Supporting the development of marine protected area management plans based on fundamental science

英国有一个广泛的海洋保护区网络，它们构成了英国海洋保护和管理战略的基本组成部分。海洋管理组织（MMO）负责77个英国海洋保护区。其中，目前只有不到三分之一的公司有管理计划。管理计划已被证明是有效实施海洋保护区的必要条件；没有它们，海洋保护区就不太可能实现其目标。英国自然保护区是一个欧洲保护区网络，由于缺乏管理计划，英国可能面临欧洲的违规指控，因为英国违反了《栖息地指令》规定的职责，这可能导致巨额罚款。因此，MMO需要快速制定大量稳健的MPA管理计划。海洋保护区管理计划不仅会对其所保护的海洋环境产生重大影响，还会对依赖海洋资源的沿海社区产生重大影响。必须考虑生态和社会经济影响以及资源、可行性、现有管理规定以及与英国海洋保护区相关的过多政策和立法。就像海洋保护区的指定一样，管理计划的制定必须是战略性的、整体性的，并使用现有的最佳科学。这个为期三年的项目的总体目标是支持海洋保护区管理计划的发展，以尖端科学为基础。该项目将与海洋管理界（MMO、DEFRA、JNCC、CEFAS和Natural England）密切合作，并将根据其产出进行调整，以最大限度地利用MMO正在进行的工作。该项目将包括一系列战略性文献综述和估计9个讲习班。海洋管理界的成员和研究人员都将参加讲习班，他们将侧重于填补知识空白或开发决策支持工具。在第一年和第二年，该项目将开发和填充一个英国海洋保护区数据库，包括它们指定的特征和沿海社区当地的社会经济。该项目还将与MMO一起制定一个分类方案，用于对该数据库中包含的证据的强度进行分类。在第三年，将举办两次讲习班，以编制不同海洋保护区管理办法的矩阵。最后，在另外两个讲习班上，将制定和试验海洋保护区管理计划的决策支助框架。该项目将包括审查已完成和正在进行的研究，并将得到一系列学者的支持，包括：卡勒姆·罗伯茨教授、扬·希丁克博士、西蒙·詹宁斯教授和休·波辛厄姆教授。该项目还旨在为未来的NERC-MMO合作活动做出贡献。这个项目的一部分将涉及向研究人员反馈他们如何调整他们的研究成果和规划未来的项目，以增加他们为海洋保护区管理决策提供信息的效用，从而增加他们的工作的影响。该项目的这一部分将与普利茅斯大学的Abigail McQuatters-Gallop博士合作进行，她是现任NERC KE研究员，正在进行相关的KE项目。该项目将通过改善证据的可得性和提供一个支持将证据纳入治理的框架，推动科学融入海洋管理决策。这样做，它将有助于增加相关学术研究的影响。该项目的产出将有助于决策者同时考虑复杂的海洋环境、使用海洋环境的利益攸关方的不同范围、过多的国家和国际政策和立法以及可用资源的现实情况。

The UK has an extensive network of marine protected areas (MPAs) and they form a fundamental part of the UK marine conservation and management strategy. The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is responsible for the 77 English Marine protected areas. Of these, less than a third currently have a management plan. Management plans have been shown to be essential for effective MPA implementation; without them MPAs are less likely to meet their objectives. Lack of management plans for the UK Natura sites, a network of European protected areas, has led to the UK facing possible infraction charges from Europe for being in breach of our duties under the Habitats Directive, which could result in substantial fines. Thus there is a need for the MMO to develop a large number of robust MPA management plans, quickly. MPA management plans can have substantial consequences, not just for the marine environment they are designed to protect, but also for the coastal communities that depend on marine resources. Both ecological and socio-economic impacts must be considered alongside resourcing, feasibility, existing management provisions and the plethora of policy and legislation associated with UK MPAs. Just like the designation of MPAs, it is essential that the development of management plans is strategic, holistic, and uses the best available science.The overarching aim of this three year project is to support the development of marine protected area management plans, underpinned by cutting edge science. The project will work in close conjunction with the marine management community (MMO, DEFRA, JNCC, CEFAS and Natural England) and outputs will be tailored to maximise their utility to the ongoing work of the MMO. The project will entail a series of strategic literature reviews and an estimated nine workshops. Workshops will be attended by both members of the marine management community and researchers, and they will focus on either filling gaps in the knowledge or developing decision support tools. In years one and two, the project will develop and populate a database on English MPAs, including the features they are designated for and the socio-economics of the coastal community's local to them. The project will also develop a classification scheme, in conjunction with the MMO, which will be used to categorise the strength of evidence contained within that database. In the third year, two workshops will be held to develop a matrix of different MPA management options. Finally, over two further workshops, a decision support framework for MPA management plans will be developed and trialled. This project will involve reviewing both completed and ongoing research and will be supported by a range of academics, including: Professor Callum Roberts, Dr Jan Hiddink, Professor Simon Jennings and Professor Hugh Possingham.The project also aims to contribute to future NERC-MMO partnerships activities. Part of this project will involve feeding back to researchers about how they can tailor their research outputs and plan future projects to increase their utility for informing marine protected area management decisions, and hence how they can increase the impact of their work. This part of the project will undertaken in collaboration with Dr Abigail McQuatters-Gallop at University of Plymouth, who is a current NERC KE Fellow undertaking a related project KE project.This project will advance the uptake of science into marine management decisions by improving availability of evidence and by providing a framework to support the incorporation of that evidence into governance. In doing so, it will contribute to increasing the impact of associated academic research. The outputs of this project will aid decision makers to simultaneously consider the complex marine environment, the diverse range of stakeholders that use it, the plethora of both national and international policy and legislation, and the realities of resource availability.