Ecosystem-Based Integrated Ocean Management: A Framework for Sustainable Ocean Economy Development

• the regulation of activities that exploit the resources of the Great Barrier Reef Region so as to minimize the effect of those activi- ties on the Great Barrier Reef • the reservation of some areas of the Great Barrier Reef for its appreciation and enjoy- ment by the public • the preservation of some areas of the Great Barrier Reef in its natural state undisturbed by human beings except for the purposes of scientific research. The first zoning plan for the GBRMP was put in place in 1981. In the early 2000s, it was fundamen- tally reviewed, with the spatial coverage of highly protected zones increased significantly as part of a comprehensive zoning plan that covers the entire GBRMP in zones ranging from strict no-take zones to multiple-use areas. This revised zoning plan has been in place since 2004 and is described on the GBRMPA website 22 . The rezoning process was expert-led, driven by GBRMPA, and based on best available science about the natural state and the interconnections of the different ecosystems that make up the park. It is one of the earliest examples of systematic protected area planning principles being applied across large spatial scales in the marine environment, to create a representative and ecologically connected net- work of highly protected MPAs embedded in wider spatial measures, as well as non-spatial measures that range from public education to codes of envi- ronmental best practice, industry partnerships and economic instruments (Kenchington & Day 2011). The legislation that established the park can be seen as an early example of some of the central tenets of EBM being adopted into marine institutional, legal and policy frameworks, and it has undergone amendments over time. In the most recent amend- ments, the provisions relating to zoning have been extended, providing a strong legal and institutional framework for integrated, multiple-use MSP. The establishment of an original zoning plan followed by its comprehensive revision, and the continued amendments to the legislation over time, can both be viewed as adaptive management in action. Although the rezoning process was primarily top- down and expert-led, it included a comprehensive bilateral stakeholder consultation process, which was successfully combined with the use of a DST. Marxan was used to develop spatially optimal con- figurations of the most highly protected zone, based on a set of clearly articulated and published ecological reserve network design guidelines based

on systematic MPA planning principles. Recogniz- ing that the spatial data available at the time did not fully reflect the knowledge and perspectives of all the stakeholders in the region (an example of the ‘cartographic silence’ discussed in section 5.1), ini- tial Marxan outputs were communicated to stake- holders and used as a way to elicit constructive and spatially specific feedback. This feedback was sub- sequently used to significantly modify the spatial configuration of the reserve zones, yielding a final compromise solution that still met the ecological guidelines, but which impacted less on stakeholder uses and thus resulted in higher levels of support, as well as reducing negative social and economic impacts on marine users. The GBRMP example also provides lessons for transboundary integration, in terms of its links with the management of Queensland’s wider coastal waters and adjacent Australian EEZ. The State of Queensland ‘mirrored’ the federal zoning in virtu- ally all the adjoining State waters, the result today being complementary zoning for virtually all State and Federal waters across the entire Great Barrier Reef from the high water mark out to a maximum distance of 250 km offshore. However, despite being a success story in many ways, the management of the GBRMP can also be seen as a cautionary tale about the limitations of ocean management measures alone in terms of managing impacts across the land-sea interface and addressing global environmental impacts on the ocean, especially those of climate change. In recent years, the Great Barrier Reef has suffered repeated significant bleaching events linked with rising sea surface temperatures, and as a result, this large marine ecosystem continues to be seriously threatened. The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environ- ment 23 was created in 1989 by the state and pro- vincial governments of Maine, Massachusetts, New Brunswick, New Hampshire and Nova Scotia to foster environmental health and community well- being throughout the Gulf watershed, spanning across the national border between Canada and the USA. It constitutes an example of transbound- ary integration across an international jurisdictional boundary using an informal integration mecha- nism that functions across different legal regimes governing ocean management in the two nations. Furthermore, it constitutes a mechanism designed to specifically address community wellbeing, and 5.2.5. Gulf of Maine Council, Canada and USA

22 http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au 23 http://www.gulfofmaine.org

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