You can choose your relatives: Building marine protected area networks from sister sites

Abstract

The world's oceans are often perceived as barriers that separate countries. To counter these divisions and improve protection of ocean resources, marine protected area (MPA) managers have formed alliances that bridge jurisdictional boundaries to share strategies and resources with other protected areas. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries has embraced this sister site approach to connect MPA management based on ecological and cultural links. Designed to strengthen the management of ecologically and culturally connected areas, these relationships between protected areas serve as catalysts for effective stewardship of the ocean's biological resources and show the important benefits of transnational cooperation. This paper summarizes the lessons from over a decade of sister site partnerships, including case studies from Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and four sites in the Caribbean working together to protect a shared population of humpback whales; the Gulf of Mexico Sister Site Network being developed by the USA, Mexico, and Cuba; Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and Rapa Nui in Chile; and broader collaboration among MPAs in the USA and Chile on the Pacific coast.

In Situ Measurements of Circulation Features Influencing Cross‐Shelf Transport Around Northwest Cuba

“…In November 2015, the United States and Cuba signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for marine protected areas (MPAs) conservation and management between the Parque Nacional Guanahacabibes in Cuba and the Florida Keys and Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuaries in the United States. This MOU paralleled The Gulf of Mexico Large Marine Ecosystem, a binational effort between the United States, represented by NOAA, and Mexico (Wenzel et al, 2019). These trinational efforts acknowledge the fact that marine sanctuaries along the Loop Current (LC) system are connected by the ocean circulation, independently from national boundaries.…”

A decade of humpback whale abundance estimates at Bermuda, an oceanic migratory stopover site

“…These results are timely, given the recent announcement of a draft Blue Economy Strategy for Bermuda (Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme, 2021) and the lack of specific protection afforded to humpback whales in these waters. The declaration of Bermuda's exclusive economic zone as a Marine Mammal Sanctuary in 2012 formed part of a transboundary network of 'protected areas' (Wenzel et al, 2019) but provided no management measures (NOAA and Government of Bermuda, 2012); the inclusion of humpback whales in Bermuda's Protected Species Act of 2003 broadly prohibits disturbance, harassment and injury (Government of Bermuda, 2003;Government of Bermuda, 2016); and existing whale-watching guidelines are voluntary (Department of Environment and Natural Resources, 2017). Moreover, around Bermuda and the wider Sargasso Sea, anthropogenic activity, particularly large vessel traffic, has increased in recent years and this growth is forecast to continue (Roberts, 2011;Halpern et al, 2015 Abundance estimates can be combined with current acoustic monitoring (Homfeldt et al, 2022) and behavioral observation to provide evidence of spatiotemporal patterns in habitat use to guide specific policies (Minton et al, 2011;Rossi-Santos, 2015;Stepanuk et al, 2021).…”

Coral Reefs in the Gulf of Mexico Large Marine Ecosystem: Conservation Status, Challenges, and Opportunities

“…Recognizing the strong biophysical, and economic connectivity within the GoM, the US executed conservation agreements with Mexico (in 2012), and Cuba (in 2015) to collaborate in the creation of an international network of MPAs to conserve CR resources. This initiative was one of the first formal intergovernmental cooperative plans that came from the normalization of relations between the US, and Cuba (Wenzel et al, 2019), yielding the 2015 Memorandum of Understanding between Cuba's Ministry of Science Technology and Environment, and the US NOAA, allowing scientific, and management cooperation between their MPAs (NOAA, 2015).…”