Marine Protected areas sustainability: issues of complexity and stewardship

Abstract

The success rate for MPA implementation both in Canada and globally is low. Tools such as 'How is Your MPA Doing?' exist that do assess MPAs, but neglect to assess them long term. This thesis examines MPAs from the point of view of sustainability through the use of various tools, and highlights the issues of complexity and stewardship as factors influencing this sustainability. Specifically, stewardship is a term often linked with MPAs and other environmental initiatives, but rarely defined with any depth or operationalized. This thesis proposes to begin understanding the concept of stewardship through literature review and community dialogue, using the case study of the Eastport Peninsula MPA, in Eastport, Newfoundland, Canada. A set of questions were developed from this dialogue that can begin to assess stewardship in the Eastport region.