Fishermen remove algae from their nets in the port of Vigo, Galicia. (Photo Copyright: FIS)
MPAs should be 'a tool of management and not an end'
SPAIN
Friday, February 23, 2018, 01:20 (GMT + 9)
The scientific committee of the Cooperative Fisheries Shipowners Puerto de Vigo (ARVI), the largest Spanish fishing association, recommends analyzing the consequences before implementing new marine protected areas (MPAs).
In its report Marine Protected Areas - a management tool and not an end in itself, the Scientific Technical Advisory Committee (CACT) of ARVI concludes that MPAs should be one more tool in the management of marine resources and not the only alternative .
The report also points out the need to achieve a union and coherence between the objectives pursued for the conservation of the oceans and the management of fisheries to achieve the sustainability of resources. In the same way, it points out that before allocating these protected spaces, their benefits and costs should be evaluated and investigated, taking into account the biological aspects, but also the economic and social ones.
ARVI is in favor of MPAs but as the report points out, the 2016 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) project that seeks total protection of 30 percent of the ocean from fishing activity, should also take into account account for the possible negative consequences on unprotected areas -where all the marine economic activities of the planet would be concentrated-, the world economy or employment, in addition to the world production of fish, which would be seriously reduced causing a major change in the diet of the population.
The report indicates that in the event that this protection is finally applied, it should be carried out in certain areas and on a temporary basis to ensure the survival of the species or habitats that live in them.
The conclusions of the document, based on the opinions of three renowned scientists - Ray Hilborn, Serge Michel García and Anthony Charles - affirm that despite asking for prudence, there is evidence that a well-managed MPA protects biodiversity and maintains the stability of the ecosystem .
In 2015, the Member States of the United Nations undertook to conserve 10 percent of the coastal and marine areas by 2020. However, in 2016, a study by Conservation Letters magazine was positioned in favor of the protection of 30 percent of those spaces and months later, this proposal was approved by the IUCN at its 2016 World Conservation Congress. At present, there are organizations that even support 50 percent of the protection of the oceans, but without taking into account the economic consequences, social and environmental issues that may arise, says ARVI.
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