A recent UN report paints a devastating picture of the world’s flora and fauna in terrestrial and marine environments. Indeed, the biodiversity of the world’s oceans is declining in a way unparalleled in human history. The Inter-State Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report has been written by about 150 expert authors from 50 different countries assessing global change to the health of our ecosystems over the past five decades. Only the opening summary of the report has been published so far. The full report is expected to exceed 1,500 pages and will be released later this year.

“The health of the ecosystems we and all other organisms depend on is deteriorating faster than ever before,” IPBES President Sir Robert Watson said in a statement. “We are eroding our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and the quality of life around the world.”

According to the report, climate change is an additional threat, and depending on humanity’s efforts to prevent warming, fish biomass may drop to 3-25% of current levels by the end of the century. 90% of the world’s fishers, more than 30 million people, are engaged in subsistence fishing which represents about 50% of the world’s total fishing effort.

“The ocean is facing many and various threats, and climate change and plastic pollution are getting a lot of media attention,” said Angelo O’Connor Villagomez, a senior officer at the Pew Bertarelli Marine Heritage Project. “The United Nations Report on Biodiversity reminds us,” I quote: “Direct exploitation of organisms, mainly fishing, has had the greatest negative relative impact on nature since the 1970s.”

Villagomez said he believes the fully protected marine sanctuaries are crucial to protection of marine biodiversity. About 15% of the world’s oceans are under some form of protection. In recent years, conservation efforts have resulted in the rapid spread of marine protected areas and other forms of spatial protection. Still, the International Union for Conservation of Nature recommends protecting 30% of every marine habitat to ensure the sustainability of our oceans.

These spatial prototypes have been shown to work for coastal and non-migratory species such as scallops, lobsters and reef fishes, but their impact on large migratory species such as tuna and billfishes is less evident, says Kristina Boerder, a postdoctoral fellow at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada

A new study by Boerder suggests that carefully designed and managed MPAs can benefit large migratory species. These ocean sanctuaries have helped rebuild the already heavily exploited fish stocks, according to Kristina, but the success of these MPAs depends on the context of each fisheries. MPAs are particularly useful when englobing known migratory routes or in “hot-spots” where various marine species aggregate to either breed, feed, or for other reasons. A better understanding of the behavior and motions of highly migratory species would enable fisheries to adjust spatial protection to species’ needs.

“We already have a lot of data and knowledge on areas such as those with significant spawning or where different species tend to congregate, but the political will to protect these areas is often absent” – Kristina Boerder

To ensure that protected areas are not just lines on a map where IUU and unsustainable fishing can operate unchecked, we need MPA managers to be equipped with the human capacity and necessary technology to carry out more efficient monitoring and management of the MPA. Well managed protected areas, fisheries and marine habitats will increase reefs resilience to climate change and may be beneficial to local fishermen, who rely on the oceans resources for economic and food security

The reason for this lack of knowledge is because previous marine conservation efforts have been focused on the minor coastal MPAs which were created before the more remote offshore MPAs, and are easier to study, monitor and protect due to their location and size. Coastal research findings can be extrapolated to offshore MPAs; however, it does not give a complete view of exactly what is happening in these regions. We can achieve such an understanding by increasing research efforts and communication, which would then inform governments and conservationists as to how to deliver meaningful ecological outcomes for these MPAs. Achieving this understanding requires extensive research and reporting and should help governments, scientists and conservationists design and implement large MPAs with strong environmental outcomes.

To identify gaps in research on large MPAs, the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy project collaborated with fisheries scientists Chris Smith and Quentin Hanich of the University of Wollongong, Australia. They co-authored a paper, Large Scale Marine Protected Areas: Current status and consideration of socio-economic dimensions, summarizing the research needed to inform the management and design of large MPAs. It examines protected areas from multiple perspectives and addresses concerns from stakeholders and governments in developed and developing states. There is a broad number of areas where research could improve our MPAs, mainly in regard to migratory routes, Illegal Unregulated Unreported fisheries, climate change, traditional cultures and indigenous communities.

For example, the Papahanamukukia National Marine Monument in the Northwest Hawaii Islands was one of the first major marine protected areas in the world but was closed for commercial fishing only recently (2011). Moreover, there has been no follow up investigation into the economic or environmental impacts of this closure, its effects are unknown to stakeholders or the government. With the increasing creation of MPAs worldwide, it becomes necessary for research to be addressing such gaps to understand how large MPAs benefit both the ecosystem and its surrounding communities. The Ocean Legacy project aims to fill these gaps by working tightly with nonprofit organizations, universities and scientists. The Bertarelli Foundation’s Program in Marine Science (BPMS) is already filling these gaps with its research in the British Indian Ocean Territory.

The U.N Convention on Biological Diversity will meet in the coming year to set new global goals for the protection of global biodiversity. The UN aims to protect 10% of our oceans by 2020. With the deadline approaching, there is a chance for the UN to realign its goal with the more realistic recommendation of the IUCN for 30% of our oceans to be protected in a network of MPA by 2030. The establishment of such a network requires the implementation of many small to large MPA’s protecting all types of marine habitats and creating protected corridors along migratory routes. As stated in a landmark study “without adequate protection of species and ecosystems outside reserves, effectiveness of reserves will be severely compromised”. There is a need to look at our MPAs & fisheries as part of a whole in order to increase the sustainability of our oceans, worldwide. Habitats where marine life spawns, forages and breeds must be accordingly protected and managed with the best science and infrastructure available.