A guide for planners and managers - IUCN

4 MARINE AND COASTAL
PROTECTED AREAS
across oceans, transcending biogeographic provinces and political boundaries. Thus,
the management of vast areas, via multinational treaties and transboundary reserves
to protect shared resources, along with alliances for conservation are all necessary.
This does not undermine the value of protecting specific small areas, which remain
essential for safeguarding vital habitats like seabird colonies, but the management
of these should be integrated with that of larger, multiple use areas and regional
initiatives whenever possible.
In most countries the fringing sea is open to all who care to use it, as is
generally true on the high seas beyond national jurisdictions (see Box 1). It follows
that individual users are not often active in caretaking, which leads to difficulties in
conserving seabed and open water resources. The general “free for all” exploitation
of resources that has resulted has led to the economic extinction of certain fisheries.
An exception is seen in certain Pacific island nations, for example, where inhabitants
have evolved traditional methods of resource sharing and conservation. The solution,
at the national level, is regulation of fishing activities, government allocation of
fishery resources, and enforced protection of habitats by creating a management
authority with a mandate broad enough to manage activities throughout the coastal
zone (including both terrestrial and marine areas). Beyond the national level there
is need for effective international custodial programmes for marine areas and their
resources.
Box 1. The Doctrine of the Commons
In most countries coastal waters and their resources are considered “commons”;
that is, they are not owned by any person or agency but are common property available
equally to all citizens, with the government as “trustee”—this is an ages old public right,
jure communia, going back to the Institutes of Justinian: ‘Et quidem naturali jure
communia sunt omnium haec: aer, aqua profluens, et mare per hoc litora maris’. In
English this means: ‘By the law of nature these things are common to mankind—the air,
running water, the sea and consequently the shores of the sea’.
Further, this influential doctrine states that: ‘No one, therefore, is forbidden to
approach the seashore, provided that he respects habitations, monuments, and buildings,
which are not, like the sea, subject only to the law of nations’. And now “environment”
must be added to the “he respects” list. A primary aim of coastal conservation is to provide
for sustainable use of the resources of the Commons, a responsibility that should be shared
by all people and all levels of government. As “Trustee”, the government is empowered
to make rules for the Commons that all must obey for the public good.
Source: Clark, 1998.