Case studies: Marine Connectivity Conservation
These case studies illustrate initiatives around the world actively working toward maintaining, enhancing, and restoring ecological connectivity of the marine environment. Building off the publication Marine Connectivity Conservation ‘Rules of Thumb’ for MPA and MPA Network Design, each case represents specific design and management strategies that align with one or more ‘Rules of Thumb’. Marine protected area (MPA) managers, network committees, and governing bodies can now use these case studies to inform future collaboration and best practices for system-based marine protection that increases resilience to climate-change impacts and establishes greater ecological and social connectivity across borders and at larger scales.
See the case studies mapped on Globescapes!
| Case Title | Lesson | Threats | Approaches |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Great Barrier Reef – Systematically protecting connectivity without connectivity data | In barrier reef systems, placement of protected areas and management of activities in buffer zones can promote stepping-stone connectivity, thus maintaining larval movements, migrations from inshore to offshore habitats, and movements of adult benthic and pelagic organisms. | Climate change, unsustainable fishing, dredging, coastal development, invasive species | Networks of strategically placed marine reserves, zoning based on systematic planning principles, larval dispersal and recruitment consideration, restricted fishing, target species connectivity research, fishing restrictions, seabed mining restrictions |
| Puerto Rico’s Northeast Marine Corridor - A land-sea network of protected areas for people and nature | It is essential to identify the role that each MPA plays in supporting connectivity as well as barriers to connectivity. The habitat corridor between northeast Puerto Rico and Culebra Island is preserved in a network of MPAs, providing comprehensive and integrated management of important ecological resources in the region, taking compounded system stressors into consideration. | Economic dependency on marine resources, unsustainable fishing, climate change, natural disasters, and land-based activities like coastal development | Network of strategically placed marine reserves, habitat corridor conservation, source-to sea connectivity, commercial fishing restrictions, and open source data and information sharing |
| Baltic Sea - Assessing ecological coherence of the HELCOM MPA network for improved management and design | Regional collaboration over MPA network design increases protection effectiveness when taking ecological cohesion and connectivity into consideration. Assessing the current state of an MPA network via aspects including representativeness, replication, adequacy, and connectivity, can help adaptive management processes increase system-based protection. | Unsustainable fishing, pollution (eutroficaition), data gaps, lack of shared science-based targets | Networks of strategically placed marine reserves, adaptive management, cross-juristiction collaboration, open source data and information sharing |
| Cetacean migration corridor in the Mediterranean Sea | Areas found to be important for migrations of target species, like cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) and sea turtles, should be preserved using policy that prohibits harmful human activity to the animal, like oil and gas exploration, and certain types of commercial fishing. | Marine traffic, seabed mining and exploitation, unsustainable fishing | Establishment of marine protected areas, prohibition of underground geological research and hydrocarbon extractive activities, management plans regulating possible environmental impacts, migratory marine species connectivity considerations |
South Africa - Habitat representation in a network of marine protected areas | MPA network planning should include environmental impact assessments that take key aspects of ecological connectivity, like habitat representativeness, into consideration when mapping and planning protections to ensure that a wide range of system functions, provided by diverse habitat types, are protected. | Seabed mining, destruction to areas where little scientific knowledge exists, unsustainable fishing | Establishing a network of marine protected areas, marine habitat representativeness considerations, seabed mining restrictions |
| Belize Maya Mountain Marine Corridor - Protecting ridge to reef | A multi-management approach to conservation across land, freshwater, and ocean zones should be taken to protect important habitats and the processes that sustain them. Belize's source-to-sea approach to protected area design protects the Mesoamerican Reef from access nutrient and pollutant runoff from the Rio Grande, Deep, and Monkey rivers. | Unsustainable fishing, land-based pollution like agricultural runoff and sedimentation, inappropriate tourism practices, illegal poaching, and change in coastal land use | Establishment of protected areas, cultural site and resource preservation, land-to-sea connectivity considerations, local livelihoods |
| Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary - Using coral population connectivity to inform MPA expansion and restoration needs | When expanding MPAs, management units should be scaled based on realistic connectivity patterns, incorporating best available scientific information with potential for adaptations in response to climate change. In the process of expanding the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico, key coral, sponge, and fish species were studied for connectivity patterns informing expansion placement and size. | Climate change, oil spill, unsustainable fishing practices | Expansion of MPAs, larval dispersal and recruitment consideration, restricted fishing, target species connectivity research |
| Northern Channel Islands - Marine connectivity considerations build a resilient network of MPAs | Placing strategic restrictions on fishing in areas important for target species' larval connectivity, such as spawning and settlement areas, and engaging in co-governance thoughout an MPA network increases connectivity, biodiversity, and species richness. | Climate change, oil spills, unsustainable fishing practices , invasive species, disease | Network of strategically placed marine reserves, restricted fishing, larval dispersal and recruitment consideration, target species connectivity research, long-term effectiveness research |
| Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) - Environmental assessment and protection in mineral-rich seabed areas beyond national jurisdiction | In deep waters where mining operations (minerals, oil, gas) are being considered, initiatives to design and establish MPAs or MPA networks should be preceded by a regional environmental assessment and management plan identifying potential negative mining impacts, and indicating those habitats, ecologically important areas, connectivity needs, and resilience features to conserve through a network of no-mining zones. The Clarion-Clipperton Zone's (CCZ) Environmental Management Plan established no-mining areas in at least one of every nine subregions that differ in productivity, depth, and biology, to protect a range of deep sea habitats and biodiversity. | Seabed mining, destruction to areas where little scientific knowledge exists | Establishing a network of marine protected areas representing all identified deep sea habitat types, conducting regional environmental assessments and management plans before extractive use. |
| Ross Sea Regional MPA - Cross-jurisdictional protection of marine processes in the world's largest MPA | Protecting large areas of ocean where human impact has remained minimal will help preserve necessary ocean processes from human impacts, through the collaboration between entities. The Ross Sea Regional MPA is the largest MPA in the world, and was designated jointly in both New Zealand antarctic waters and in international waters (areas beyond national jurisdiction). | Unsustainable fishing, climate change | Full protection of ocean propcesss, establishment of MPAs, fishing restrictions, seabed mining restrictions, high seas MPA, cross-juristictional collaboration, protection for research |
| Coral Triangle Initiative - Aligning management across jurisdictions for shared marine resources | International cooperation can protect species with essential life cycle needs located in multiple jurisdictions. The Coral Triangle Initiative adopted common protection principles throughout the region for protecting the full range of critical habitats required by target species throughout life cycle stages and migrations. | Unsustainable fishing, climate change, land-based pollution | Establishing a network of marine protected areas, regional collaboration for aligned management and policy, target species connectivity research, open source data and information sharing |
| Gulf of California, Mexico - Using models to help design connected marine reserves in the face of global warming | Habitat suitability modeling, species movement patterns modeling, and ocean processes modeling should be used to develop scenarios that can provide information on habitat linkages and species dynamism, taking climate change effects into consideration. In the northern Gulf of California, scientists model habitat suitability and species movement to help design connected and resilient marine reserves. | Unsustainable fishing, habitat destruction, land-based pollution, coastal development, and climate change | Habitat suitibility, species movement, and ocean processes modeling, larval dispersal and recruitment consideration, target species connectivity research |
| West Africa to Wadden Sea - Applying an ecosystem approach across boundaries connects a seabird flyway | International cooperation can protect species with essential life cycle needs located in multiple jurisdictions. A formal cooperation agreement between Mauritania's Banc d’Arguin MPA and the Natura 2000 Wadden Sea MPAs ensures aligned management that supports migrating seabird life cycle needs. | Unsustainable fishing practices, | Seabird flyway protection, fish nursery protection, |
| Eastern Tropical Pacific - Marine swimway protections set a standard for regional cooperation | International cooperation can protect marine migratory species with essential life cycle needs located in multiple jurisdictions. In the Eastern Tropical Pacific, regional and binational efforts with international support investigate and protect important swimways. | Unsustainable fishing, overfishing, illegal fishing, increased tourism | Cross-juristictional collaboration, regional cooperation, establishment of MPAs, expansion of MPAs, marine swimeway protection, target species connectivity research |
| High Seas - Chile Proposes Protections for Salas y Gómez and Nazca Ridges in Anticipation of Global Treaty | International high seas protections are necessary to connect valuable habitats and migratory species accross multiple jurisdictions. In anticipation of the new High Seas Treaty under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, Chile proposed a high seas protected area, connecting two existing MPAs for the purpose of protecting important and litle-understood deep sea habitats. | Seabed mining, destructive fishing, lack of knowladge | Cross-juristiction protection, establishment of high seas MPA, corridor protection, connecting existing MPAs |
| Incorporating disaster resilience in MPA networks – impacts of sea-level changes on the Kaikōura coast in Aotearoa Ne | Managing the connectivity changes that may be generated by natural disaster events requires capacity to assess the initial impacts at multiple scales, which is turn facilitated by a high degree of preparedness for mobilising the necessary responses. This can be assisted by drawing on learning from past events, particularly those that featured methodological developments or refinements were made to improve the feasibility and/or cost-effectiveness of disaster impact assessments and longer-term monitoring programmes. This case also illustrated the importance of interactions with additional stressors following an initial major disturbance event. | Natural disaster | Decision support for policy and management decisions on recreational fishery regulations, new arrangements for coastal access, and area-based protections for important species and habitats in the post-earthquake environment |