FEATURE
THE MONACO
BLUE INITIATIVE
I
Building relationships between Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and aquaculture
The panelists of Session 3 with Thierry Chopin making the case for the Turquoise Economy, a ‘greener’ version of the Blue Economy
by Thierry Chopin, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, Canada, and panelist in Session 3 Monaco Blue Initiative 2018
n Canada, it is becoming apparent that the wonderful, land-based, National Parks of the 19th and 20th centuries are sometimes not large enough, and are especially lacking buffer and transition zones and corridors for migratory populations. We need to transfer this management knowledge to the marine environment. A mosaic of little MPAs will not be the solution. Experiences from several parts of the world involving MAPs and aquaculture were given at the recent Monaco Blue Initiative 2018 held in Edinburgh, Scotland. Panelists in Session 3 on MPAs and Aquaculture touched on the following: • Paul Tett, Coordinator of the European project AQUASPACE, Scottish Association for Marine Science, mentioned that in Scotland marine spatial planning, zoning and interactions between aquaculture and MPAs are regulated by law and gave the example of Loch Creran where salmon, mussel and oyster farming are taking place along recreational and commercial boating and the designation of a MPA. • Rory Moore, Project Manager, Blue Marine Foundation, gave the example of Chile, where salmon aquaculture and nature conservation are experiencing difficulties finding common ground, whereas, in the Caspian Sea, aquaculture has been crucial for the protection of sturgeon. • Kitty Brayne, United Kingdom Conservation Programme
The need for synergies
There is a need for synergies between MPA governance and the development of sustainable aquaculture, and this is even more important in developing countries, says Francois Simard, Deputy Director, Global Marine and Polar Program, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)] when highlighting key points for Session 3. He said: • In 2010, under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, the Aichi Target 11 was aiming at 10 percent of the oceans being protected by 2020 (with an intermediate target of five percent by 2017) • There is a need to reconcile nature conservation and sustainable development
• The IUCN Resolution of 2016 is aiming at 30 percent of the oceans being strongly protected by 2030 • In 2014, seafood supply from aquaculture operations exceeded that provided by capture fisheries
• The time has come to identify potential opportunities and synergies that can enable aquaculture and conservation to work together more effectively through an integrated management framework
Manager of Blue Ventures, reported on two beneficial cases for both the ecosystems and local populations: the cultivation of seaweeds in Indonesia and of sea cucumbers in Madagascar. • Iain Pollard, Standards Coordinator, Aquaculture Stewardship Council, reported on the successful certification of salmon aquaculture operations in southern Ireland, which, by controlling the quantity and the quality of the feed used, were having an acceptable environmental impact.
Evolving from simple ‘no touch zones’
As the Scientific Director of the Canadian Integrated MultiTrophic Aquaculture Network, and having just returned from a trip to Brazil to establish a cooperation with Janaina Mitsue Kimpara - who was a panelist during the 7th MBI in São Paulo in 2016 – I was struck by the fact that MPAs in the western world are still largely based on a principle that excludes other activities and are pretty much “no touch zones”. In Brazil, and other developing countries, there is more an adoption of the IUCN approach with seven types of reserves, of which types V and VI allow some activities; they are the Reserva Extrativista Marinha. There is a need for intermediate situations between these two extremes, which would allow some sustainable activities within the MPAs framework, such as Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA), which is a type of sustainable aquaculture compatible with the MPA targets. All the panelists agreed that the aquaculture of seaweeds (absorbing dissolved inorganic nutrients), shellfish (suspensionfeeders filtering small organic particles in the water column), and other invertebrates (deposit-feeders, such as sea cucumbers or sea urchins, recapturing larger organic particles on the bottom) was an excellent idea, independently or combined in IMTA systems. The aquaculture of these organisms could be highly recommended, in particular in regions where overfishing has occurred. New cultivation technologies, in particular hatchery technologies, will need to be developed. IMTA is much more than looking at protein sourcing. As
36 | May 2018 - International Aquafeed