DIVE PACIFIC 178 Sept-Nov 2021

How much of our oceans are
protected, and is it enough?
By Dee Harris
In the first of this series (Dive
Pacific 176, Feb/March/ April
2021) we discussed the value
of marine reserves concluding
they offer a great degree
of protection and are the
preferred route for restoring
our oceans’ health. The
definition applied for marine
reserves is simple: “total
protection from fishing and
extraction.”
Furthermore the experts
believe that somewhere
between 10% and 30% of our
planet’s waters need this level
of protection if we are to avert
destructive climate change and
wide spread extinction events.
New Zealand has 44 marine
reserves which amount to
about 12% protection of our
territorial waters. However, of
this 11.51% is located in mega
reserves in remote offshore
areas such as the Kermadec
Islands; only 0.0035% of marine
reserves are situated on New
Zealand’s coastline and these
are made of up of a series of
very small areas.
In June this year the New
Zealand government
announced plans for a raft
of changes for added marine
protection including the
creation of 18 new Marine
Protected Areas in the Hauraki
Gulf. The need for urgency was
acknowledged.
In this second article we
examine broadly how other
world nations are progressing
their efforts to protect their
oceanic responsibilities and
facing up to some of the
inherent challenges in doing so.
First a reality check: most areas
of the world’s marine reserves
- those with total protection
from fishing and extraction
-are far from common. Most
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
allow ‘multiple’ uses which
can include activities such as
fishing by local communities,
seasonal only protection, for
example during spawning,
and even deep-sea mineral
extraction.
Marine protection worldwide: a whirlwind assessment
The Americas
Let’s head first to The Americas.
It seems Marine Reserves (MRs)
in the United States make up
only 7% of all their marine
protected areas; the other 93%
are Marine Protected Areas
(MPAs). Of the total area designated
with some form of
marine protection, 94% consist
of the 937,000 km2 Papahā
naumokuākea Marine National
Monument in Hawaii.
Long-established and grandly
funded organisations such as
National Geographic, that reputedly
lead scientific expeditions
to identify ocean challenges, may
give the perception that the US
is a leader in marine protection.
That appears not the case. For
example the Trump administration
opened 128 million acres of
the Arctic and Atlantic oceans for
oil and gas drilling, although this
was countered more recently by
President Biden who, seeking to
undo the Alaskan expansion and
other sensitive areas, has called
for a halt to new oil and gas
leases. He has also committed to
what is referred to as the 30x30
plan to conserve and restore 30%
of the nation’s lands and waters
by 2030.
…The Pacific Ocean is a source of life for us.
This is our contribution not only to our own
wellbeing but also to humanity’s wellbeing…
In comparison Canada’s commitment
is made to look good
though protected areas around
its vast coastline may look to
be just spotty patches. Canada’s
Oceans Act claimed in 2019
to have achieved the international
target of 10% protection of
marine and coastal areas with
793,906 km2 or 13.81% of the
country’s marine and coastal
areas under protection, despite
markedly differing levels of
protection for each area.
In Latin America Chile has
made significant progress
in recent years to protect its
waters. Chile’s local communities
have provided support as
they have witnessed fish stocks
decline, and replaced their
reliance on them with marine
based tourism. Chile’s
model resembles New
Zealand’s where two
offshore areas: Rapa Nui
(Easter Island), and the
Juan Fernandez Islands
(Robinson Crusoe) are large
reserves with considerable
protection, but there’s only 1%
of marine reserves near the
mainland coastline.
Other South American countries
have instituted varying degrees
of protection but many are
fraught with problems including
illegal fishing, overfishing,
pollution, and an inability to
adequately enforce existing laws.
34 Dive New Zealand | Dive Pacific