When was the first Marine Park/Reserve established

FSP Fiji - Suva Office fspsuva at is.com.fj
Wed Sep 5 00:34:26 EDT 2001


IO, Yes,  the Pacific islanders invented the concept of "tabu", and had 
no-fishing areas and no-hunting areas as part of customary management, 
usually tied to their belief systems (Melanesia, Polynesia) or to sea 
burial sites (Chuuk, Micronesia).  Only fairly recently opening the areas 
after becoming westernized/christianized, fortunately they are now 
recapturing their roots!  We have four new Tabu areas in our Fiji sites, 
established by the reef owners, one is the re-establishment of a 
traditional Tabu around a "sacred point" area on Yanuca Island, Cuvu 
District... great fun!

Vinaka vaka levu,

Austin
Coral Gardens Initiative
Fiji

-----Original Message-----
From:	Mike Mascia [SMTP:mbm4 at duke.edu]
Sent:	05 September 2001 03:47
To:	jacob Dafni
Cc:	coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject:	Re: When was the first Marine Park/Reserve established

Jacob,

You may wish to consider these other contenders for the "first" MPA:

Middle Morant Caye Nature Reserve, Jamaica, established 1907, containing
200 km2 of coral reef, seagrass, and sandy bottom habitat (Source:
unpublished data from my 1997 survey of MPA managers in the Wider 
Caribbean).

The "Sea Garden" between Hog Island and Athol Island (Nassau, Bahamas),
protected in 1892 by "An Act for the protection of the 'Sea Gardens'",
containing an unspecified area of coral reef, within which it was illegal
for anyone "to dredge for, remove, or take by away by any means whatsoever, 
from the bottom of the sea ... any coral, sea fan, or other marine product
thereupon growing, lying, or being".  The penalty for noncompliance was a
fine of up to 5 pounds or up to 30 days imprisonment.  (Source: Government
of the Bahamas, Sea Gardens Protection Act, 1892.)

I would also suggest that many of the customary marine tenure systems in
the South Pacific and Oceania, which date back centuries, were (are) very
similar in function to modern, government-established and managed MPAs.

Hope this helps.

Mike








At 06:24 AM 8/30/2001, you wrote:
>Hi All listers
>
>For a forthcoming publication, I need the following piece of information:
>
>Which was the first Underwater marine park and/or coral nature reseve in
>the world, and when was it formally established?
>
>Thanks for your cooperation
>
>Jacob Dafni
>



Michael B. Mascia, Ph.D.
Environmental Policy Consultant
223 Constitution Avenue, NE	
Washington, DC 20002

Phone: (202) 547-6516
Cell: (202) 257-2455
Email: Michael.Mascia at duke.edu

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