By Mary Collins, IUCN WCPA Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group’s Marine Connectivity Working Group (MCWG) Graduate Associate, hosted by the Center for Large Landscape Conservation

Context and challenge 

Figure 1. Marine migratory species connectivity in the Eastern Tropical Pacific ocean (Migramar).

The Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) is a highly productive ocean region located along the Intertropical Convergence Zone, where warm and cool currents converge producing a rich and diverse assemblage of marine species. The variety of tropical, subtropical, and temperate ecosystems hosts a high degree of ecological interconnectivity and endemism (species that live in a specific area and nowhere else), and complex, interconnected currents influence migrations, movements, and distribution of many important regional and global species such as tuna, sharks, sea turtles, whales, and marine birds (figure 1) (Pacifico a.). The ETP’s ecological significance is evident based on several official recognitions; as an Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area (EBSA) by parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity; four UNESCO marine World Heritage Sites including Galapagos Archipelago in Ecuador, Cocos Island in Costa Rica, Coiba Island in Panama, and Malpelo Island in Colombia, two Ramsar Sites including Galapagos and Cocos, one Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (Galapagos) designated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and seven marine ‘Hope Spots’ assigned by Mission Blue (Enright et al., 2021; Mission Blue).

Within this region and between these World Heritage marine sites, research reveals the presence of underwater corridors, also known as swimways. Swimways connect marine areas and are used by migratory marine species for travel. Endangered and threatened marine species use these swimways, including green sea turtles, leatherback sea turtles, whale sharks, scalloped hammerhead sharks, and silky sharks (Turtle Island Restoration Network b.). Well functioning swimways can help maintain genetic diversity, facilitate the reproduction of marine species, and increase fisheries productivity, also contributing to important ecosystem services for communities and economic provisions for countries (Pacifico a.). In addition to providing benefits of carbon storage and ecotourism, healthy and connected marine systems in the ETP support commercial fisheries which are valued at approximately $2 billion per year (Enright et al., 2021). 

When species move beyond the protection provided by marine reserves at each individual site, they enter the open, unprotected ocean where they are at risk of capture by industrial fishing activities, often as bycatch. This accidental capture in commercial fishing gear can cause death and poses a significant threat to marine migratory species. National and foreign fishing fleets in the area have increased in recent years, placing large pressures on both the targeted fisheries and on the species experiencing high rates of accidental bycatch (Migramar). System stressors include overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and increasing tourism. Further, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has identified the ETP as an “area facing complex fishing governance challenges given that fisheries productivity may be less affected by climate change in certain areas due to the presence of colder oceanic currents” (Enright et al., 2021). 

Approach

In the ETP, swimways cross over jurisdictions so effective protection is subject to collaboration amongst neighboring countries. A suite of collaborative protection and management efforts furthers social connectivity across borders and ecological connectivity through swimway protection in the ETP. One such effort is The Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR), established in 2004 as a result of the San Jose Declaration and is a voluntary regional cooperation mechanism between the coastal States of Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Panama for aligned sustainable management of the ETP and the establishment of an MPA network. CMAR consists of a political component (Regional Ministerial Committee (RMC) as the key decision maker, advised by each State’s Foreign Ministry), and a technical component (Regional Technical Committee (RTC) defining the actions needed to implement CMAR). Regional Working Groups represent key priority areas: Tourism, MPAs, Science, Fisheries, and Communications. While the non-binding and voluntary nature of the cooperation can secure regional political engagement more readily, it also creates significant implications for implementation and enforcement such as lack of devoted funding and insufficient resources. Another great challenge is appropriately integrating CMAR actions into the distinct cultural, political, legal and economic systems of four different member States, as well as acting within a smattering of other regional ocean governance mechanisms with uneven geographical overlap (figure 2). Despite these challenges, CMAR remains a model for regional cooperation and the creation of a transboundary network of MPAs in Latin America, which continues to grow in size and coherence (Enright et al., 2021).

Figure 2. Regional Ocean Governance in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (Enright et al., 2021).

Recent efforts for MPA expansion and designations in the ETP consist of priority swimways that connect existing protections across jurisdictional borders. Two such swimways were identified for protection, both of which follow underwater mountain chains and connect UNESCO World Heritage Sites; the Coiba – Malpelo Swimway between Panama and Colombia, and the Coco – Galapagos Swimway between Costa Rica and Ecuador (Mission Blue). Within the regional collaborative framework provided by CMAR, support for these swimways is substantial.  

Figure 3. Coiba – Malpelo Swimway MPA designations and committed areas, bridging Panama and Columbia jurisdictions and protecting migratory species along the underwater mountain corridor and beyond (Marine Protection Atlas).

