Marine protected areas can improve both human well-being and biodiversity conservation, new study finds
A new study finds that marine protected areas (MPAs) have the potential to help both the environment and people’s well-being, with positive and negative impacts often occurring at the same time, shedding light on a traditionally understudied area.
The study investigated how different aspects of human well-being are affected by the use of MPAs, marine regions that are legally protected and managed in order to protect natural resources and prevent biodiversity declines. While research shows that MPAs are effective for conservation, their impact on human well-being is less known.
“We found that marine protected areas often lead to improvements in human well-being,” said Dr. Nathan Bennett, a co-author of the study and Research Associate with the OceanCanada Partnership at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and at the Université Côte d’Azur. “Sometimes, however, MPAs can also produce negative consequences for local people. It is important to understand why these different outcomes are occurring.”
Reviewing a wide range of global research, the researchers examined how MPAs affected the social, health, culture, economic, governance and environmental domains of people’s well-being. This helped them uncover answers like how human well-being is usually defined and studied, which factors influence whether MPAs have positive or negative effects on well-being, and whether well-being outcomes vary when different MPA stakeholders are involved.
The researchers found that, overall, MPAs have more positive than negative outcomes for human well-being across diverse stakeholder groups, suggesting they can provide benefits for biodiversity as well as people. However, while the researchers found that some attributes of MPAs benefit both ecology and people’s well-being – like MPAs that are no-take, well-enforced and old – small MPAs had more positive well-being outcomes, while large MPAs are shown to be more ecologically effective. This shows that certain characteristics of MPA design and management can benefit both ecology and people’s well-being, but other characteristics require trade-offs between the two.
Graphic provided with permission from Dr. Natalie Ban, University of Victoria
“While we found more positive than negative human well-being outcomes of MPAs, it is interesting that commonly both can be found in the same MPA,“ said Dr. Natalie Ban, the study’s lead author and co-lead of the Pacific Working Group of the OceanCanada Partnership. She is an Associate Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria and a UBC alumnus.
Whether MPAs led to positive or negative well-being outcomes was influenced by the direct effects of MPA governance processes or management actions, and by indirect effects from changes in the ecosystem. Direct effects included community involvement in management and conflicts arising during MPA planning processes, while indirect effects were generally due to recovering marine ecosystems like increased catch and income from resources.
“Studies that drill more into how to design MPAs that support both nature and people are crucial. This will help produce MPAs that are doubly beneficial,” said Dr. Rashid Sumaila, Director of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit, and a professor at UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Sumaila is also the Director of the OceanCanada Partnership, which was a co-sponsor of the research.
The researchers found that studies mostly focused on how MPAs impact people’s economic well-being, such as their income or fishing catches, while giving much less attention to people’s social, health and cultural well-being. This can become an issue if these domains – which are harder to quantify and understudied, but are important for people’s acceptance of and compliance with MPAs – disappear from decision-making situations when not measured by researchers.
“We have an opportunity in Canada to design world-class networks of marine protected areas that not only conserve biodiversity but also account for the rights, needs and well-being of coastal communities,” said Bennett. “Using rigorous social science to understand and manage the social impacts of conservation can help to ensure that local people will support conservation.”
The study “Well-being outcomes of marine protected areas” was published in the journal Nature Sustainability.
Tags: biodiversity, faculty, FERU, IOF alumni, IOF Research Associates, Marine protected areas, Nathan Bennett, OceanCanada, Rashid Sumaila, Research
Dr. Sumaila and Dr. Auger-Méthé named as Canada Research Chairs
The Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries is pleased that today’s Government of Canada announcement of new Canada Research Chairs revealed that Dr. U. Rashid Sumaila has been named as Canada Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Ocean and Fisheries Economics (Tier 1), and Dr. Marie Auger-Méthé has been named Canada Research Chair in Statistical Ecology (Tier 2).
Sumaila named CRC Tier I in Interdisciplinary Ocean and Fisheries Economics, and Auger-Méthé named CRC Tier II in Statistical Ecology.
Dr. Rashid Sumaila
The Canada Research Chairs Program invests approximately $265 million per year to attract and retain a diverse cadre of world-class researchers, to reinforce academic research and training excellence in Canadian postsecondary institutions. The Canada Foundation for Innovation also made an important investment towards these Chairs. It is providing more than $5.2 million in new funding for research infrastructure, supporting 30 Chairs at 18 institutions, including 6 of the Canada Research Chairs at UBC.
