MPA Symposium - Zoological Society of London

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MARINE PROTECTED AREAS ON THE HIGH SEAS AN INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM HELD AT ZSL ON 3 AND 4 FEBRUARY 2011 ABSTRACTS OF TALKS 9.15–9.30 Welcome from Tim Blackburn Director, Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London SESSION I: DO MPAs WORK? (PROGRESS TOWARDS 2012 GOALS and the STATE OF PROGRESS ON HIGH SEAS MPAs) Chair: Kirsty Kemp (Institute of Zoology, ZSL) 9.30–9.55 The need for High Sea Marine Protected Areas Alex D. Rogers, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, UK The oceans have a mean depth of 3800m and comprise 90% of the Earth’s biosphere, the majority of which is constituted by the high seas. This region includes the water column and seabed and hosts a startling variety of ecosystems, a high diversity of species and plays a pivotal role in the Earth system. At present, the high seas are governed through a principle of mare liberum or freedom of the seas. However, the dramatic increase in human activities exploiting the resources of the high seas or impacting on them has rendered this concept a recipe for uncontrolled destruction of the natural capitol of our oceans. Moreover, the variety of human activities now taking place in our seas will inevitably force us to adopt marine spatial planning not only within the exclusive economic zones of states but beyond them, in the high seas. It is essential that marine protected areas form a key part of such efforts to manage activities on the high seas. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has resulted in management of some activities in the oceans. Mining, for example, is managed by the International Seabed Authority, whilst fishing, in many areas of the high seas is managed with varying degrees of success by Regional Fisheries Management Organisations. However, conventional forms of management are often either focused upon the biotic resource being exploited (target species) or has a narrow regional focus. Such forms of management allow the degradation of diversity at a variety of levels and will inevitably end in the extinction of species and loss of goods and services to humankind. Marine protected areas can protect the wider diversity of marine ecosystems including by-catch species from fishing and important biophysical structure in the oceans critical for ecosystem integrity. They can allow the rebuilding of fish stocks with associated overspill and improved recruitment to the surrounding ecosystem and act as an important insurance mechanism when management fails. Science must now address important questions as to how to maximise the conservation and economic benefits of networks of high seas marine protected areas whilst fitting them into a broader context of ocean management. Politicians, lawyers and managers must work towards filling the legislative gaps that currently prevent the adoption of a holistic approach to sustainable management of ecosystems beyond national jurisdiction. For further information, please contact: Publications and Meetings, ZSL, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4RY, UK. anne.braae@zsl.org
MARINE PROTECTED AREAS ON THE HIGH SEAS AN INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM HELD AT ZSL ON 3 AND 4 FEBRUARY 2011 ABSTRACTS OF TALKS 9.55–10.20 Progress with global ocean protection Dan Laffoley, Senior Advisor, Marine Science and Conservation, IUCN, and Marine Vice Chair, IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas UK In recent decades many countries have signed up to targets for the protection and management of the world’s ocean. This is at a global scale, through such fora and agreements as the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Convention on Biological Diversity. A number of regional targets have also been created within this context by country leaders working together, such as in the coral triangle in the Far East and the Caribbean. At the same time there has been a growing recognition of the need to focus attention on areas beyond national jurisdictions, as the footprint of human impacts moves ever further from the coast into deeper waters in search of resources. In recent years a significant scale-up of activity has occurred to secure protection for the High Seas. This presentation will provide an introductory context and overview to the symposium, by considering progress against global ocean protection targets. It will explain the current achievements, the amount of ocean now within MPAs, as well as identifying challenges for the future. This will include an understanding of significant moves by some countries to scale-up the level of protection provided, perhaps 100 fold, through the identification of large MPAs that are often fully no-take, where extraction of living resources is prohibited. The presentation will also touch on some of the new guidance and mechanisms that are being employed to attract greater attention to ocean protection, and to engage a greater understanding in policy advisors and decision makers of the need for urgent action. 10.20–10.45 Quantifying the impact of the almost complete cessation of commercial fishing on the Piscean population of the northern North Sea during World War II Doug Beare, Wageningen IMARES, Netherlands Understanding the mechanisms via which commercial fishing pressures, management regimes and environmental changes interact with the ecology of wild fish populations is a key question for fisheries management science. Such questions are, however, difficult to address using recent time-series datasets, say 1950 to the present, because fishing pressure was sustained and ubiquitous during that period. The only reliable way to separate the effect of fishing from that of the environment would be to set up huge 'designed experiments' in which different marine regions were subjected to different 'treatments'. Manipulation of such large ecosystems is , however, probably impossible. An 'experiment' did, however, occur in the North Sea during World War II (WWII) when commercial fishing ceased almost completely. Using scientific trawl survey data collected before and after the WWII, I will show how the Piscean population (agestructure, size structure, diversity, species richness) reacted to this sudden change in exploitation. I will also comment on the lessons these observations can teach us in the context of Marine Protected Areas. 10.45–11.15 POSTER SESSION (TEA/COFFEE) For further information, please contact: Publications and Meetings, ZSL, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4RY, UK. anne.braae@zsl.org
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MPA Symposium - Zoological Society of London

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