Existing research on the effectiveness of marine protected areas narrowly focuses on developing sets of management indicators tied to outcomes described in management plans or on the achievement of a single objective such as an increase in the size of number of older, more fecund female fish in a protected area. These approaches, however, fail to capture the dynamic complexity of social, cultural, economic and ecological processes, uncertainty, and tradeoffs associated with the establishment and operation of marine protected areas. Moreover, there is usually little recognition of local coastal communities, including fishing communities, and the values they hold in the evaluation of the relative benefits and costs of marine protected areas. We describe a framework for evaluating and assessing economic and ecosystem tradeoffs associated with marine protected areas and other forms of marine spatial planning. This framework integrates biophysical data and community-based social and economic evaluation methods. It identifies ecosystem services, their benefits and associated uncertainties in assessing the economic and social tradeoffs associated with changes in the use of the marine environment.

Authors: 
M. Harte, R. Rosenberger, G. Sylvia, & S. Heppell
How to Order : 

Publication available online from IIFET

Product Number: 
ORESU-WR-10-023
Year of Publication: 
2010
Miscellaneous: 
Source: Fifteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics & Trade, Montpellier, France, July 13-16, 2010