Dr. Rashid Sumaila is a professor in the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries. He specializes in bioeconomics, marine ecosystem valuation and the analysis of global issues such as fisheries subsidies, IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing and the economics of high seas and deep seas fisheries. His pioneering research challenges the core tenets of traditional economics, prompting a rethink of the basic objectives of society with regards to oceans and fisheries. His ‘fish bank’ concept for the high seas provides a concept that has the potential to significantly advance ocean conservation on a global scale.
Dr. Marie Auger-Méthé
Dr. Marie Auger-Méthé is an assistant professor in the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and in the Department of Statistics. Most of her work is interdisciplinary in nature and at the intersection between ecology, statistics, and marine sciences. Her recent focus has been on developing and applying statistical models to understand the movement and space use of marine species.
Today’s announcement supports 15 new chairs at UBC, 16 renewed chairs and one Chair advancement. UBC has a current utilization of 205 Canada Research Chairs.
More information:
Tags: awards, faculty, FERU, Marie Auger-Methe, OceanCanada, Rashid Sumaila, SERG
Understanding the data about data: How metadatabases could improve Mexico’s ocean management
Photo Credit: “Gulf of Mexico” by Chad Teer via Flickr / CC BY 2.0.
Tucked between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and bordered by the Caribbean Sea, Mexico is a country surrounded wide expanses of water. To counter the effects of climate change, understanding how Mexico can best manage its oceans is crucial.
Juliano Palacios-Abrantes
In a new study involving international institutions in Canada, Mexico and the United States, researchers compiled and analyzed information from existing databases to understand the current state of knowledge about ocean research in Mexico. Using this, they can help figure out how key decision-makers can take the best next steps against climate change.
“With this study, we aimed to collect the most amount of information available related to Mexico’s marine environment in order to not only understand what we know now, but also to provide a tool to improve the management and conservation of Mexico’s marine resources,” said Juliano Palacios-Abrantes, lead co-author of the study and PhD Candidate at UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF) and UBC’s Department of Zoology.
Using Mexico as an case study, the study compiled and analyzed a massive amount of ocean knowledge into what is called a metadatabase, a database that catalogues information from other databases. While a large amount of data on marine ecosystems exists, it is often hard to find or access information about past or ongoing research, leaving individuals in certain fields unaware of related studies.
By compiling such data into an open-source metadatabase, however, the researchers could counter this issue and improve the current understanding of Mexico’s ocean research. They analyzed data from existing databases to understand the current knowledge trends and to identify gaps that could be addressed in future research, thus helping stakeholders and decision-makers make the best choices for ocean management and sustainability.
The researchers gathered data related to Mexico’s surrounding oceans from a variety of sources, including public websites, workshops, public data from governmental and environmental organizations, private data from industries, international sources and unpublished data kept by institutions.
“It can be hard for researchers to freely share data that could be private or sensitive, but by just focusing on understanding what exists, we can paint a better picture of where we are at in terms of scientific knowledge, what more information we need, and who is studying related issues so we can work better together,” said Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor, lead co-author of the study and a Program Manager and Research Associate with the Nippon Foundation – UBC Nereus Program. He is also part of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit at IOF (FERU).
“… just focusing on understanding what exists, we can paint a better picture of where we are at in terms of scientific knowledge, what more information we need, and who is studying related issues so we can work better together.”
Through their analysis, the researchers found that ocean-related research in Mexico has historically focused on mostly ecology and fisheries, with other topics like social issues, conservation or oceanography being represented less. The impacts of climate change on communities are now recognized as a major challenge for the future, which means there is a need for long-term ecological and social data to fill information gaps and help communities best adapt.
Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor.
Most information was available for the Gulf of California, Campeche Bank and Caribbean, and less for the central and south Pacific and the western Gulf of Mexico. “Anyone in Mexico knows that there are big regional gaps in our knowledge of the oceans, and you can see that in the metadatabase, which can help support research and researchers in those areas,” said Cisneros-Montemayor.
The researchers emphasized that in order to effectively manage human drivers of climate change, we need data that comes from different disciplines, spans the longest time range and covers different geographic scales. Creating metadatabases is one way to manage this problem by compiling such diverse data into one repository, especially for countries like Mexico which may have more limitations on data availability or research capacity.
“We have created here the most complete metadatabase of marine research in Mexico that allow us to have an idea of the data trends and gaps in the country,” said Palacios-Abrantes. “Thanks to the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) in Mexico, the final product is an open-source and dynamic tool that can be accessed by anyone and is open to the addition of new records. We hope that this multi-institutional effort helps improve marine conservation and management in Mexico.”
The study “A metadata approach to evaluate the state of ocean knowledge: Strengths, limitations, and application to Mexico” was published in the journal PLOS ONE.
