Impetus towards proposing marine protected areas (MPAs) in Japanese coral reef waters: Lessons and observations from visits to Visayan MPAs in the Philippines
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The concept of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) has undergone many definition changes without reaching a general consensus. At the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, it was adopted that every signatory will establish MPAs by 2012. Furthermore, at the 5th World Park Conference, it was recom-mended that every signatory will protect at least 20-30% of marine habitat by 2012, and maintain representative protected area networks: these recommendations constitute the so-called 2012 Agenda which every signatory is expected to comply.<BR>In Japan, various interpretations about MPA vary in scope and detail, but none of these are definitive. We consider MPAs as areas provided with legal protection of whole populations or biological diversity in shallow waters including intertidal zone or other effective methods that protect them from unnatural changes or undue exploitation to promote resource sustainability, as a concept of "No-take Zone". It might be difficult to imple-ment such MPA concept in many Japanese coastal waters in the near future, however, it is hoped that the area needed to maintain the fishing-target species will be determined first, and based on this evaluation, a temporary MPA will be set, and after some time, the multiple effects of such MPA will be investigated. If concentrated mainly on coral reef environments, the coexistence of biodiversity protection and regulated fishery may be feasible. Within MPAs not only artisanal fishing but also game fishing and research collecting should be regu-lated.<BR>The Philippines has the longest history of legally established MPAs in Asia. In order to learn how successful MPAs are maintained and how local people are relating to MPAs, we visited the Visayan area in March 2010, and met with Dr. A.C. Alcala who is the pioneer of the Philippine type of MPA which are numerous and small and protect both fishery resource and biodiversity. We visited MPAs in Apo Island and surrounding areas and conducted interviews with the local people.<BR>In order to protect the fishery and whole populations, MPAs must be large enough to sustain the target conservation species. MPAs should not follow a top-down governance model involving municipal officials down to fishermen but should be firmly grounded on the agreement and participation by the local people. Even if fishermen are not allowed to fish within the MPA, they will realize the goals of the MPA when the benefits of the 'spillover' effect are proven. The 'spillover' effect is realized when fish stocks from the MPA contribute towards increased productivity outside the restricted fishing grounds. If MPA entrance fees are collected from pleasure divers and tourists, some of the fees can be used to maintain the MPA or paid as compensation for fishermen. The key to success of MPAs is continuous education/capacity building of the local people and fisher-men, maintaining mutual trust, identifying competent leaders and promoting transparency of finances and governance. The Kerama Islands in Okinawa support few small-scale fishermen. The residents maintain good consensus in protecting the coral reefs because they are the basis of tourism in these islands and are revenue sources for local residents. We are therefore speculating that a desirable MPA model can be tested in this region. In this report, we will propose and discuss some ways and approaches to possibly establish and implement an MPA in Japanese waters based on the existing coral reef ecosystems in the Kerama Islands.
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