Marine Atlas: Maximizing Benefits for Tonga

SPECIAL AND UNIQUE MARINE AREAS To prioritize management and/or protection of Tonga’s waters, local marine experts came together to identify areas in Tonga’s waters that are special and/or unique.

Tonga’s KBAs (see previous chapter) emphasize not only the importance of marine biodiversity to Tonga, but also to the world. Much of Tonga’s wa- ters contain very diverse physical and ecological environments, which in turn support a huge range of marine life, yet a great deal of these environ- ments remains undocumented. As the resourc- es of both the nearshore and offshore marine environments are vital to the well-being and prosperity of the country and its people, their sustainable management and conservation are in the interests of both resource managers and the general population. So how can sustainable management be achieved? One requirement is to set agreed management priorities, which allow for an incre- mental, inclusive and sustainable management and conservation approach to Tonga’s valuable biodiversity. To help achieve this, the important concept of KBAs was complemented and extend- ed by the identification of Special and Unique Marine Areas (SUMAs) and bioregions (see “Be- yond the hotspots”). SUMAs are areas that are particularly important in maintaining Tonga’s biodiversity. They can serve as priority areas for management actions within Tonga’s marine environment. It is impor- tant that these areas are identified and agreed upon by a broad cross section of local users and experts to ensure they have validity in relevant decision-making processes. In 2015, the Tongan Cabinet decided to embark upon a national Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) process (Cabinet Decision 716). It consequently established a Marine Spatial Planning Technical Working Group (the “Ocean 7”), comprised of the seven key ministries with re- sponsibilities relating to the use, development and management of Tonga’s ocean. On 18 May 2016, the Ocean 7, supported by MACBIO, co-hosted a technical workshop to define the biophysically SUMAs of Tonga (Ceccarelli et al., 2017). The local users and subject experts contributed their local knowledge of the area and were guided by four criteria in identifying SUMAs in Tonga’s waters: biophysical justification, geographic ex- plicitness, availability of information sources and international and national obligations. Ranging from mangroves and seagrasses to deep-sea trenches, canyons and seamounts, these marine areas are some of Tonga’s most biologically important. These sites, together with the corresponding report “Biophysically Special, Unique Marine Areas of Tonga”, will assist in the selection of marine managed protected areas, to achieve 10 per cent coverage of Tonga’s wa- ters (see also chapter “Tonga’s commitment to marine conservation”). Moreover, they provide site-specific information for local or nation- al-level decisions, policies, plans or analyses that refer to marine places. Information relating to each site is intended to inform the following management responses:

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Special and unique: Vava’u waters The Vava’u group of islands lies in the northern waters of the Kingdom of Tonga. It consists of a main island and 40 smaller islands, as well as numerous rocky islets, sandbars and reefs. Vava’u is surrounded by diverse marine hab- itats, including inshore coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves, shallow soft-bottom com- munities, deep channels, oceanic waters and deep sea-floor topography, with at least 206 3. National and local development planning decisions 4. Decisions by communities and at various levels of government about where to locate marine protected/managed areas The maps show a total of 50 areas defined as large-scale/offshore and fine-scale/inshore SUMAs in Tongan waters. The large-scale SUMAs capture large sea-floor features such as seamounts, can- yons, ridges and troughs, areas of high produc- tivity such as the Ha’apai high-productivity zone, sea-floor hydrothermal vents and important areas for whales off Tongatapu and ‘Eua. The fine-scale SUMAs include a range of nearshore habitats and ecosystems important for biodiversity (Ceccarelli et al., 2017). The SUMAs were also identified by the experts as being special, unique marine envi- ronments, reflecting the immense variety of marine habitats within the Tongan islands, reefs and surrounding oceans. Much of this information has

species of hard corals, 249 species of mac- roinvertebrates and 406 fish species. There are also 14 marine mammal species officially confirmed as occurring in Tonga, including two baleen whales, nine dolphins and one sperm whale—many of these occur in Vava’u. The island group is well known as an important area for calving of humpback whales. Vava’u is special and unique indeed. been published in formal papers and reports, but there is also a great vein of local knowledge held by the traditional resource owners themselves, which should be taken into account for describing what is special and unique.

1. Permitting and licencing decisions 2. Environmental impact assessments

MAXIMIZING BENEFITS FOR TONGA

HABITAT VALUES

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