Posted On October 24, 2007

Floating on the calm water. Face up. Eyes closed. Toes peaking just above the rippling surface. You feel totally connected with the world that exists above, beside, and even below you. But to make it even more tangible, you pull on a mask and snorkel and flip onto your belly. A coral reef system extending from the western tip of Shoal Bay to the eastern end of Island Harbour, provides the backdrop for a scene that is bustling with activity, drama, and power plays. Damselfish skirt around their algal mats, tending to their harvest and defending their territories from other encroaching fish. Large princess parrotfish with their pink-lined tails swim slowly along the reef. Using their beak-like mouths, they search for a snack within the maze-like grooves of the brain coral. Finding just enough algae to nibble on, they crunch down on both the algae and the coral to which it is attached. Their strong teeth grind the latter into sand. Coral polyps reach out of their limestone base, capturing life-sustaining nutrients. Sea urchins (moving so slowly that they seem as though they are not moving at all) also compete with the other grazing fish for algae. A massive shoal of young silveries swim effortlessly with the current. Like a carefully choreographed ballet involving thousands of performers, they move in unison creating a seemingly untouchable blanket of tiny bodies. A lone barracuda seizes the moment. It uses its powerful tail and sleek body to herd the fish together. It feasts. A small hawksbill sea turtle seems oblivious to the action.

This just happens to be a snapshot of what is being protected in Anguilla’s waters – the Shoal Bay-Island Harbour reef system is included within Anguilla’s marine parks network.

Marine Protected Areas

Marine protected areas (MPAs) have been best defined by the World Conservation Union as sites “of intertidal [the region between the high and low tide marks] and the subtidal [the region just below the low tide mark], together with its overlying water and associated flora, fauna, historical and cultural features, which has been reserved by law or other effective means to protect part or all of the enclosed environment.”

Before the 1960s, few MPAs existed in the world. People believed that the resources that could be found within the open ocean and coastal waters, particularly the fish, could never run out. Since then, though, our understanding of the marine environment has changed dramatically. With fish stocks collapsing and with coral reefs and their associated mangrove forests and seagrass beds being devastated by rampant coastal development (and all of its associated negative impacts – increased sedimentation, nutrient overloads, physical coastal damage), natural resource managers realised that the oceanic and coastal waters of the world could no longer be considered free-for-all places – some management and protection was necessary. By 2000, 660 MPAs covering more than 900 000km2 had been established throughout the world. 225 of them are found in the Wider Caribbean and 5 are in Anguilla’s waters.

Anguilla’s MPAs

Anguilla’s marine parks network includes sites at Shoal Bay-Island Harbour, Little Bay, Sandy Island, Prickly Pear cays, and Dog Island. They were established in 1993 in an effort to protect the fragile coral reef and seagrass bed areas (which are also important fish habitats) from boat anchor damage and other destructive practices (for example, the discharging of pollutants from boats). Regulations now govern marine park usage by boaters and other users. Indeed, the Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources (DFMR) recently erected signs within all of the parks indicating that the dumping of bilge and other pollutants from boats, the removal of plants or animals (or any other type of organism), water skiing, jet skiing, building of fires, and fishing by non-nationals are all not allowed within their boundaries.  

How do MPAs work and do they really help protect fish stocks?

Anguilla’s marine protected areas are marine parks. This means that while some activities may be prohibited, use by locals and visitors is still encouraged, so long as that use does not damage the environment. This type of protected area is commonly found throughout the world. Increasingly though, it has been found that despite the creation of protected areas, habitats are still being damaged and fisheries stocks have still collapsed. Reasons for fisheries trouble, in particular, seem to be related to incomplete and insufficient information, inadequate scientific models that look at only one type of fish instead of the relationships that exist between them and the different gear that are used to harvest them, loss of nursery habitats (coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangrove forests) from coastal development, poor compliance with and enforcement of fishery regulations, and an emphasis on short-term economic gain with little regard for long-term impacts. In Anguilla, loss of habitat from coastal development and poor boating practices are two of the key problems, but the taking of juveniles and reproductive females (particularly of spiny lobsters) also seems to be taking its toll.

Around the world, in an effort to help protect, manage, and in some cases, restore fish stocks, marine reserves are becoming increasingly popular. Marine reserves are areas that are closed to fishing, harvesting, and any other type of extractive activity. Such reserves are controversial – some believe that they are not effective in helping restore or maintain fish stocks and others believe that the marine environment should be open and free for all uses (and especially fishing). They also believe that traditional fishery management efforts should be enough and that they should work.

Traditional management efforts aim to provide fish stocks with an escape from harvest by controlling and managing the type of fishing gear that is used (for example, mesh size of nets and fish pots), the minimum size of the fish that is caught, and/or by limiting the number of individuals or boats that are allowed to fish in a certain area through the issuing of licences.

