Monday, May 28, 2018

29/05/2018: Building relationships between Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and aquaculture

by Thierry Chopin, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, Canada and panelist in Session 3 - Monaco Blue Initiative 2018

In Canada, it is becoming apparent that the wonderful, land-based, National Parks of the 19th and 20th centuries are sometimes not large enough, and are especially lacking buffer and transition zones and corridors for migratory populations.
 


We need to transfer this management knowledge to the marine environment. A mosaic of little MPAs will not be the solution.

Experiences from several parts of the world involving MAPs and aquaculture were given at the recent Monaco Blue Initiative 2018 held in Edinburgh, Scotland. Panelists in Session 3 on MPAs and Aquaculture touched on the following:

• Paul Tett, Coordinator of the European project AQUASPACE, Scottish Association for Marine Science, mentioned that in Scotland marine spatial planning, zoning and interactions between aquaculture and MPAs are regulated by law and gave the example of Loch Creran where salmon, mussel and oyster farming are taking place along recreational and commercial boating and the designation of a MPA.

• Rory Moore, Project Manager, Blue Marine Foundation, gave the example of Chile, where salmon aquaculture and nature conservation are experiencing difficulties finding common ground, whereas, in the Caspian Sea, aquaculture has been crucial for the protection of sturgeon.

• Kitty Brayne, United Kingdom Conservation Programme Manager of Blue Ventures, reported on two beneficial cases for both the ecosystems and local populations: the cultivation of seaweeds in Indonesia and of sea cucumbers in Madagascar.

• Iain Pollard, Standards Coordinator, Aquaculture Stewardship Council, reported on the successful certification of salmon aquaculture operations in southern Ireland, which, by controlling the quantity and the quality of the feed used, were having an acceptable environmental impact.

No to ‘no touch zones’
As the Scientific Director of the Canadian Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture Network, and having just returned from a trip to Brazil to establish a cooperation with Janaina Mitsue Kimpara - who was a panelist during the 7th MBI in São Paulo in 2016 – I was struck by the fact that MPAs in the western world are still largely based on a principle that excludes other activities and are pretty much “no touch zones”.

In Brazil, and other developing countries, there is more an adoption of the IUCN approach with seven types of reserves, of which types V and VI allow some activities; they are the Reserva Extrativista Marinha.


Read the full article, HERE.

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