The First International Conference on Marine Mammal Protected Areas

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marine biodiversity and ocean health, but this can only work if threats are adequately understood and if management is truly tailored to the threats. In the brave new world of ocean zoning, the focus should remain on threats, and not revert to cookie-cutter approaches to MPAs in the hope that they will solve every conservation problem. This consideration of marine mammal protection leading to broader ecological benefits provided an added value to the ICMMPA. <strong>The</strong> high seas were mentioned in various presentations on MPA design, management, legal aspects, and incorporation into networks. Representing about half of the world ocean, the high seas provide habitat for many marine mammal species, though this area, due to its distance from land, is much less studied than coastal and nearshore areas. Currently, the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas High Seas MPA Task Force, the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA) in the Mediterranean, and other regional scientific and conservation bodies are starting to use scientific criteria from the biogeographic classification system of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to identify ecologically or biologically significant areas in need of protection, with the idea of creating functioning MPA networks on the high seas. Greatly accelerated research on marine mammal critical habitat is essential for this process. Consideration is being given to making the “High Seas” the theme for the next ICMMPA conference planned for France in 2012. MPA designers, planners, and managers must continue to engage stakeholders, indigenous people, and the public through partnership, consultation, education, and outreach to build constituencies of support for MPA networks. <strong>The</strong>re is great potential for incorporating cultural practices (indigenous, historical, and modern) into planning and managing MPAs. It is important that costs and benefits be distributed fairly among stakeholders. <strong>The</strong> emphasis of the conference was on the urgent need to build marine mammal protected area (MMPA) networks. Various elements can lead to the formation of MMPA networks, including: • Legal obligations created from regional or global agreements (e.g., the Barcelona and Cartagena conventions, the CBD). • Marine mammals migrating across various jurisdictions (e.g., the Latin American cetacean network). • Requirements under national policies (e.g., New Zealand). • <strong>The</strong> need for standardized monitoring throughout the range of a species or population (e.g., U.S. national marine sanctuaries). • <strong>The</strong> desire to gather data to support a common decision (e.g., establishment of sanctuaries by the <strong>International</strong> Whaling Commission). • Critical habitat protection (e.g., 33 sites identified in Mexico). • Creating sister-MPAs to share expertise and lessons learned, and • Fulfilling the desire to connect people and institutions. ICMMPA <strong>Conference</strong> Proceedings viii
In addition to the three symposiums, six workshops focused on criteria for and mapping of critical habitat, getting stakeholders to talk to each other, exploring the role of culture in MMPA management, and creating regulations that work. A workshop and several talks were also devoted to monk seal conservation. <strong>The</strong> conference was fortunate to have a number of the world’s monk seal experts in attendance, with problems and good conservation outcomes from the Mediterranean, Madeira and Hawai‘i to present and discuss. Training sessions covered marine mammal stranding, entanglement, and health assessments, monitoring MMPAs (check-up and review), management planning, naturalist training, and the role of education in the community and on the water. <strong>The</strong> location of the conference in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was timely and appropriate. In January 2009, the United States had designated three new large MPAs in its Pacific territories, and over the previous few years, the number and size of MPAs had increased dramatically. To date, 7 of the 8 largest MPAs in the world, and 11 of the top 15, are in the Pacific. Also, the Pacific has four IUCN Category I protected areas, meaning they are among the most highly protected MPAs in the world. <strong>The</strong> Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, a co-host and the conference venue, was a pioneer MPA in the region. Partly through its efforts, and those of the collaborative international Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks (SPLASH) program and the South Pacific Whale Research Consortium (SPWRC), contributed to the impetus for the conference and for the idea of solidifying and improving nascent networks in the Pacific. Key recommendations and conclusions that emerged from the conference were as follows: • An urgent worldwide effort must be made to identify and define important marine mammal habitats and “hot-spots.” This information must be mapped with other species and eco-geographic data to assist in the design and creation of MPA networks in national waters and on the high seas, working through national governments as well as various regional and international fora. Critical habitat is not defined simply as an area of high animal density. Less densely occupied areas may be more critical to survival, depending on behavior and population/stock structure, and whether threats in these areas have an impact on the population. <strong>The</strong>refore, not only critical habitat, but also threats and human activities, must be mapped. • Global databases covering environmental features, ocean processes, and species may help identify critical habitat and contribute to the design of MPAs and MPA networks, but such databases need to be “ground-truthed” against more local data and/or through expert bodies using, for example, a Delphic process (an expert-driven process to arrive at draft MPA boundaries and design). • Threats to species and habitat may occur outside of an MPA, so it is important to look “outside the box.” It may be possible for MMPA networks to act as ICMMPA <strong>Conference</strong> Proceedings ix