Fishery reserves, meanwhile, provide fish populations with an actual area of refuge. In the past, fish used to have natural refuges – places that were too deep, too far, or too hard to find for fishers to fish. Now, with new technology, these natural places of escape are becoming few and far between.

The importance of having refuges, despite the concerns of some, is clear. Refuges and reserves have direct benefits to fisheries. They can protect nursery grounds where adult fish lay eggs and where juvenile fish are able to grow and reach reproductive maturity. The eggs, larvae, and fish from the areas can be brought by currents or by migration to neighbouring fishing grounds where they can then be legally harvested. In turn, this could lead to greater fishery yields in the long-term because the reserve has become an important source of fish (the spill-over effect). Reserves can also help speed up recovery of stocks that have been hurt by natural disturbance (for example, disease or storms), human accidents (for example, oil spills), management mistakes (for example, allowing too many fish to be harvested), or years of poor reproduction among fish species. Since fishing practices tend to be very selective, reserves can also help to maintain genetic diversity within each species. Genetic diversity is what makes each individual fish different from each other and it is important because it is what allows the fish to adapt to and survive changing conditions.

In areas that are heavily fished, despite the benefits through spill-over effects, reserves are often fought against since they are seen as limiting livelihoods; the long-term economic gains are sometimes difficult to see and understand if, in the short-term, individuals lose money. It should always be remembered, though, that MPAs and marine reserves are ultimately not about taking anything away from people, but rather ensuring that resources are available to us and our children for the long-term.

The success of marine reserves in promoting sustainable use, however, depends essentially on how they are integrated into a marine parks system and how they are combined with more traditional fishery management approaches. Their success will also depend on their size, their number, their total area, and their locations. Simply put, in order to make a difference, they have to be big enough, enough of them, and located in places that matter (for example, the areas where fish lay their eggs or where the young feed and grow). It is not easy to decide where, how many, or how big they should be – scientific information is an absolute must and so is support among users of this important resource.

Can marine reserves help Anguilla’s fisheries?

While there are only about 300 licensed fishing boats operating in Anguilla, about 700 people (almost 10 percent of the island’s eligible workforce) work in the industry. The majority of those employed work at it part-time. Regardless, these fishers have managed to contribute approximately 2.5% annually to Anguilla’s GDP over the last 15 years. The fishing industry – commercial, subsistence, and recreational – is clearly important to this small island.

Despite its importance, though, we still do not know much about the island’s fish stocks. Anecdotal evidence and results of a 2006 survey indicate, though, that fish stocks (and particularly those of the spiny lobster) are either lower or much lower today than they were ten years ago. Although the cause may not necessarily be over-fishing, lower fish stocks are not a healthy sign for the fishery and it demonstrates the need for more information. And when data is collected, it should be used to conserve fish stocks with the aim of supporting and maintaining the livelihoods of fishers.

As Anguilla seeks to better manage its resources – on the land and in the water – agencies responsible for such management should consider all of the methods and measures that are available to them. Taking a holistic, comprehensive, and multiple-tool approach may be the most effective means to ensuring wise and appropriate use of the island’s fragile habitats and resources. Setting aside coastal areas as marine parks is an important step, but as they currently exist, the parks network does not have a management plan and no management body has been officially assigned responsibility over them. Clearly, this needs to change and some work is being done to correct this – the Anguilla National Trust, with technical assistance from the DFMR and The Nature Conservancy and with financial support from the Overseas Territories Environment Programme, is working towards creating management plans for these important areas. At the same time, these plans primarily focus on what is occurring within protected areas, but it is equally important to manage what happens outside of them as well – and that includes activities on land.

It is true that MPAs and marine reserves may not (and will not) provide all of the solutions. They can, however, be successfully incorporated into a new style of coastal zone management if we are willing to pursue it, put the necessary resources (human, financial, and otherwise) into it, and learn and understand why it is so desperately needed. By doing so, we will be in a better position to appreciate what we have, what we have lost, and what we are at risk of losing.

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Note: This article is supported by information provided in: Bohnsack, J.A. 1998. Application of marine reserves to reef fisheries management in Australian Journal of Ecology. 23(3): 298-301; Bohnsack, J.A. et al. 2004. Why Have No-Take Marine Protected Areas? in American Fisheries Society Symposium. 42:185-193.

Eco-Corner is written by Farah Mukhida and is a regular feature provided by the Anguilla National Trust.  If you would like to voice your opinions and/or concerns, please contact the Trust at 497 5297 or at axanat@anguillanet.com. Together we can make a difference. Preservation for Generations.