WORKSHOP ON ZONING AND MANAGEMENT
OF MARINE STRICTLY PROTECTED RESERVES IN RUSSIA
Workshop on zoning and management of marine protected areas was held
at Marine Experimental Station on the border of the Far
Eastern Marine Biosphere Zapovednik on the coast of the
Troitsa Cove, ca. 200 km south from Vladivostok. It was organized by
Moscow office of UNESCO and WWF together with Department of Marine Ecology
of DVGU and Biodiversity Conservation Center.
Even though the importance of marine protected areas in the global
sustainable development has been broadly recognised recently and received
a considerable input from the top level international forums, including
the Earth Summit in Johannesburg in 2002, in Russia, marine protected
areas have been largely out of the focus. This situation may seem strange
especially when taking into account that ca. 20% of the World Ocean
shelf is under Russian jurisdiction. Meanwhile, 21 of Russian federal
strictly protected reserves (zapovedniks) have maritime fragments
and/or maritime buffer zones, include important maritime wetlands or
marine/coastal reserves of lower rank outside of their core areas. Five
strictly protected reserves with marine areas have been designated UNESCO
Biosphere Reserves and several others are proposed for this status.
The objectives of the workshop were:
to review the current state of maritime zoning and management of marine fragments of Russian zapovedniks;
to develop methodology for the designation of maritime extensions of existing reserves; and
to formulate recommendations for Russian authorities with regards to the better management of marine protected areas.
Furthermore, we were trying to establish a functional network, which would allow reserve managers to share experience and establish liaison to find solutions for common management issues.
The organisers managed to gather a representative team of Russian
zapovednik managers, including directors or deputy directors of Astrakhan’
Biosphere Zapovednik (Volga Delta and the adjacent Caspian Sea),
Dagestan Zapovednik (Kizlyar Bay of the Caspian Sea), Kandalaksha
Zapovednik (Barents and the White Sea), Nenets Zapovednik
(Pechora Delta and the Pechora Sea), Commander and Kronotsk Biosphere
Zapovedniks (Bering Sea), Magadan and Kuril Zapovedniks
(Sea of Okhotsk), and the Far Eastern Marine Biosphere Zapovednik
(Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan). From the very beginning, the
scarcity of funds did not allow to invite managers from High Arctic
Reserves having offshore areas. However, this was not a significant
loss at the present stage of the networking process because these
areas require special attitude due to their geographic position, remoteness
and the sea ice cover that remains for most of year.
Presentations of the directors showed a variety of zoning and management
patterns and approaches. Marine zoning is well developed in Far
Eastern Marine, Astrakhan’, and Commander Islands Biosphere
Reserves. Functional zonation approach originally existed in the
design of Commander Islands and Far Eastern Marine zapovedniks. This
approach apparently facilitates the designation of UNESCO biosphere
reserves. Astrakhan’ Biosphere Zapovednik has acquired its
current functional zonation in the course of its historical development
and buffer zones designation; there are plans to extent its maritime
zones and designate three biosphere polygons. Kronotsky Biosphere
Zapovednik does not have any zonation in its maritime area but
its remoteness and limited ability of inspectors to control marine
areas make such zonation premature.
Some zapovedniks that are not designated UNESCO Biosphere Reserves
yet, have historically developed zonation schemes. For instance, Kurilsky
Zapovednik is able to control fisheries in its buffer zone around
Kunashir Island due to the annual ban of fishing set by the State
Ecological Expert Review of the Total Allowable Catch, while in the
waters of Small Kuril Islands fishing is allowed under the zapovednik
control. This makes the nature reserve an effective barrier against
poaching, which is permanently growing in the Kuril Islands waters.
The Kandalaksha Zapovednik also has a historically established
zonation scheme because it includes archipelagos affected by economic
activities.
The discussion revealed several examples of positive impacts from
marine protected areas on the sustainability of nature use in surrounding
areas. Thus the Far Eastern Marine Reserve is an area where
several commercial benthic stocks are protected against poaching.
The same positive role with regards to fish stocks play Astrakhan’,
Dagestan, Nenetsk, Kuril, and Magadan zapovedniks. A specific
recommendation of the workshop to strengthen the role of reserves
in commercial stocks protection was addressed to the environmental
and fishing authorities of the Russian Federation. A particular attention
was paid to the accessibility of the fishery satellite monitoring
information to protected area administrations.
The factors threatening the marine environment and biodiversity in
various zapovedniks are very similar. These are: unsustainable fishing
and poaching (in all the reserves present at the workshop), tourism
(Far Eastern Marine, Kandalaksha, and the Astrakhan’ reserves), offshore
oil development (Nenetsk Reserve and potentially Astrakhan’,
Dagestan, and Magadan Reserves), land-based pollution (Astrakhan’
and Far Easstern Marine Reserves), shipping (Kandalkasha,
Nenetsk and Far Eastern Marine Reserves). The expansion
of particular fisheries (sea urchin harvesting), tourism, offshore
oil and gas exploration, and shipping brings the extension of functional
zonation in existing zapovedniks to the agenda.
Participants of the workshop recognised the extension of Magadan
Zapovednik made to include the important maritime area around
Yamskie Islands a model example.
The initial design of Far Eastern Marine Zapovednik (1978) included
zonation. The Eastern division was designated as the area of strict
protection, the Southern Division – as the research area, and the Northern
Division – as the Educational area. In addition, there was an experimental
area where aquaculture developed under the control of the Zapovednik
administration. Currently, the main threats to the marine environment
and biodiversity are: poaching (illegal underwater harvesting of sea
cucumbers and scallops), pollution (especially land-based pollution
in the south), and tourism. In 2003, Far Eastern Marine Zapovednik
was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The Biosphere Reserve includes
a core area around islands of the Eastern division, a buffer zone along
the borders of the reserve, and a transition zone up to the Town of
Slavyanka in the north (where it borders the Barsovyi Reserve) and up
to the Chinese border in the south. One of the serious problems is the
regime enforcement in buffer and transitional zones on the land (which
is now facing strong tourism pressure) and on the sea (where enforcement
is weak outside the reserve boundaries and the level of co-ordination
between reserve inspectors with other control services is clearly insufficient).
V.A Spiridonov,
Coordinator of Maritime Program, WWF
