A guide for planners and managers - IUCN

PART III
Case Histories of Marine Protected Areas
government funding by the NRCA for the Park has been reduced by 50% over each
of the last 3 years (1997/US$65K, 1998/US$36K, 1999/US$11K). This is putting
pressure on the Park to focus its limited resources on fund-raising at the expense of
other Park programmes. In 1998 other sources of income included $US180K from
grants and the National Parks Trust Fund (primarily for staff salaries), $US184K from
USAID (primarily for hardware and consultants, only $US15K for salaries), $US21K
from donations and gift shop sales, and $US21K from in-kind contributions. The
collection of voluntary user fees (i.e., not government imposed or regulated) from park
commercial operators will be the next phase of the revenue generation programme.
Local needs for management
Local needs for management are identified and addressed through ReefFix (Jameson and
Williams, 1999), a specially designed watershed management and coral reef restoration
programme designed to implement the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI)
Framework for Action in the Tropical Americas (Woodley, 1995). ReefFix is also the
implementation phase of the COral reef COasts in MOntego Bay (COCOMO) integrated
coastal zone management decision support modeling programme (Huber and Jameson,
1999b). Improving water quality is the top management priority for the Park and
COCOMO shows that a distant sewage outfall is the least-cost solution (Gustavson,
1999).
Unfortunately, the new Montego Bay sewage treatment plant, that will soon go
on-line, will discharge nutrient rich secondary treated effluent into the Park. Park
leadership is working to convince government officials of the need for an outfall beyond
the reef for this effluent or to cycle it through artificial wetlands for nutrient removal
before discharging it into the Park. Restoring fish and sea urchin populations are also
important objectives. To accomplish this a new Park zoning plan has been designed
(see Figure III-11) and alternative income programmes for fishermen as well as fish
restoration programmes have been created and are awaiting funding. Other ongoing
and upcoming Park “soft interventions” to address local needs for management, as
well as interventions involving public-private partnerships to prevent and manage water
pollution are outlined in Jameson and Williams (1999) and Huber and Jameson
(1999a) respectively.
Caught in the Poverty Cycle
Implementing the necessary management measures to ensure a healthy coral reef
ecosystem will not be quick or easy. In about five years, 60% of the population in Jamaica
will reside in urban areas, such as Montego Bay, and a third will be located in
informal settlements not served by adequate household waste disposal. Only 25% of
the country’s households are connected to sewer systems, and even where such
connections exist, wastewater treatment is inadequate. The lack of a comprehensive
waste management policy and clear lines of government responsibility delay
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