The most updated version of the metadatabase of marine research in Mexico is generously hosted by CONABIO and can be found here: www.infoceanos.conabio.gob.mx.
Tags: Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor, FERU, IOF Research Associates, IOF students, Nereus Program, Research
Comprehensive global analysis shows a warmer ocean will hold fewer animals
The world’s oceans will likely lose about one-sixth of their fish and other marine life by the end of the century if climate change continues on its current path, a new international study says.
A group of 35 researchers from 12 countries and 4 continents presented a comprehensive global-ocean assessment of climate change by using a combination of multiple climate and ecosystem models. This model ‘ensemble’ reveals that global marine animal biomass – the total weight of marine animals such as fish, invertebrates and marine mammals in the ocean – will decline under all emission scenarios, driven largely by increasing temperature and decreasing primary production.
For every degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) that the world’s oceans warm, the total mass of sea animals is projected to drop by 5%, according to the comprehensive computer-based study. And that does not include effects of fishing.
“We will see a large decrease in the biomass of the oceans,” if the world doesn’t slow climate change, said study co-author William Cheung, a marine ecologist at the University of British Columbia. “There are already changes that have been observed.”
For every degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) that the world’s oceans warm, the total mass of sea animals is projected to drop by 5%.
The analysis also suggested that climate-change impacts may be more severe at higher food-web levels, meaning that fish and marine mammals may suffer more severe declines compared to phytoplankton. “The biggest animals in the oceans are going to be hit hardest,” said study co-author Derek Tittensor, a marine ecologist at the United Nations World Conservation Monitoring Center in England.
Projected changes of marine animal biomass by the end of the 21st century (% increase or % decrease compared to the end of the 20th century) under two IPCC emission scenarios: RCP2.6 assumes strong mitigation, RCP8.5 assumes business-as-usual emissions. ©2019 by National Academy of Sciences
“The good news here is that the main building blocks of marine life, plankton and bacteria may decline less heavily, the bad news is that those marine animals that we use directly, and care about most deeply, are predicted to suffer the most as climate change is working its way up the food chain,” co-author Boris Worm, a marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Canada, said in an email.
Tropical areas, already warm, will also see the biggest losses, Cheung said.
Scientists had already thought that climate change will likely reduce future ocean life, but past computer simulations looked at only part of the picture or used only one model. This study uses six different state-of-the-art computer models that give the best big picture look yet, Cheung said.
It is hard to separate past climate change impacts from those of fishing, but past studies have shown places where observed fish loss can be attributed to human-caused climate change, Cheung added.
The study, “Global ensemble projections reveal trophic amplification of ocean biomass declines with climate change” was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
Tags: climate change, CORU, faculty, William Cheung
Carl Walters appointed to the Order of British Columbia
Dr. Carl Walters, professor emeritus
The Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries is beyond thrilled to congratulate Dr. Carl Walters, professor emeritus, who has been appointed to the Order of British Columbia.
An icon of the world’s fisheries science community, Dr. Walters has conducted research and developed computer models that have had an important impact on fisheries science for the last 50 years.
The Order of British Columbia investiture ceremony will be held for recipients and invited guests at Government House in Victoria on June 28, 2019.
More information: Official news release – Order of British Columbia honourees
Tags: awards, Carl Walters, faculty
Q&A with Daniel Pauly of Sea Around Us
Daniel Pauly. Photocredit: M. dagnino – Institut océanographique
May 29, 2019
The Sea Around Us is a research initiative at the University of British Columbia, located in the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF), which assesses the impact of fisheries on marine ecosystems worldwide, and offers mitigating solutions to a range of different stakeholders.
Daniel Pauly, the principal investigator of Sea Around Us, is a world-renowned marine biologist, a professor in IOF, and author of the recently-released book “Vanishing Fish: Shifting Baselines and the Future of Global Fisheries“. For World Oceans Day 2019, we sat down with Dr. Pauly and ask him a little bit about Sea Around Us and what he hopes to achieve with his work.
What are some of the things that Sea Around Us is studying?
We believe that the most important thing you can know about a fishery is its catch. This might seem trivial because it sounds like we always know the catch of a fishery, but that’s not the case at all. There are fisheries whose catches are not known, or whose catches are underestimated or overestimated. And this under- and overestimation leads to inaccurate assessments of the situations that fisheries are in.
Second, once we have accurate catches, which we have reconstructed in many cases, we can infer other information, like the abundance of the fish in question. Or we can combine this information with the size of the fish that are caught to extrapolate on processes that are changing in the ecosystem. In other words, we can derive new statistics from the catch. But the catch itself is essential.
