Abrolhos Seascape: Brazil and Conservation International work together to form MPAs

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have shown themselves to be both effective ocean management tools and providers of economic renewal for local fisheries.  The forces that resist the establishing of an MPA are typically represented by the local fishing community as they are concerned that the no-take zones usually put in place within a marine protected area will mean reduced revenue.

Time and time again, the opposite has proven to be true.  By defining a potentially productive area fish-wise as off limits to commercial fishing, then the resident populations are given a chance to recover.  And, as fish do not recognize man-made boundaries, the inevitable spillover supplies the fishery with a catch sufficient to sustain the business.

This has happened in South America along the South Atlantic coast: the Abrolhos Seascape.  Within this region, the state of Bahia in Brazil has established two marine protected areas.  The first was the Abrolhos Marine National Park.  Over time, this park was expanded and recently the Corumbau Extractive Marine Reserve was added.  These MPAs were the end result of the efforts by the Brazilian government supported by Conservation International and other organizations.

According to Conservation International, "Through the establishment of both protected no-take zones and areas that allow fishing, the fish populations not only recovered — they thrived. And, as the fish from the no-take zones spilled over into the fishable waters, local fishermen saw an increase in their catch — nearly tripling their take of some commercially important species alone."

"This bounty not only directly improved the livelihoods of local communities, it revitalized the regional economy as well, bringing with it the expansion of services like electricity and secondary education — services to which many in the region had never before had access. These positive changes also led to new, more sustainable opportunities in tourism, now the primary source of income in the region."

The Abrolhos Seascape coral reefs and shoreline mangroves were suffering from illegal fishing and destructive aquaculture practices.  Organizations like Conservation International have the scientific and research resources to assist governments in determining both the extent of the problem and how best to deal with it.  This is the beauty of large organizations that can support and influence ocean management policy through more than just words, thereby becoming real instruments of change. 

At nearly 37,000 square miles, the Abrolhos Seascape is not the largest marine area to see mandatory protection.  There are some MPAs that are as many as 10x larger or more. But it is proving to be a very productive reserve for the marine ecosystem and the local fisheries.  Success need not be measure in big steps; little steps can make a big difference too.

Source: Conservation International       

Gulf of Maine: high rainfall from climate change alters the marine web

The Gulf of Maine runs from between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in eastern Canada, along the coast of Maine in the U.S. and down to the tip of Massachusetts.  It is not only a body of water that houses an important cold water ecosystem but it plays an important role in New England's commercial fishing.

And according to the Bigelow Laboratory for Oceans Sciences and the U.S. Geological Survey, it is changing. . . and not for the better.

A study published in the Marine Ecology Progress Series details how increasing freshwater runoff from seven years of record rainfall has sent a surge of sediment into the Gulf, generating a milky haze that is impacting the growth of phytoplankton which serves as a foundation, an ecological underpinning that is being yanked out from underneath.  Such a change will have repercussions for many years to come.

The reduced levels of phytoplankton (by as much as five-fold), which serves as a food source to larval fish and other small animals, will work its way up the food chain over time impacting a number of important Gulf species like lobster and cod. 

"You can't drop the primary production of an ecosystem by a factor of five and not have an impact on other parts of the marine food web that depend on it," said Dr. Barney Balch, Bigelow senior research scientist and lead author of the study.

In addition to the runoff, the increased river water attributed to the higher rainfall levels has suppressed deep Atlantic waters that normally bring up key nutrients for phytoplankton growth.  The sediment and other organic matter brought into the area reduces the level of light, reducing the microscopic plants' photosynthesis capability.

The final insult to the Gulf comes in the form of reduced salinity due to the incoming freshwater - aiding by incoming freshwater from melting Arctic regions - and a rise in ocean temperatures.  All of which impacts the myriad of relationships between various species that make up the complex ecosystem.

The primary instigator of this change has been identified.  Climate change.  The increases in rainfall in the region are not some anomaly or cyclical pattern but, according to the organizations behind the research, are in line with existing climate change data.  Both nature and mankind will feel the effects of this change.

According to Jake Kritzer, senior scientist and director of spatial management at Boston's Environmental Defense Fund, this study "provides one of the most compelling arguments that systematic climatic and oceanographic changes are fundamentally altering the very basis of the ocean food web, very likely beyond the capacity of assessment models trying to capture dynamics spanning many decades.  Most stock assessment models assume more or less static environmental conditions and demography of the target stocks over the years covered by the assessment. However, more and more we are learning just how tenuous that assumption might be."

In other words, estimating current and future fish populations for the sake of sustainable fishery management could become next to impossible, as an entire marine ecosystem finds itself on shaky ground.

Source: Boston Globe