A guide for planners and managers - IUCN

206 MARINE AND COASTAL
PROTECTED AREAS
2.10 Design and
Management
Guidelines
The following guidelines are meant to help the site planner in fulfilling the objectives
of a lagoon or estuarine MPA:
1. Conserving estuary-dependent
commercial species requires
protecting a range of critical
habitats both inside and
outside the estuary.
2. Conserving estuarine habitats
depends on controlling direct
impacts (reclamation,
dredging, logging, and grazing)
and on maintaining the water
balance and the quality of the
water supply. The water
balance of an estuary is a
function of forces acting on it
from outside and within the
limits of its shorelines.
FIGURE II-24.
Entire estuaries should be managed as multiple-use areas.
3. Not all estuaries and wetlands or zones within them are equally valuable for all
activities. Establishing protected areas in these environments should follow surveys
classifying areas and habitats according to different values and appropriate uses
(Figure II-25). Protected areas can then be selected that are most suited to
management objectives, and developments can suit both their own objectives
and those of resource conservation.
4. Large estuaries should be managed as multiple use areas. Conflicting uses should
be reconciled in the interest of the welfare of the whole system.
5. Protecting an estuary requires detailed ecological planning, possibly more than
for any other environment, to determine the boundaries of the functional unit.
Because such planning is often too lengthy to undertake before implementing initial
management, the following principles should be borne in mind:
– Wetlands contribute significantly to the production and value of lagoons/estuaries
and should be afforded high management priority.
– Salinity gradients determine the distribution of plants, animals, and whole
communities in estuaries, so inland activities that alter the water balance must
be carefully controlled.
Photo by Erkki Siirila.