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Marine Protected Areas
CONNECTIONS
Your news from the National Marine Protected Areas Center
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Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Lake Michigan
Steve Perry
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Gallery
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| Bearded seal on Arctic ice
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MPA Center, NPS Oceans Launch New Websites
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| | Red-footed Booby at Palmyra Atoll NWR
Photo: Laura M. Beauregard, USFWS |
The Marine Protected Areas Center has launched a new website! This visually appealing website is user-friendly, interactive and informative, with all the information that you need to stay informed or learn about MPAs and MPA networks. And speaking of MPAs, the National Park Service has created a new website for its 88 ocean parks.
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MPA Federal Advisory Committee Adopts "Guiding Principles" for Arctic MPAs
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The Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee --
a stakeholder committee that advises the Departments of Commerce and the Interior -- has adopted "guiding principles" for Arctic MPas and MPA networks. The principles were developed by the MPA FAC's Arctic Marine Protected Areas Working Group, a group representing diverse Arctic interests, which has worked over the past year to address how MPAs and MPA networks should be approached in the Arctic. The MPA FAC was asked to undertake this work in light of the U.S. chairmanship of the Arctic Council and the Council's recognition of MPA networks as an important tool for protecting healthy ecosystems and the social, economic, and cultural benefits they provide to local communities.
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NOAA's Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Proposes Expansion
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| | Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) in Flower Garden Banks NMS |
NOAA's Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is proposing to expand its boundaries to protect areas of national significance off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. Building on more than 30 years of studies and numerous reports released in the last decade calling for additional protections, NOAA is proposing to add 15 additional banks, ranging from 70 to 120 miles offshore, that are comprised of approximately 383 square miles of reefs and bottom features that provide habitat for fish and other biological resources that serve as engines of sustainability for much of the Gulf of Mexico. Currently Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary protects only three among dozens of reefs and banks scattered along the edge of the continental shelf of the northern Gulf of Mexico. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) proposes expanding the network of protected areas within FGBNMS by incorporating additional nationally significant reefs and banks in the north central Gulf of Mexico. NOAA is also proposing to extend the existing protections of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary to these additional areas to limit the impact of bottom-disturbing activities on their sensitive biological resources and geological features.
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Connecticut Begins Site Selection for Long Island Sound Estuarine Reserve
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 The State of Connecticut and NOAA have begun the process to identify and designate a National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) in Long Island Sound. The effort officially began with a public kick-off meeting on April 12, 2016 and an organizational meeting for the Site Selection Team on May 18th, 2016. The NERR System is a network of 28 coastal areas designated to protect and study estuarine systems.
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Tools and Resources for Blue Carbon
The EBM Tools Network recently tackled a question about what tools are currently available for quantifying blue carbon -- the carbon stored in coastal habitats, particularly mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses. Network members provided many suggestions for getting started with blue carbon projects which are available here. |
Nautilus Explores National Marine Sanctuaries
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| | The E/V Nautilus Photo: Ocean Networks Canada |
This summer, the Ocean Exploration Trust is partnering with the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research to explore the deep waters of the west coast National Marine Sanctuaries. Exploration Vessel Nautilus, equipped with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) Hercules and Argus, and its satellite telepresence system, is specially equipped for telepresence-enabled deep sea exploration. The public can watch and interact with explorers at sea on Nautilus Live, which streams live video from the ship and seafloor 24 hours/day. Scientists who wish to participate in these cruises can register to become a Scientist Ashore. This work will also help inform future scientific research and outreach efforts.
On June 3, Nautilus explored Quinault Canyon located within the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary to investigate seafloor habitat characterization. The Central California cruise (June 22 to July 2) included dives in Davidson Seamount and Partington Canyon in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Both dives focused on characterizing biological communities and their relationship with the underlying geology in each region. From July 3 to 21, Nautilus is exploring the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. This cruise is focusing on the habitats of deep sea corals, fish, sponges, and other organisms, to better understand the ecosystems in which they live, as well as geological observations. Exploration of the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (August 18-28) will characterize and map key resources, including shipwrecks, deep sea corals and sponges.
