Mexico marine protected areas

As our world population continues to grow, it implies a higher demand for resources. Whether these resources are food, water, or land, the effect of this growth on our environment is often detrimental to biodiversity and the health of our natural ecosystems, especially our marine ecosystems. The ocean covers 71% of the earth’s surface and therefore our actions on land and in the water have a massive impact on marine ecosystems worldwide. Trade, fishing, tourism, and transportation all impact our oceans and if we do not protect marine resources, future generations will face limited fish stocks, polluted waters, and a loss of biodiversity.

The implementation of marine protected areas (MPAs) attempts to reduce the risk of destroying our marine ecosystems by reducing fishing pressure and other marine impacts. MPAs are marine areas that have usually been altered by humans and are in need of restoration and conservation. MPAs serve to protect delicate ecosystems so that they remain productive and healthy, maintain areas of biodiversity and genetic variation within the flora and fauna populations, ensure that endangered, threatened, or rare species are protected, promote sustainable use of the area, protect indigenous areas for cultural importance, and endorse research to preserve the area using the best scientific knowledge (DOF 2007).

In Mexico, many areas have management policies in place for the protection of the country’s environment, including coastal waters. With the high volume of inhabitants as well as tourists visiting the country, there is a need to protect the Mexican coastal areas from severe human impact. But are these MPAs actually effective in preserving biodiversity and resources? When trying to regulate an area such as the ocean, enforcing the laws must be a collaborative effort. However, this is especially difficult in Mexico where cooperation between communities, local governments, and state governments is frequently lacking.

With a coastline of 11,500 km (~7,100 miles), the variation in marine ecosystems in Mexico ranges from wetlands, mangrove forests, and barrier islands to dunes, coral reefs, sea grass meadows, and offshore islands (Inegi 2007, Vidal 2005). Within each of these ecosystems exists a unique biodiversity of flora and fauna that provide valuable environmental and economic benefits for Mexico and its inhabitants. The oil industry, tourism, agriculture, urban development, fisheries, and mining, however, can all negatively affect this precious marine life (Fraga 2008). To combat this damage, Mexico created a piece of legislation for environmental regulation called the General Law for Ecological Equilibrium and Environmental Protection (LGEEPA). Balancing sustainability with economic gain and preserving the environment, along with conservation and protection of biodiversity are the main goals of this law.

LGEEPA also provides the framework to create MPAs in Mexico. Since 1962, Mexico has been protecting marine and coastal areas by signing many international agreements including CITES, UNCLOS, MARPOL, and Ramsar to name a few. But with thirty-one states comprising Mexico and each with their own individual environmental laws and legal mechanisms (Bezaury-Creel 2005), decisions and agreements on how to manage and handle the environment, specifically the marine and coastal areas, of Mexico can be inconsistent and lead to poor and ineffective management.

For a managed area to be successful all parts of the government need to cooperate with one another and the government needs to be centralized on environmental issues for the best protection and results. One reason for Mexico’s difficulty in creating effective MPAs is that they do not yet have an integrated coastal management (ICM) system implemented into their regulations. ICM would streamline all of the different coastal management plans throughout the country into one consistent plan for the entire country. Because of the various governmental agencies in Mexico, however, ICM is not a top priority for the country currently.

Despite these governance challenges, Mexico has decided to stick with MPAs as a way of protecting their marine ecosystems (Rivera Arriaga 2004). Because of limited information and data on the coastal zones and limited management cooperation, ICM is not an appealing option for Mexican governments. Instead, Mexico, as of March 2007, has implemented 61 MPA’s throughout the country (Fraga 2008).

Figure 1: The above table outlines the total protected areas in Mexico, including the marine protected areas along with the total area of the protected ecosystem, both marine and terrestrial (Fraga 2008).

Unfortunately, according to a study in May 2005, only 22 of 59 MPAs had proper management plans and rules (Fraga 2008). Less than 50% of the MPAs at the time were effective or allowing the protection of the marine areas. The ineffectiveness of the MPAs can be attributed to the difficulty in implementing them. Scientists must preform extensive research on the area including social and cultural effects on the community, they must collect basic information on the area and the ecosystem, present a reason for protection, investigate the history and culture of the area, take into consideration the socioeconomic status of the area, present an overview of the land/water use, and present a management plan with information on how the MPA will be operated and managed (DOF 2007).

The Secretariat for the Environmental and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) and LGEEPA are in charge of approving new MPAs. SEMARNAT requires the approval by the state and local governments and agencies, the public and private social organizations, the indigenous people, and the educational institutions (SEMARNAT 2007). LGEEPA requires information on the precise location and boundaries of the area, the type of protection needed, a list of activities that are allowed and not allowed, a management plan, and a list of ways it will be operated, enforced, and financed (DOF 2007).

The issue of finance is one of the greatest downfalls for MPAs. Enforcement is key to the success of an MPA but without proper funds to hire personnel to patrol the area, nothing can be accomplished. A lack of management plans also makes MPAs ineffective because people will continue to use the area indiscriminately and cause degradation. Often economic interests overtake environmental interests, making MPAs a low priority for the Mexican government.

Additionally, environmentalists and locals do not always agree on one way for a marine area to be managed because environmentalists want to protect the natural value while locals of Mexico rely on the ocean for their livelihood. The ocean provides many natural resources that allow locals to live and make money and they fear that MPAs will prevent them from accessing these vital resources. The differing opinions between the environmentalists and the locals brings about the conflict of using science as a base for creating MPAs versus using traditional knowledge, or a combination of both. According to LGEEPA and SEMARNAT, they both see the importance of involving the local community, stakeholders, and indigenous people when creating MPAs because they contribute traditional knowledge about the area that scientists do not possess.