Marine Protected Areas

In recent years the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction has received increasing attention, there is growing agreement that Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) should be considered as an integrated and flexible management tool for the ocean. MPAs, in particular areas closed to certain fishing activities are proposed as a useful protective measure within the framework of precautionary and ecosystem based approaches, to reduce the impact of fishing on vulnerable marine habitats and species. The impacts are particularly acute in fisheries of deepwater demersal species, because of the use of non selective gears that potentially impact fragile habitats, in particular seamounts and other deepwater features. The need for adequate international and regional frameworks for implementing spatial based fisheries management measures in the high seas and methods to prevent illegal activities are widely noted in international discussions. These concerns are of particular importance to the implementation of high seas MPAs. At the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, governments agreed on the objective to implement representative networks of MPAs by 2012, with the aim of conserving marine biodiversity and allowing sustainable use of marine resources (IUCN 2006). This paper seeks to address the question of whether this goal of achieving a network of MPAs can be met by 2012. How can this be achieved and what resources are necessary to implement and maintain the MPAs or, if this is not achievable not why not