Large-scale Marine Protected Areas in the Pacific: Cultural and Social Perspectives

In this chapter we examine four aspects of LSMPA: the management regimes and success stories of near-shore MPA in the eastern Pacific; the ecological problems of pelagic zones which LSMPA seek to overcome; the highly specific and variable ecological, political and cultural reasons for the formation of individual LSMPA; and lastly, areas where cultural aspects of near-shore management regimes might have efficacy in broader LSMPA regimes. The question we seek to examine is does the expansion of MPAs into open ocean beyond site of land diminish the role of culture in management regime? We argue that the few detailed studies based on data rather than assumption clearly reveal that co-management by marine scientists and local communities is the best way forward in both neritic and pelagic regimes for ecological, legal, political, economic and cultural reasons. The Pacific is the largest ocean on the earth, but it is also an Oceanscape that is an integral part of the cultural identity and economic future of Pacific nations. Data from MPA suggest that policing and enforcement are the key factors in the relative success of MPA, rather than the legal and ecological regime set up when MPA are declared, and that here, Pacific cultures can have a positive role.