The Coiba – Malpelo Swimway was the first binational MPA designated in the ETP (2017), originally spanning 17,223 km2 (6,650 mi2) over the Coiba and Yuruparí-Malpelo underwater mountain range (between Colombia and Panama) and connecting two UNESCO World Heritage sites. On World Ocean Day, 2021, President Laurentino Cortizo of Panama signed an executive decree tripling the swimway MPA size to 70,822 km2 (27,344 mi2), equivalent to 90 percent of the country’s land area (Turtle Island Restoration Network). This expansion helped Panama protect 30% of its ocean nine years before the United Nations’ 2030 deadline (Mission Blue a.) The resulting combined binational area consists of 121,500 km2 (46,911 mi2). Governments and NGOs alike championed the designations which provide a framework towards more recent binational swimway protection in the ETP, like the Coco – Galapagos Swimway. The Coco – Galapagos Swimway is a 240,000 km2 (92,664 mi2) underwater migration highway vital to marine migratory species. It connects the National Parks of Costa Rica with Ecuador – both of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The proposed binational protected area takes into account both the points for high migration priority as well as seamounts located along the swimway seabed and appropriate buffer zones (figure 4). The swimway gained international support for protection, evident in a full page ad featured in the New York Times that called for swimway protection, backed by more than 150 NGOs and organizations and its declaration as the first marine migratory species ‘Hope Spot’ by Mission Blue (Mission Blue b.). Strong buy-in and contributed research from NGOs urged the governments of Costa Rica and Ecuador to work together and fully protect the swimway. During the 2021 COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Ecuador announced expanded protections that will cover 60,000 km2 (23,166 mi2) of the swimway (figure 5). Of the new protections, 30,000 km2 (11,583 mi2) will be fully protected with zero fishing permitted and an additional 30,000 km2 (11,583 mi2) will exclude longline fishing (Turtle Island Restoration Network c.). Full protection from both countries would build on commitments to CMAR (which recognized the area as a conservation priority), and to the UN deadline for 30 percent protection by 2030 (Pacifico b.; Mission Blue b.). Supported by a regional political cooperative mechanism, like CMAR, and multiple international NGOs, and guided by the prior binational MPA designation process spearheaded in the Coiba – Malpelo Swimway, the Coco – Galapagos Swimway has substantial prospects for protecting the reproduction, migration and feeding of several key species of commercial fisheries, as well as sharks and rays, and of numerous species of marine mammals, birds, and reptiles (Pacifico b.). 

Figure 4. Proposed area for protection (yellow polygon) located in the swimway between Costa Rica’s Cocos Island and Ecuador’s Galàpagos Islands, unifying the buffer zones that surround each seamount and biodiversity hotspot (red dots) along the corridor (Pacifico b.).

Results 

Marine connectivity conservation efforts in the ETP continue to grow. CMAR’s notable successes include 17 years of uninterrupted and growing political and technical cooperation, adoption of joint positions at international fora and in the face of common threats in the region such as overfishing, increased knowledge exchange and collaboration amongst MPAs, and political coordination between the four Ministries of the Environment. CMAR will continue to lead in multinational cooperation, as at COP26, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica pledged to create a “mega MPA” that could become, if designed and managed effectively, the planet’s largest interconnected network of MPAs (figure 6) (Marine Conservation Institute). In addition to expansions, the CMAR 2019-2024 Action Plan outlines cost-saving practices like adopting an electronic communication method and identifying mechanisms for long term financial sustainability (Enright et al., 2021). 

In the Coiba – Malpelo Swimway, current work supports strengthening mechanisms for cooperation between Panama and Colombia, implementing the MPA expansion, as well as pursuing sustainable financing for its effective management (Pacifico a.)

Continued international interest in a fully protected binational Coco – Galapagos Swimway advances scientific understanding of the connected systems. Building on a 2018 expedition coordinated by the PACIFICO Foundation to identify migratory marine species and quantify their distributions and abundance between Coco’s Islands in Costa Rica and the Galapagos Archipelago, MigraMar launched an additional expedition, Coco-Galapagos MigraVia, in May 2021 to investigate further. The expedition included satellite and acoustic tagging, BRUVs sampling, biodiversity counts, DNA sampling, and macro-plastic transects carried out at six sites, including oceanic seamount sites. Study results help provide the scientific information necessary to propose appropriate levels of protection to decision makers for reducing fishery-related marine species mortality and improved management schemes for migratory species. The Migramar network bridges the science-to-management gap by feeding these and other results from research throughout the ETP directly into UNESCO marine World Heritage site management, through collaboration with the respective National Park Services (MigraMar).

Figure 5. Map of proposed marine reserve extending out from the Galapagos Archipelago over the Coco-Galapagos Swimway, with green areas indicating full protection and yellow indicating long-line exclusion zones (Turtle Island Restoration Network c.).

Figure 6. Map of proposed mega marine protection area, covering more than 517,997 km2 (200,000 mi2) in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (Marine Conservation Institute).

References

Enright SR, Meneses-Orellana R and Keith I. 2021. The Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR): The Emergence of a Voluntary Regional Cooperation Mechanism for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity Within a Fragmented Regional Ocean Governance Landscape. Front. Mar. Sci. 8:674825.

Marine Conservation Institute. 2021. Blue Sparks Light up the Eastern Tropical Pacific at COP26.

Marine Conservation Institute. Marine Protection Atlas.

MigraMar. 2021. COCO GALAPAGOS 2021.

Mission Blue. 2021. Panama Achieves 30×30 Ocean Protection Goals in Newly Expanded Cordillera de Coiba Marine Protected Area.

Mission Blue. 2020. World’s First Marine Migratory Species Hope Spot Declared Between Cocos and Galapagos Islands. 

Pacifico. Coco-Galapagos y Coiba – Malpelo Swimways.

Pacifico. 2021. Biological Justification for the Creation of the Migravia Coco – Galapagos  Swimway.

Turtle Island Restoration Network. The Cocos-Galapagos Swimway.

Turtle Island Restoration Network. Cocos-Galápagos Swimway Hope Spot.

Turtle Island Restoration Network. 2021. Ecuador Announces Creation of New Marine Reserve in Galapagos.