Marine Protected Area
Marine protected areas, like any protected area, are regions in which human activity has been placed under some restrictions in the interest of conserving the natural environment, its surrounding waters and the occupant ecosystems, and any cultural or historical resources that may require preservation or management. Marine protected areas' boundaries will include some area of ocean, even if it is only a small fraction of the total area of the territory.
Natural or historic marine resources are protected by local, state, territorial, native, regional, or national authorities and may differ substantially from nation to nation. This variation includes different limitations on development, fishing practices, fishing seasons and catch limits, moorings, bans on removing or disrupting marine life of any kind.
In some situations (such as with the Phoenix Islands Protected Area), MPAs also provide revenue for countries, often of equal size as the income that they would have if they were to grant companies permissions to fish.
As of 2010, the world hosted more than 5,880 MPAs, encompassing 1.17% of the world's oceans.
Marine protected areas are included on the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), which, since 2010 is viewable via Protected Planet, an online interactive search engine hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Center (UNEP-WCMC).
Read more about Marine Protected Area: Terminology, Alternative Terminology and Importance Economically, Management and Restrictions, International Efforts, Global Status, Effectiveness
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