What Strategies do MEBM Projects Use?

Research/Collaborative Science

• Australia conducted periodic research expeditions to its remote Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve, and specified the types of research it welcomes from external partners.
• The Center for the Inland Bays partnered with University of Delaware scientists and funded research into long-term changes in saltmarsh acreage and health in the estuary being managed as part of the Delaware Inland Bays National Estuary Program.
• The Wildlife Conservation Society worked with partners to collect biological and ecological information to better understand the resources of focus in its Vatu-i-Ra and Cakau Levu Seascape Project in Fiji.

Monitoring and Assessment

• Water quality, coral cover, and fish densities are regularly monitored by the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and results have pointed to improvements in ecological values within its marine reserves.
• Coral is monitored at 11 sites on two islands as part of a comprehensive effort developed by the American Samoa’s Coral Reef Initiative.
• The Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve involved stakeholders of the three atolls in Belize to monitor the fishery, coral reefs and nesting sites of a marine turtle. 

Evaluation and Adaptive Management

• Regular evaluations of program activities at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park led to the expansion and revamping of marine protected areas based on new ecological data.
• The San Luis Obispo Science and Ecosystem Alliance (SLOSEA) implemented an experimental project to remove invasive bryozoans. The project found eradicating them only allowed another invasive species to take their place. As a result, SLOSEA abandoned the strategy.
• Adopting recommendations from an external evaluation, the Wadden Sea Trilateral Cooperation in 2010 created a governance structure that added a new body of appointed government staff better able to attend to the governance needs of the initiative.  The initiative also clarified the roles of its advisory bodies.

Collaborative Planning

• Canada has selected the Central Coast of British Columbia as one of five ocean regions for collaborative planning among First Nations bands, marine stakeholders and provincial and federal officials to identify priority issues and designate management actions to address them.
• Fishermen and other marine stakeholders participated in a series of workshops that were organized by the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance to create a vision for the future of the New England groundfishery. 
• The Port Orford Ocean Resource Team led the development of a community-based, strategic plan that established a consensus-based statement on how to improve the marine ecosystem and the economically important fishery off the coast of Oregon.

Cross-Jurisdictional Coordination

• The Gulf of Maine Council, often called a forum for process, allowed agency officials of participating Northeastern states and Canadian Maritime provinces to exchange information, identify shared issues, facilitate habitat restoration projects, and recommend additional transboundary solutions.
• The governors of California, Oregon and Washington committed their states to pursue seven shared goals to improve the health of their coastal ecosystems through the West Coast Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Health.
• The governments of Angola, Namibia and South Africa committed to develop and harmonize national policies to improve management of a key fishery through them mechanism of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem Programme and Benguela Current Commission.

Marine Spatial Planning

• Australia began Marine Bioregional Planning efforts along five coastal regions to develop scientific and biological information, identify regional conservation priorities, and broadly outline networks of marine protected areas that will be refined with stakeholder engagement.
• To implement its Marine Life Protection Act, the State of California carried out an extensive stakeholder-based planning process to identify a network of marine protected areasto advance multiple goals. To date, the process has designed roughly 15% of state waters as protected areas.
• Canada established five regional marine planning initiatives, including the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area, an ongoing collaborative effort with First Nations bands, coastal stakeholders and researchers to identify management strategies that link scientific and economic principles to promote resource conservation.

Marine Protected Areas

• To protect sensitive fish spawning areas, the Philippines FISH Project facilitated a process in which 25 marine protected areas were created.
• Establishing a marine protected area at Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary in American Samoa was a strategy to protect coral reef from exploitative and damaging fishing practices within the bay’s flooded volcanic crater.
• Restrictions on human activities within the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve aimed at protecting the unique ecological conditions of this small archipelago off the coast of British Columbia, Canada.