Page 1 and 2: ProCeedingS oF tHe FirSt internAtio
Page 3: PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST INTERNATIO
Page 6 and 7: Workshop 6: Creating Regulations th
Page 10 and 11: catalysts, partners, or support sys
Page 12 and 13: Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale Nat
Page 15 and 16: Symposium 1: Designing MPAs and MPA
Page 17 and 18: networks in the public eye, on the
Page 19 and 20: Protected Area of Mediterranean Imp
Page 21 and 22: Mia dolphins, dugongs, and loggerhe
Page 23 and 24: Symposium 2: Managing MMPAs Moderat
Page 25 and 26: The following sugg
Page 27 and 28: • The importance
Page 29 and 30: have been that MPA managers lack ex
Page 31 and 32: capacity building in order to addre
Page 33 and 34: of a cargo vessel (M/V Dunlin Arrow
Page 35 and 36: Symposium 3: Networking for the Fut
Page 37 and 38: spatial extent of such “habitat
Page 39 and 40: Panel 1: Marine Mammal Research wit
Page 41 and 42: used to study smaller-scale habitat
Page 43 and 44: ehavior and cultural trait consider
Page 45 and 46: Bryde’s whales in Southeast Brazi
Page 47 and 48: Ocean-wide, international, collabor
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Page 51 and 52: sanctuaries would benefit from care
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Page 55 and 56: Summaries of Presentations: Ship st
Page 57 and 58: How to deal with temporally and spa
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• There is a nee
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A key question is: Are time/area cl
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• Clear guidelines and standards
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• Direct greater attention to the
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Improving MPAs and MPA networks - a
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such as the following: (1) responsi
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Summary of Findings: Protected area
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This case study follows a familiar
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• Protect whole communities of or
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Summary Points from Presentations:
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Critical habitat designations under
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• Important issues for possible M
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Workshop 2: Criteria for Marine Mam
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Building networks of MPAs Colleen C
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or biological productivity. A great
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Workshop 3: Getting Stakeholders to
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promise by Queen Victoria surfaced
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Postponement of MPA adoption has cr
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� Clarify errors and misunderstan
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plans and strategies. The</
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networking, often still used among
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Workshop 5: MMPAs and MMPA Networks
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Workshop 6: Creating Regulations th
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Appendix 1. List of Training Sessio
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Appendix 3. List of Marine Mammal P
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Australia Petrachenko, Donna <stron
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Chile Cabrera, Elsa Centro de Conse
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Indonesia Himawan, Haryadi Secretar
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New Zealand Slooten, Elisabeth Asso
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Taiwan Lee, Jeng-Di Assistant Profe
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United States Barr, Bradley NOAA Of
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United States Cottingham, David NOA
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United States Hatch, Leila Marine E
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United States Kosaki, Randall Deput
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United States Moran, Patrick Foreig
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United States Roberts, Eric MPS Pro
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United States Uravitch, Joseph Dire
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Members of the Steering Committee B
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For More inForMAtion: Visit the con
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The First International Conference on Marine Mammal Protected Areas

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