Ogden John C
Florida Institute of Oceanography, University of South Florida, 830 First Street South, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701, USA.
Rev Biol Trop. 2010 Oct;58 Suppl 3:71-9.
The rapid decline of coastal ecosystems of the Wider Caribbean is entering its fifth decade. Some of the best science documenting this decline and its causes has been done by the laboratories of the Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean (AMLC). Alarmed at the trends, Caribbean conservation pioneers established marine protected areas (MPAs) which spread throughout the region. Unfortunately, many have little or no protection and are now known to be too small to be effective in sustaining coastal ecosystems. Marine spatial planning (MSP) holds much promise to encompass the large geographic scales of the ecological processes and human impacts that influence coastal ecosystems and adjacent lands. The AMLC, through the scientific expertise and the national political connections of its member institutions, is well-positioned to help implement a pilot project. MSP a first step in ecosystem-based management and has had considerable success elsewhere. It holds our best chance of sustaining human use and conserving the coral reefs and associated ecosystems.
大加勒比地区沿海生态系统的迅速衰退已进入第五个十年。记录这种衰退及其成因的一些最出色的科学研究是由加勒比海洋实验室协会（AMLC）的实验室完成的。加勒比地区的保护先驱们对这些趋势感到震惊，于是建立了海洋保护区（MPA），这些保护区遍布整个地区。不幸的是，许多保护区几乎没有保护措施，而且现在已知其面积过小，无法有效地维持沿海生态系统。海洋空间规划（MSP）很有希望涵盖影响沿海生态系统和邻近陆地的生态过程及人类影响的大地理尺度。AMLC凭借其成员机构的科学专业知识和国家政治联系，处于协助实施试点项目的有利位置。MSP是基于生态系统的管理的第一步，在其他地方已取得了相当大的成功。它是我们维持人类利用并保护珊瑚礁及相关生态系统的最佳机会。