• After zoning areas in a piece-meal fashion over two decades, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park expanded and revamped its zoning strategy by documenting and classifying bioregions within the park and applying principles to sustain commercial activities while protecting an ecologically representative percentage of habitat.
• Interest in protecting coral reefs at Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve in Belize led to the creation of a plan that delineates zones of activity that include restrictions on fishing, boating, and other human activities.
• Research on ways to reduce threats to endangered whales at the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in New England led to a 2007 decision to shift shipping lanes 12-degrees northward to avoid the humpback and finback whales’ primary feeding areas. Analysis of whale sightings and ship strikes identified habitat zones to be avoided.
• Similarly, the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary worked with the U.S. Coast Guard to request the International Maritime Organization establish an Area to be Avoided (ATBA) on the Olympic Coast.  Adopted in 1995, the ATBA advises ships carrying petroleum and hazardous materials to maintain a 25-mile buffer from the coast.  Since then, the Sanctuary has developed an education and monitoring program to help implement the ATBA.

Regulation

• The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources acted as a forum to develop fishing regulations that considered impacts on the ecosystem, and were implemented and enforced by nations that are members of the commission.
• The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary was authorized by the National Marine Sanctuaries Act to regulate vessel operations, prohibit oil or mineral drilling, and prohibit fishing within certain areas developed through a marine spatial planning process.
• Restrictions on vessel traffic and fishing within Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary were established to protect the northern-most coral reefs in the United States.
• Colombia established a new government agency to enforce regulations in the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve to protect sensitive marine and terrestrial areas in the archipelago and manage growth in a sustainable manner.

Restoration

• The Northwest Straits Commission funded locally-based pilot projects, and larger scale efforts, such as a marine debris removal program, to restore the ecosystem of Puget Sound.
• The Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve established partnerships to support habitat restoration projects. The reserve provided planning services and coordinated volunteer workers, and tested restoration strategies using smaller, pilot projects.
• The Narragansett Bay Estuary Program partnered with state, federal and NGOs entities to restore rivers, wetlands and seagrasses that contribute to the health of the estuary.
• By working with The Nature Conservancy and the Albermarle-Pamlico National Estuary Program, the state agencies that oversaw the North Carolina Coastal Habitat Protection Plan restored oyster beds and conducted additional habitat improvement projects.

Strategic Grant-Making

• The Gulf of Maine Council provided habitat restoration grants to projects that offered long-term ecological benefits and promoted effective habitat restoration.
• The Northwest Straits Commission provided grant funding to incentivize local Marine Resources Committees to address local problems in ways that meet a regional vision for ecosystem restoration.

Capacity-Building

• The Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion Program, which was focused on coastal areas of the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, strengthened scientific communities, and improved management of fisheries through policy development and community education.
• Angola, Namibia and South Africa are participating in a program focused on the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem to develop and harmonize national fishery policy and water quality guidelines, and increase opportunities for scientists to develop skills and expand monitoring.
• China and South Korea joined the Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem Project to build connections among scientific, academic and managerial communities of the two nations, and develop legal, policy and institutional reforms to improve management of the resource.

Incentivizing Sustainable Economic Activities

• The Marine Stewardship Council managed an ecolabel program to give seafood that meets sustainable harvesting standards greater visibility on supermarket shelves, and incentivize producers to participate in the program.
• Supporting the conservation goals of the Mafia Island Marine Park in Tanzania, the World Wildlife Fund provided loans to fishermen to use more sustainable fishing gear, and provided technical and financial support to community-based enterprise groups that developed non-fishing alternative economic activities.

Outreach and Education

• The Baltic Sea Regional Advisory Council held scientific conferences to increase understanding and prioritize regional issues, and reach out to stakeholders to develop consensus on European Union fishery management policies.
• The Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve offered a training program on coastal issues for decision-makers and education courses for school teachers. It also engaged community members by holding courses of local interest, such as how to use Cape Cod-appropriate home landscaping, and community-building events, such as a watershed block party.
• The Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary aligned Western-style management with local customs through its outreach and educational efforts with the local community in American Samoa. The sanctuary printed an English- and Samoan-language newspaper. Staff also visited local schools, and helped build community support for conservation.