Wednesday 29 February 2012

Very large protected areas... and paper parks? Suggested read.

Marine Conservation News: Protecting the Pacific Marine Monuments: In 2009, President George W. Bush designated three marine monuments in the central Pacific - totaling over 193,000 square miles...

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A couple of weeks ago I did a seminar presentation (group..) on very large protected areas and the benefits and drawbacks of them. Generally, they are great, they cover a very large area and have the ability to protect as much life as possible. Key drawback? Paper parks. I'm not saying that all vLPAs are 'paper parks' but maybe there is a large degree of "hey, we'll stick this here, it'll look good, people'll like us and voila!"

Under the Bush administration he set to protect a fair few marine habitats (classifying them as marine national monuments). Fine on paper and looks great from a political viewpoint but if there is a lack of compliance amongst stakeholders/people involved then any rules or regulations set for these MNMs are not going to be instigated. For example, the blog post I have just linked you to is from the Marine Conservation Institute stating that despite three years passing since the designation of three MNMs, fishing is still not prohibited and the Coastal Guard will not enforce it.

Sort it out!

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