Marine Parks - moderator sets the scene

Once and for all, I have to admit it that there is something I love as much as my 10-year long scuba diving experiences…well, it is my “fish and chips”! It would be laughable if there weren’t probably hundreds of thousand people sharing my pathetic schizophrenia. Recently, professional indulgence and aquatic inclination allowed me to observe declining ecosystems along the Mexican and Filipino coastlines. Despite contrasted socio-economic contexts, a common and disturbing feature emerged from these observations: the overall fatality of an already written inevitable collapse. I’m not talking about climate change here; no, I’m talking about the political, economic and social forces at work, sealing the fate of local marine environments. In both places, scientists, activists or public servants do their best to prevent the ineluctable end. Marine Parks have been created, legislations are in place, education and mitigation programs are implemented. Nevertheless, these ecosystems are declining.

Why is it so? Can we do better? Is there a bright future for Green Turtles? These questions and many more will certainly stimulate our new RMAP Argument: Marine Parks…a Waste of Space? Three experts will give their contrasted opinions on the matter. I cannot resist sharing with you abstracts of their provocative statements:

 “No, Marine Parks alone will not solve the critical issue of over-fishing - but they are a very good start.  Fully-protected Marine Parks are now viewed as a key tool to help reverse widespread over-fishing and habitat disturbance.  The declining state of the oceans and the collapse of many fisheries have created a critical need for more effective management of marine biodiversity, populations of exploited species and the overall health of the oceans.  There is now widespread, international scientific consensus that the establishment of highly protected Marine Parks are essential in sustainable fisheries management through protection of sensitive habitats and species, the provision of reference sites (to understand natural ecosystem dynamics), and through assistance with stock management.” (Associate Professor Karen Edyvane)

“In the sea, we just broke the systems. So, unlike the land, where the sun’s photons now drive the new engineered systems of agriculture, in the sea, the sun’s photons now drive strange new systems that are emerging from the wreckage of the old. And these systems ain’t pretty. Because we’ve removed the large keystone species, the energy has to go somewhere, and the matter has to be cycled in some way. These new systems are dominated by slime. [...] They are nothing but like the primitive systems of pre-Cambrian times. Not all of the sea is yet like this, but all marine systems are well along the steepening slope towards this end state. The importance of this for marine parks is profound. Because they are too little, they cannot resist the transition from the old state to the new as it happens all around them. Because they are too late, their focus on preserving the status quo obscures the fact that the preserved state is itself broken - we are building zombie parks of the living-dead.” (Professor Roger Bradbury)

“The problem lies in approaching marine protection using a terrestrial model. The terrestrial model of a park is that of a proprietary land use - an island of conservation order and management often amidst a larger area of loss, destruction or mismanagement. [...] In the sea fences don’t work.  Entry control is difficult to police.   Before the park is declared the area is usually a multiply used area of the public commons with few restrictions on purposes of use and entry. Excluding pre-existing uses can be excluded but this recent concept can be a contested matter with consequent linked enforcement problems. [...] For many material purposes a marine area must be managed as part of a widely connected system where major drivers of what happens inside the area may be events outside the boundaries of the jurisdiction directly responsible for them.” (Professor Richard Kenchington)

Please, join us for this unique event, whether to support or contradict our experts, but more importantly to actively participate to the overall debate that will emerge from their statements.