By letter dated May 3, 2010, the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee (“Committee”) sent its Recommendations on Climate Change in the Ocean to the U.S. National Administration on Oceans and Atmosphere and to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Their report is entitled Climate Change in the Ocean: Implications and Recommendations for the National System of Marine Protected Areas (“Report”). It is available online at http://mpa.gov/pdf/helpful-resources/mpafac_tor_doi_5-3-10-1.pdf.

The Committee recommends in their Report that the “appropriate authorities”

“I. design MPAs, MPA networks and the National System of MPAs to be as
ecologically resilient as practicable to the impacts of climate change; and

II. evaluate and adaptively manage MPAs, MPA networks and the National
System of MPAs in response to climate change.”

According to a NOAA website, http://mpa.gov/fac/, “The committee’s role is to provide expert advice and recommendations to the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior on implementation of aspects of Section 4 of Executive Order 13158, the heart of the national MPA initiative.”

The Committee’s climate change report begins with the conclusion that “[t]here is abundant scientific evidence that marine ecosystems…are undergoing substantial changes ‐‐ physically, chemically and biologically ‐‐ due to the direct and indirect effects of changes in climate and atmospheric composition” (footnotes omitted). The Committee further concludes,

“These changes…will have local, regional and national implications, including warming water, sea level rise, altered weather patterns, changes in ocean chemistry, altered currents, melting sea ice, and ocean acidification. Climate change in the ocean is, therefore, a growing challenge to the management of MPAs, networks of MPAs, and the National System of MPAs” (footnotes omitted).

The Committee urges that the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Interior implement these recommendations in a manner is “science‐based and stakeholder‐informed….”

The Committee expands on its “design” recommendation with the following bullet points (footnotes omitted):

“• Reducing nonclimate stresses – To increase ecosystem integrity and resilience, reduce those human‐caused stresses on marine ecosystems that exacerbate or interact negatively with climate change, which should improve
the capacity of ecosystems to resist and recover from the impacts of climate change in the ocean.

• Protecting the least exposed – Protect those ecosystems that are least exposed to climate change in the ocean by siting MPAs where the effects of climate change are expected to be less severe due to local conditions.

• Protecting the most resistant and adaptable – Protect ecosystems affected by climate change by selectively siting MPAs where organisms are expected to be naturally more resistant or adaptable to climate change impacts.

• Protecting the most valuable – Protect those resources at risk from climate change that are especially valuable by siting MPAs to contain those resources.  Such resources include those that are unique or rare, or those that are ecologically, culturally, historically, socially or economically important.

• Protecting resilient populations – Ensure replenishment, viability and genetic diversity of populations by designing MPAs and MPA networks to protect sufficiently large effective population sizes to achieve these goals and, thereby, increase the chance of population persistence.

• Making MPAs dynamic – Site, design, and modify MPAs and MPA networks to maintain protection of populations in anticipation of potential habitat or species range shifts in response to climate change.

• Maintaining connectivity – Site and design MPAs to create ecologically connected and functional networks that take into account the range shifts of populations and the movements of individuals and genes in response to climate change.

• Spreading risk – Site and design MPA networks to spread the risk of catastrophic loss due to the more extreme impacts of climate change by protecting a range of habitats and replicating sites that include those habitat types.

The Committee expands on its “evaluate and adaptively manage” recommendation with the following bullet points (footnotes omitted):

“• Monitoring and Evaluation – Build and enhance capacity to monitor and evaluate the physical and chemical effects of climate change on MPAs and their impacts on the biological systems protected by those MPAs.

• Predictive Capabilities – Foster the development of new ecosystem models that interface with climate change models to predict the impacts of climate change in the ocean on the National System of MPAs at appropriate regional and sub‐regional scales.

• Agency Coordination and Governance – Promote a higher level of coordination among resource and environmental agencies, including consultation with interested stakeholders, to expedite the design and
implementation of MPAs, in a way that meets the complex challenges that are likely to result from climate change in the ocean.

• Education and Public Engagement – Facilitate education and engagement with decision makers, managers, stakeholders, and the public in order to expand overall awareness and understanding of the relationships between
climate change in the ocean and the National System of MPAs.

• Policy Action Thresholds – Identify ecological thresholds related to the effects and impacts of climate change that would trigger the implementation of MPA management actions to ensure timely and appropriate responses.

• Ecosystem Characterization – Support the ecological characterization of the National System of MPAs in order to promote the improved understanding of the impact of climate change on the structure, diversity and function of MPA ecosystems. The development and use of ocean observing systems, sensors, geospatial tools, marine spatial planning, and other predictive capabilities will all contribute to effective ecosystem  characterization.

• Targeted Scientific Research – Support adaptive management of the National System of MPAs and networks of MPAs by closing critical gaps in scientific knowledge of climate change in the ocean. In particular, research should target understanding ecosystem structure and functioning.”

The Committee’s recommendations are broad and ambitious. A threshold and still unanswered question is which governmental and/or private institutions should be responsible for implementing them.