Conceptualizing Social Outcomes of Large Marine Protected Areas

There has been an assumption that because many large marine protected areas (LMPAs) are designated in areas with relatively few direct uses, they therefore have few stakeholders and negligible social outcomes. This article challenges this assumption with diverse examples of social outcomes that are distinctive in LMPAs. We define social outcomes as inclusive of both social change processes and social impacts, where “social” includes all perceptual or material human dimensions. We draw on five in-depth case studies to report social outcomes resulting from proposed or designated LMPAs in Bermuda, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Kiribati, Palau, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands & Guam. We conclude: (1) social outcomes arise even in remote LMPAs; (2) LMPA efforts generate social outcomes at all stages of development; (3) LMPAs have the potential to produce outcomes at a higher level of social organization, which can change the scope and type of affected populations and, in some cases, the nature and stakes of the outcomes themselves; (4) the potential for LMPAs to impart distinctive social outcomes results from their unique geographies and/or intersection with high-level politics and policy processes; and (5) social outcomes of LMPAs may emerge in the form of social change processes and/or social impacts.     

Learning from Ecosystem-Based Management in Practice

We explore how marine ecosystem–based management (EBM) is translated from theory to practice at six sites with varying ecological and institutional contexts. Based on these case studies, we report on the goals, strategies, and outcomes of each project and what we can learn from these efforts to guide future implementation and assessment. In particular, we focus on how projects dealt with the challenges of working across geographic scales and diverse governance arrangements. While we hypothesized that EBM in the United States would be distinct from EBM in developing countries due to differences in social and political factors, we found that sites faced similar challenges. Variation among sites appeared to be more closely related to the preexisting management context and the scale at which the projects began rather than to clear differences between the United States and developing country contexts. EBM project implementers were able to overcome many of these challenges by focusing on a limited number of specific objectives, starting at a small scale, pursuing adaptive management, and monitoring a diverse set of indicators. These findings are directly relevant to current and future EBM efforts in these and other places.     

Siliceous plankton dominate primary and new productivity during the onset of El Niño conditions in the Santa Barbara Basin, California

The potential for carbon export and the role of siliceous plankton in the cycling of C and N was assessed in natural plankton assemblages in the Santa Barbara Basin, California, by examining uptake rates of inorganic carbon, nitrate and silicic acid. In April–August 1997, the concentrations of chlorophyll a, particulate organic carbon, particulate organic nitrogen and biogenic silica were measured twice monthly, and results revealed the occurrence of at least three blooms, the largest in June. Particulate elemental ratios of C, N and Si were similar to ratios of nutrient-replete diatoms, suggesting that they dominated this bloom. Mean integrated rates of carbon, nitrate and silicon uptake during the 4-month study period are similar to other productive coastal and upwelling regions (103, 8.3 and 13 mmol m⁻² day⁻¹, respectively). New production rates were twice as high as previously reported in this region and indicate that high rates of new production along eastern boundary currents are not confined to the major coastal upwelling regions. C/NO₃⁻, Si/NO₃⁻ and Si/C uptake ratios varied widely, and mean integrated ratios were 14±5.4, 1.6±1.0 and 0.12±0.07 (S.D.), respectively. That mean C/NO₃⁻ uptake ratio corresponds to an f-ratio of about 0.5 indicating a large potential for particulate export. Based on the average Si/NO₃⁻ and Si/C uptake ratios, diatoms could perform all of the primary production and nitrate uptake that occurred during the study; these rates also suggest that export is controlled by diatoms in this system. The mean Si/C biomass ratio was lower than the mean Si/C uptake ratio, consistent with the preferential export of Si relative to C observed in sediment traps in the basin. The study took place during a period of surface-water warming, with nitrate and silicic acid concentrations decreasing throughout the onset of the 1997–1998 El Niño conditions. Although diatoms contributed less to particulate biomass during the low nutrient conditions, high f-ratios (0.33–0.66) were maintained.     

Applying a Mediated Negotiation Framework to Integrated Coastal Zone Management

Conflict is intrinsic to coastal zone management, yet relatively few peer-reviewed studies have examined how coastal managers might apply conflict resolution processes in the coastal zone management (CZM) context. The authors believe that many of these disputes can be addressed by using a structured mediation model that involves face-to-face negotiation with a broad range of stakeholders to build consensus-based agreements for integrated coastal zone management (ICZM). To explore this further, the article examines four questions. First, it examines how CZM literature characterizes conflict and conflict resolution. Second, it looks at how essential principles from the field of alternative dispute resolution and environmental mediation can be best employed in the ICZM context. In particular, it explores the various elements of a stepwise agreement building model, a mediated negotiation process model the authors use in practice that bases its success on a foundation of four principles: representation, participation, legitimacy, and accountability. Next, it details three essential tools used in this process, stakeholder analysis, joint factfinding, and single-text negotiation, that the authors believe to be promising for developing and adopting stable, well-informed, and implementable agreements for ICZM. Finally, the article examines how these structuring principles and process strategies have been used in two recent case studies regarding the management of the San Francisco estuary and its tributaries.