Implementing marine reserve networks: A comparison of approaches in New South Wales (Australia) and New Zealand

Conservation benefits of a network of marine reserves and partially protected areas

“…precludes detection of overall MR effects using the current experimental design, importantly, it also means that the areas chosen as MRs are protecting a broad array of habitats and biotic communities capturing the broadscale biodiversity of the shallow rocky reefs in the region. Protecting a comprehensive and representative selection of biodiversity in MRs was a key goal of MPAs in NSW and globally (Kelleher, 1999;Banks and Skilleter, 2009). The large spatial and temporal variability in fish, invertebrate and algal abundances among sites is also not surprising given that the time period over which we sampled (5 years since MR operation) is very early in terms of putative recovery of many species.…”

“…Even if desired, it was not possible to establish a temporally-replicated BACI-style experimental design in this situation because there was insufficient time to collect the inter-annual pre-establishment data for the Batemans Marine Park. This is because there was only around 14 months between the declaration of the Park and the implementation of the zoning plan (Banks and Skilleter, 2009). Most of this period was taken up with planning and public consultation, leaving only a few months between when the locations of the MRs were finalized and the zoning plan coming into effect.…”

Understanding leadership in the environmental sciences

“…The range of factors that reportedly work in combination with leadership is too varied to note here, but they include social capital, defined rights, participatory processes, and regulatory tools. In particular, the roles of institutions , social networks , Bodin and Crona 2008, and links to political leadership (Olsson et al 2008, Banks and Skilleter 2010 Biggs (2008:54) concludes that giving "privileged attention to one or two people overlooks the importance of other actors on the playing field (who may or may not be seen) at the time." Understanding leadership in context is important and reflects more contemporary research in leadership studies.…”

Fragmented governance: Reconciling legal strategies for shark conservation and management

“…20 The CBD takes a holistic ecosystem-based approach, incorporating integrated and adaptive management techniques and rigorous scientific methodologies. There is a large body of literature supporting the efficacy of a marine protected area (MPA) to conserve fish stocks [16,19,20].…”

“…20 The CBD takes a holistic ecosystem-based approach, incorporating integrated and adaptive management techniques and rigorous scientific methodologies. There is a large body of literature supporting the efficacy of a marine protected area (MPA) to conserve fish stocks [16,19,20]. It is suggested that this mechanism may be the most suitable in part because it is easier to restrict access than to control the size of catch [19], and this dimension would be particularly relevant to addressing bycatch issues [14].…”