What else does Sea Around Us do?
There is an immense amount of fisheries data that are usually not available to the public, and we make that information available on our website. We also publish in academic and other outlets.
What do you hope to accomplish with your research and with Sea Around Us?
To empower groups that want to do something about the situations around fisheries. I hope to enable people with data and concepts from our research, and from the fisheries data we have provided online, so that they can present alternatives to the present fisheries situation and help make better choices about fisheries management.
Having these concepts, methods and findings is, again, empowering because they allow people to question the standard way of going about things and the management systems that have been implemented by various countries, many of which are not working. Empowerment is really the name of the game.
What sparked your interest in fisheries science?
For that, we have to go back to the ‘70s. I studied in Germany, and for a number of personal reasons I ended up with fisheries and oceanography as my subjects of study. But really, the conversion occurred between my Masters and my PhD when I was in Indonesia. I was confronted during a trawl survey with lots of different fish species, and none of the books I was consulting knew what to do about them. I felt I had to reinvent much of fisheries science for its concepts to be applied to the tropics, and in a sense, I have.
If there is one thing you want people to take away from your research, what would it be?
That you can reverse and improve things at all stages, even when they are in a bad state.
Read more about Daniel Pauly on the Sea Around Us website
Tags: Daniel Pauly, faculty, fisheries management, marine catches, Research, Sea Around Us
New approach for determining conservation threat for species with little data
University of British Columbia researchers have found a new way to identify which marine species are threatened and what is threatening them, even if these species lack data, a new study published in the journal Conservation Biology shows.
“A tremendous challenge in marine conservation is that the conservation status and locations of high human pressures for so many marine species are still unknown,” said Xiong Zhang, lead author and Ocean Leaders Postdoctoral Fellow at UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries. While threatened species are typically identified through the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assessments, many evaluated marine species have been classified as Data Deficient, while thousands of others have not yet been assessed.
“By quantifying and mapping the combined human pressures on individual species – using existing, if scarce, data, modeling techniques and expert knowledge – we can address this challenge,” Zhang explained.
Scientists have used various methods to bypass the lack of data for marine species, but these UBC researchers were among the first to model threats by estimating cumulative human impact (CHI) at the species-level.
“Our study indicates that modeling and mapping human impacts can reveal geographic overlaps between locations of seahorse populations and areas of human pressure for data-poor species,” said Dr. Amanda Vincent, senior author, and professor in UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, and co-founder and Director of Project Seahorse.
Looking specifically at seahorses – a rare and data-poor genus of marine fishes – worldwide, they mapped the human impact of 12 human-created stressors onto 42 seahorse species to predict which data-poor seahorses might actually be threatened, what is threatening them and which areas are under the greatest threat.
The researchers found that five of 17 seahorse species where the conservation status was previously unknown were actually probably under threat. China, Southeast Asia and Europe were identified as major threat epicentres for seahorses, having the highest level of combined human pressures for populations of 33 seahorse species. While seahorses are threatened by a variety of human activities, the researchers identified non-selective bottom fishing, as well as ocean and nutrient pollution, as putting more severe pressures on global seahorse populations.
Given these results, since all 19 threatened seahorse species – including the five identified by this study – are traded internationally, they need focused attention under agreements like the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), especially in China and Southeast Asian countries where seahorses and marine ecosystems are already highly impacted. The researchers also call for local managers to tailor their threat-mitigation plans to focus on particular species, rather than focusing solely on marine ecosystems more broadly, to achieve better conservation outcomes.
© Filip Staes, Guylian Seahorses of the World Photography Competition 2016
“Species-level CHI modelling could provide a new approach to species conservation,” said Vincent. “With it, we could estimate conservation status for thousands of Data Deficient species on the IUCN Red List.”
The study “Using cumulative‐human‐impact models to reveal global threat patterns for seahorses” was published in the journal Conservation Biology.
Project Seahorse
Project Seahorse is a marine conservation group based at the University of British Columbia, Canada, and Zoological Society of London. Project Seahorse works to protect seahorses in order to support ocean conservation more broadly, generating cutting-edge research and using it to inform highly effective conservation interventions. Led by Prof. Amanda Vincent and Dr. Heather Koldewey, both global experts on seahorse conservation, Project Seahorse has won many international awards and honours, and works in collaboration with researchers, governments, conservation groups and local communities worldwide. Our work has been recognized with many international awards and honours, including the Rolex Award for Enterprise and the Whitley Award in Animal Conservation.
Tags: Amanda Vincent, faculty, IOF postdoctoral fellows, Project Seahorse, Research, species distribution, Xiong Zhang