The First International Conference on Marine Mammal Protected Areas

Symposium 3: Networking for the Future of MMPAs and MMPA
Networks
Moderator: Tundi Agardy
Key <strong>The</strong>me: MMPA Networks and beyond – new and visionary approaches
Summaries of Presentations:
Passing MPAs and MPA networks on the way to a brave new world
Tundi Agardy
Marine protected areas have been used in some form or another for centuries to address
marine conservation issues. Unfortunately, the vast majority of MPAs are too small,
overly simplistic, opportunistic in their design, ineffective in addressing some of the
most serious threats, and too concentrated on protecting near-shore biomes and sessile
species. Fishery management has failed frequently and spectacularly, high-seas issues are
becoming ever more pressing, and coastal zone management has proven incapable of
addressing threats from afar and of linking effectively with marine management. We are
now at a turning point, however, where piecemeal attempts at saving species, recovering
depleted populations, and protecting fragments of habitat are abandoned in favor of
more holistic and integrated approaches. Tackling ocean issues at ocean basin or large
marine ecosystem levels allows us to practice management at appropriate, ecosystem
scales. MPAs and MPA networks are important tools for achieving this large-scale
management, but they are strategic mechanisms, as opposed to ends in themselves.
Networks can enable the incorporation of ecological linkages and connect people and
institutions in ways that discrete MPAs cannot, and they can take advantage of
economies of scale.
A rational approach to conserving and even restoring marine mammal populations is to
use strictly protected areas to safeguard critical habitats such as feeding areas, breeding
areas, and calving or pupping grounds. But since these areas are often separated by
hundreds of kilometers, conservationists must also concern themselves with the areas
between critical habitats. Identifying and then protecting migration corridors is one
technique to ensure that the links between the critical habitats remain unbroken.
Another is to think more broadly about the context in which these discrete islands of
protection are situated. Region-scale spatial management, using comprehensive ocean
zoning, can help address threats throughout an animal’s home range. Considering suites
of species, instead of single threatened species individually, may lead to greater precision
in determining what needs to be protected and provide a stronger rationale for needed
management measures.
Some marine mammals can be viewed as umbrella species. Conservation measures aimed
at mitigating threats to such species are expected to result in protection for whole
communities of organisms, and indeed whole ecosystems. In light of this, investments in
the conservation of marine mammals would represent investments in the preservation of
marine biodiversity and maintenance of ocean health. But this can only be true if the
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