marine protected areas（海洋保护区）.docVIP

Marine no-take areas: How large should marine protected area networks be? Jon Nevill jonathan.nevill@ +61 422 926 515, revised 13 August 2011 Copies of this document are available from .au. Introduction Currently around 1.17% of the global marine realm is classified as protected area (Toropova et al. 2010) with no-take areas accounting for a small percentage, probably less than 0.08% (Laffoley et al. 2008:19). Such areas are created mainly to protect marine biodiversity or to assist the sustainability of fisheries. The World Parks Congress 2003 (WPC) recommended the establishment of national networks of highly-protected areas covering 20-30% of marine habitats by 2012, a recommendation in marked contrast to the general (and somewhat vague) target set by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2004 (see below).?Agardy et al. (2003) however argued against the over-zealous application of the WPC target, suggesting that haste leads to poor planning, and that a focus on targets does little to convince sceptical stakeholders including fishers and politicians. However, while the targets proposed by the WPC remain controversial (Ray 2004), the biodiversity crisis affecting the planet leaves little doubt that an urgent expansion of marine no-take areas is necessary if the global loss of biodiversity is to be addressed in an effective way. This reality is the backdrop against which arguments over marine protected area network targets take place. A number of major reviews examining optimal size of marine reserve networks were prepared in the late 1990s. The most recent reviews (which I am aware of) are NRS (2001) and Rodrigues Gaston (2001). The purpose of my paper is to provide further background for a continuing discussion of area targets (“dangerous targets” as Agardy called them) for MPA networks, by listing and briefly commenting on all major scientific papers published since 2000 dealing with no-take area network