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Fourth Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands
11th International Coral Reef Symposium
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Last month in Cancun, Mexico, The Nature Conservancy’s MesoAmerican Reef Program and Yucatan Coastal and Marine Program held a national Resilience Workshop that included 12 marine practitioners from local partner organizations. The workshop was a follow-up to a Caribbean & Latin America Regional Resilience Workshop that was held in April of 2005. During the workshop, the updated TNC Resilience Model was presented and much discussion ensued about ways to build resilience into management and MPA network design. Participants agreed that focusing on Representation and Replication was a sound way to proceed given the uncertainty of changing climate conditions, as well as the increased need to protect the full range of biodiversity in an area. As part of an exercise, participants developed several communication campaign messages including a campaign focused on the conservation of parrotfish as well as the protection of spawning aggregations of commercially important reef fish. There was also focused discussion on the monitoring program for the entire MesoAmerican Reef that began in 2005. The participants agreed on the importance of establishing an alert system. One activity proposed was the engagement of fishermen and dive operators in the monitoring of reefs, an idea that has been put to work in many places around the world including and the . The participants also agreed to form a rapid response team that will verify and assess the impact of bleaching events – expect to see more about this monitoring program, the design, and the results in a future newsletter. If you are interested in knowing more about the curriculum or workshop activities, please contact Diana Bermudez or resilience@tnc.org.
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Marine Reserves Do More Than Protect Fish
A series of papers published in 2006 and 2007 on the effects of marine reserves on grazing, predator communities, and coral recruitment have illuminated some positive and welcome effects of well managed reserves. Peter Mumby and colleagues have been studying the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park (ECLSP) of the Bahamas, a 456 km2 park established in 1956. In a series of studies, the group of scientists has been able to answer key questions about the effects of marine reserves on coral populations. The authors found that increased grazing inside of reserves positively influenced (increased) the density and community structure of coral recruits, demonstrating that marine reserves can do more than just protect fish communities. The study described a relationship in which increased grazing by fish, specifically parrotfish, increased the amount of substrate available for recruiting coral. Thus, the ECLSP indirectly increased coral recruits by facilitating substrate-clearing grazers. In fact, they found 2-fold increases in coral recruitment associated with high levels of grazing inside the ECLSP. This study supports one of the key aspects of enhancing reef resilience by advocating for ecosystem management that enhances densities of important grazers, such as parrotfish. In a previous study, this research group also found that reserve protection did in fact increase top-level predators, as many scientists predicted would happen. However, the expectation that increases in top-level predators, such as groupers, would have negative effects on algal grazing was not met. Indeed, herbivory or algal grazing in protected areas increased two-fold and decreased macroalgal cover four-fold! The authors argued that the mechanism underlying this finding was that particular species of large-bodied parrotfish, the most effective macroalgal grazers on the reefs, experienced a size-escape from predation and were also protected from fishing in the reserve. Thus these larger bodied individuals were allowed to continue grazing and ultimately made space for corals to recruit! For more information on these papers, check out the links below. The Reef Resilience Toolkit Survey has been very informative! We have heard you and plan to include new case studies in the next version of the toolkit as well as on the new homepage that should launch early in 2008. These case studies will be announced in this newsletter so that you know when to check the site for the latest information. If you are interested in having your site or work showcased as a case study, please contact us at: resilience@tnc.org. Keep your eyes open for the new homepage- it will be full of helpful and accessible resources! Thanks to all that have given us your feedback on the R2 Toolkit and the workshops. If you haven’t had a chance to respond and would like to, (It only takes about 10 minutes with an average internet connection speed.) New Version of The Science of Marine Reserves The long awaited next version of The Science of Marine Reserves developed by PISCO is due out in mid December. The first version was published in 2002 and has gone through substantial revisions in response to reviews and new science findings. Multiple versions of this booklet are in production, including versions for international audiences and U.S. audiences, as well as some regionally-specific versions coming in the near future. This is an excellent compilation of the latest science on marine reserves in a user-friendly format! If you are interested in obtaining physical copies of this valuable resource, please email marinereserves@science.oregonstate.edu to request the booklet. It will be . (Note: the 2002 version is currently available at the above web address).
, April 7-11, 2008, Hanoi, Vietnam Recent Publications & Other Resources – (published late 2006)
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