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Marine Protected Areas
CONNECTIONS
Your news from the National Marine Protected Areas Center
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California Coastal National Monument Photo: BLM
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Gallery
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| Taking a virtual dive through
Papahānaumokuākea
Marine National Monument
Photo: NOAA ONMS
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MPA Federal Advisory Committee Meets With Sanctuary Advisory Councils
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| Golden Gate National Recreation Area Photo: Eric DaBreo |
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NOAA highlighted the importance of citizen input in MPA management at a January joint summit in San Francisco between the MPA Federal Advisory Committee and National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council Chairs. The two advisory groups identified emerging issues of common concern and explored ways to address them, both separately and collaboratively. Over the coming year, the MPA FAC will focus on identifying benefits and challenges facing US MPAs in a changing world, and will develop recommendations for NOAA and the Department of the Interior. Previous reports by the MPA FAC can be found here. Similarly, the Sanctuary advisory council representatives discussed examples of emerging issues, including changing oceanic and coastal conditions, recreational fishing, and visitor use in sanctuaries.
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New Video and Poster on California's MPAs
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California's Department of Fish and Wildlife has produced a new 10-minute video as an overview of the California Marine Protected Area (MPA) Network: what MPAs are, the resources they protect, and the people involved in managing them. The video includes beautiful topside as well as undersea footage, and helps explain how the California MPA Network is a world-wide model for ocean conservation. The program has also developed a new, beautiful poster (see left) of species and habitats likely to benefit from the MPA network. For copies of the poster, contact: [email protected]
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MPA Center Collaborates with AFWA on Webinar Series
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The MPA Center is working with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) to provide information on federal MPA programs to state fish and wildlife agencies -- many of whom manage state MPA programs, as well as recreational and commercial ocean uses. AFWA's Ocean Resources Policy Committee is hosting a three-part MPA webinar series. Two webinars have been held on an overview of MPAs and on NOAA's MPA programs. A summary of the Department of Interior's MPA programs will be held in February.
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CEC Publishes Rapid Vulnerability Assessment Tool in English and Spanish
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The Commission for Environmental Cooperation -- a trinational organization to promote environmental health across North America -- has published a
rapid vulnerability assessment tool for MPA managers. The tool, prepared by EcoAdapt, was created to help marine protected area managers evaluate the implications of climate change for the habitats of their sites. This tool has three parts (a
user guide, a set of blank
worksheets, and a booklet containing
sample completed worksheets) that are available as downloadable PDFs. The blank worksheets are in a dynamic PDF format so that users can easily fill, save, and share their completed worksheets.
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 The MPA Center has published an updated version of the
U.S. MPA Inventory (v. 2017), available online in various forms at the MPA Inventory webpage. The update includes new, revised and expanded site boundaries as well as updated attribute information for nearly 100 sites. The new database is available as
downloadable GIS data,
web mapping services and through an interactive
data viewer. For more information on MPA coverage and related statistics, please see
Conserving our Oceans One Place at a Time, a detailed exploration of the MPA Inventory (2017) as a tool for evaluating MPA status and trends.
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IUCN Publishes Guidance on Designing and Managing Large Scale MPAs
The IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and
Big Ocean are proud to announce the latest addition in the IUCN WCPA Best Practice Protected Areas Guidelines Series:
Large-Scale Marine Protected Areas: Guidelines for Design and Management. The guidelines are based on the experiences of large-scale MPA managers, and are targeted for anyone involved in supporting large-scale MPAs. Large-scale MPAs are Marine Protected Areas greater than 150,000 square kilometers, which are actively managed for protection across the entire geographic extent of the area. The first large-scale MPA created was the Australian Great Barrier Reef in 1975. Since then 17 large-scale MPAs have been established. Some of the most recent cover areas larger than 1 million square kilometers. Large-scale MPAs are critical to achieving marine conservation goals such as the Convention on Biological Diversity Aichi Target 11 which calls for at least 10% of marine and coastal areas to be conserved. Their size helps prevent marine decline and conserve some of the last remaining relatively undisturbed marine areas.
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NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) works closely with local communities -- and
with marine protected area (MPA) managers and agencies globally -- to protect
our most precious natural and cultural marine resources. Spanish is a predominant
language in many Sanctuary communities and is the working language of many of
our international partners. In fact, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States. With more than 45 million people using Spanish as a first or second language, the U.S. is the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world after Mexico.
To increase outreach to U.S. Spanish-speaking communities and to share our expertise and practices with our international partners, ONMS has launched a Spanish-language portal on its website, at:
https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/espanol/. This portal contains relevant information about ONMS' marine sanctuaries, programs, partners, marine conservation and education activities, as well as information about the National Marine Protected Areas
Center. Bienvenidos a los Santuarios Marinos Nacionales!
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National Marine Sanctuaries Celebrates 45 Years of Ocean Parks
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Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary Photo: Joe Hoyt, NOAA
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NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries has published a
visual timeline of key milestones to celebrate 45 years of ocean parks. In October 1972, Congress passed legislation establishing the National Marine Sanctuary Program. Today, NOAA serves as the trustee for a network of underwater parks encompassing more than 600,000 square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters. The sanctuary system works collaboratively with diverse partners and stakeholders to promote responsible, sustainable ocean uses that ensure the health of our most valued marine ecosystems and drive coastal economies.
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Webinars from the MPA Center and Partners
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The MPA Center monthly webinar series is co-sponsored by the NOAA National MPA Center,
MPA News, and the EBM Tools Network (co-coordinated by OCTO and NatureServe) and held
the second Thursday of each month from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. Eastern. The series is focused on building and strengthening MPA networks.
Feb. 8
By Carla Friedrich of UN Environment
UN Environment launched #CleanSeas in February 2017 to engage governments, the general public, civil society and the private sector in the fight against marine plastic litter. This campaign is addressing the root cause of marine litter by targeting the production and consumption of non-recoverable and single-use plastic. It is also giving a platform to hundreds of local organizations doing important work on marine litter to highlight their efforts. The campaign contributes to the goals of the Global Partnership on Marine Litter, a voluntary open-ended partnership for international agencies, governments, businesses, academia, local authorities and non-governmental organizations hosted by UN Environment. Learn more about #CleanSeas at http://cleanseas.org.
Mar. 8
By Lisamarie Carrubba of NOAA, and other speakers TBA
The Partnerships for Transboundary Protection (PTP) Program was established by NOAA's Office of Protected Resources and Office of National Marine Sanctuaries to better connect conservation efforts directed toward marine species and their habitats. Through collaborative conservation that aligns sanctuary management plans, species' recovery plans, and habitat protection, the PTP Program is working to improve internal coordination and management of threatened and endangered species and their habitats, as well as other NOAA resources such as key fishery species in sanctuaries. The PTP Program is also working on expanding collaboration with other marine protected areas and external partners in order to further support conservation and recovery of species such as whales, corals, and Nassau grouper.
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