ultimate MPA or enabling legislation.
The manager must be inherently opportunistic and ultimately flexible in order
to take advantage of favorable developments. A dramatic example in that regard is
the Red Sea Peace Park, an MPA established in cooperation between Egypt, Israel
and Jordan with considerable assistance from the United States. US assistance was
provided to encourage closer cooperation between the three middle-east countries
but beyond these realpolitik considerations, the marine environment of the Gulf of
Aqaba benefited from the protection of a well-designed marine protected area.
In the case of Mauritania, the MPAs have been established in the absence of
broader coastal management legislation but have also been fundamental building blocks
in that legislative construction. The Parc National du Banc d’Arguin in the North of
the country was created in 1976 with significant assistance from an international NGO,
FIBA (Federation Internationale du Banc d’Arguin). It is a site of critical ecological
importance, both from a terrestrial and marine standpoint. The traditional rights of
the local fishermen, the Imraguen, have been protected and the park is closed to any
industrial fishing. The Imraguen were encouraged to build traditional sail-powered