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| | | Facilitators and participants provide feedback and suggestions to teams on how to address challenges related to sustainable tourism plans. Photo: G. Johnson | |
Countries across the Coral Triangle Region are focusing on increasing tourism, especially in their marine areas. To help support a sustainable approach to tourism, NOAA's International MPA Capacity Building Team (IMPACT) has been providing technical assistance to local MPA staff and stakeholders. In May, Indonesia's MPA Capacity Building Program completed a second workshop on the topic for 10 MPAs. Each MPA team presented their successes and challenges, followed by a session focused on developing solutions. In addition, each team developed a set of best practice guidelines specific to their site, and the start of a draft tourism plan. Follow-up activities in the coming months include addressing specific issues identified in their plans. IMPACT has been supporting sustainable tourism as part of an overall capacity building program for the Coral Triangle Region for several years, including through the Coral Triangle Sustainable Marine Tourism Conference in Bali in 2015. These initiatives are closely linked and build on lessons learned from national marine sanctuaries and other MPAs in the US and around the world.
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Marine protected area staff from 12 Caribbean countries and territories gathered in Canc�n, Mexico in March 2016 for a regional peer-to-peer workshop on outreach, education, and communication strategies to enhance support for coral reef conservation and the sustainable use of marine resources. Effective strategic communication is a core component of marine park managers' daily activities, which see them interacting with a wide range of stakeholders. The week's activities were tailored to provide hands-on
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| | Photo: P. Etienne, TIDE Belize |
experience with identifying their audience, formulating clear, targeted messages, and interacting with the media. The program included training in speaking with the media, role play scenarios based on regional marine protected area case studies, and learning about successful youth education programs. Excerpts from the training can be seen here. Organized by the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute, the activity was made possible with support from NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program, and had expert participation from The Nature Conservancy, Sustainable Grenadines Inc., the Grenada Broadcasting Network, and others. The activity is part of NOAA's international strategy to work with regional initiatives to develop and implement long-term MPA capacity building programs based on capacity assessments.
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Sixth Annual Meeting of the Grenadines Network of MPAs
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Originally established in 2011 with support through NOAA, in June 2016 the Grenadines Network of MPAs marked its sixth annual meeting. Held in conjunction with World Oceans Day, staff from MPAs and associated organizations from Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines met in Carriacou to strengthen coral reef management and promote the sustainable use of the ocean. This year the
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| | | Photo: A. Garcia Rodriguez | |
meeting examined the pros, cons and opportunities
associated with coral restoration work and assessed these against local MPA management priorities. Representatives from the governments of Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines participated in the meeting, along with the St. Vincent National Parks, Rivers and Beaches Authority and St. Georges' University. Observers from the United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Development Programme, non-government organizations, the private sector, and from a neighboring MPA in Saint Lucia also took part.
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In case you missed it, you can now watch sessions held at this year's Capitol Hill Ocean Week. This includes videos of panels and speakers who took part in the three-day event. You can also see OceansLIVE interviews here -- up close interviews on topics ranging from ocean acidification and lionfish invasions to using visuals in media to inspire conservation.
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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 MPA News, OpenChannels.org, and the EBM Tools Network 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.
Takeaways from the 13th International Coral Reef Symposium - This webinar was presented on July 14th by
Paulo Maurin, NOAA Coral Program, Hawaii Management Liaison and Bob Richmond, Kewalo Marine Laboratory Director, and ICRS Meeting Organizer. The archived presentation can be accessed here.
Oct. 4
By Lauren Wenzel, Director NOAA National Marine Protected Areas Center; Carl Gustaf Lundin, Director, IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme; and, Dan Laffoley, IUCN Principal Advisor, Marine Science and Conservation for the Global Marine and Polar Programme, and Marine Vice Chair for the World Commission on Protected Areas.
Nov. 10
By Steven L. Yaffee, PhD School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan
Whether you are a stakeholder, facilitator, agency official, or student, this tool can help you understand and facilitate real-world public decision making processes. Using multimedia examples drawn from the California Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, the tool enables users to explore strategies for facilitating the different stages of collaborative decision making. This tool was created to help a variety of users expand their expertise and increase their understanding of facilitation strategies, challenges, and steps in a collaborative process.
Dec. 1
By Mi Ae Kim, Foreign Affairs Specialist, Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection, NMFS
Dec. 8
Demonstrating Relevance: Applying Lessons on Management Effectiveness at Grays Reef National Marine Sanctuary
By Sarah Fangman, Superintendent Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, NOAA
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Today's technology allows us to step into nature in unobtrusive ways and observe wildlife and habitat when we cannot get away to the great outdoors. See this live cam of the puffin loafing ledge on Seal Island, Maine, that also enables viewers to participate in a citizen science project. Researchers estimate that the in-kind contributions of more than a million citizen-science volunteers to biodiversity research alone has had an economic value of up to $2.5 billion per year. For more information on citizen science, and a toolkit, click here. For more wildlife cams, click here:
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