Measuring MPAs in Continental North America: How Well Protected Are the Ocean Estates of Canada, Mexico, and the USA?

Abstract

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a well-established conservation strategy, employed around the world to protect important marine species and ecosystems and support the recovery of declining populations. The continental waters of North America contain remarkable biodiversity, but many species face increasing pressure from overexploitation, climate change, and other anthropogenic impacts. Canada, Mexico, and the USA have pledged to protect at least 10% of their marine and coastal waters by 2020 as signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and have made efforts to establish MPAs. These MPAs vary widely in terms of levels of protection and designation processes; information that is not reflected in official statistics. To this end, we critically examined progress toward the CBD target for marine protection in continental North American waters to determine how well ocean ecosystems are protected by MPAs. We reviewed government data to determine whether MPAs met four criteria: legal designation, permanence, presence of an administrative structure, and a completed management plan. Sites that met all four criteria were categorized as "implemented." Any sites that failed to meet one or more criterion were considered "incompletely implemented" and excluded from the analysis. We also calculated the amount of "fully-protected" MPAs in which all extractive uses are prohibited. We found that <1% of North America's continental ocean is protected, and only 0.04% is fully-protected. Canada has the least area protected with just 0.11% in implemented MPAs, and 0.01% in fully-protected MPAs. Mexico and the USA have 1.62 and 1.29% in implemented MPAs, and 0.11 and 0.03% in fully-protected MPAs, respectively. Results show that many North American MPAs are incompletely implemented and therefore currently fail to provide adequate protection. The inclusion of such sites in official government statistics can inflate the perception of how much, and how well, the ocean is protected. We outline some of the major challenges to MPA establishment in each country and offer recommendations to increase the number and effectiveness of MPAs in North America.

A coherent, representative, and bioregional marine reserve network shows consistent change in rocky reef fish assemblages

“…In response to the documented and perceived degradation of the marine environment (Lotze et al 2006, 2018, Halpern et al 2008), most countries around the world are implementing a range of management actions to protect and conserve the biological diversity and social values of these ecosystems (Crain et al 2009, Spalding et al 2013, Long et al 2015). One of the major approaches to conservation management has been the use of marine reserves (Fenberg et al 2012, Ballantine 2014, Jessen et al 2017). Signatories to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity 1992 (CBD) committed to developing nationally representative systems of marine reserves (specifically referred to as protected areas; Toropova et al 2010), with each nation aiming to protect at least 10% of their coastal waters by 2012 (Spalding et al 2008).…”

“…Several countries have, however, developed representative systems of marine reserves over large sections of their coastlines (e.g., Australia, USA, New Zealand, Mexico, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Philippines; Lowry et al 2009, Fenberg et al 2012, Horigue et al 2012, Gleason et al 2013, Ballantine 2014, Batista and Cabral 2016, Fitzsimons and Wescott 2016, Jessen et al 2017). Recently, the importance of coherence of marine reserve networks within and among jurisdictions has been highlighted (Gleason et al 2013, Johnson et al 2014, Batista and Cabral 2016).…”

A generic framework to assess the representation and protection of benthic ecosystems in European marine protected areas

“…Although this mismatch could sometimes relate to a sparsity of data on the distribution of species and habitats of conservation concern, the selection process for MPAs can sometimes be based on nonecological factors. For example, these might concentrate on protecting areas defined, a priori, by criteria that are mainly linked to local socio-economic needs (Ruiz-Frau et al, 2015), established in remote areas with limited human activities (Jessen et al, 2017), to protect large areas for mobile marine mammals or to secure the stock of commercially harvested species (Lutchman, Brown, & Kettunen, 2008). As well as the location and the ecosystem components of the MPA, consideration of the adequate size is also important during MPA delineation (Edgar et al, 2014), particularly when creating zones within an MPA with different degrees of protection (Claudet et al, 2008).…”

“…These initiatives, however, did not differentiate between the various biological components under the protection of the MPA, especially the benthic components. Furthermore, although area targets on the whole are likely to be met by 2020, many MPAs are generally not considered to be representative, adequate, or well managed (Amengual & Alvarez-Berastegui, 2018;Jessen et al, 2017;Solandt, 2018). Consequently, scientific questions remain with regards to the evaluation and effectiveness of MPAs operating around the world, especially with regard to the benthos.…”

“…Therefore, an MPA that uses zonal management measures as protection from physical anthropogenic pressures, such as benthic trawling or anchoring, may have limited benefits. These may prevent further local degradation of the benthos of interest but may not secure the maintenance and recovery of wider populations (Jessen et al, 2017).…”