Zoning the ocean
By Doreen Leggett/ dleggett@cnc.com
Friday, April 15, 2005

BREWSTER - When residents of the Florida Keys were told about the government's intention to put a Marine Protected Area in their waters, they blocked the main road and threatened to secede from the Union.

"My boss was hung in effigy," said Ben Cowie-Haskell, who worked at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary at the time.

Cowie-Haskell said that after a contentious start, and a whole lot of public involvement, a plan was put in place, but the initial outrage could have been moderated with more education.

As Marine Protected Areas are increasingly discussed for areas off the Cape, Cowie-Haskell said it's important to remember that there are many different types and they have been around for a long time. There is one already off the peninsula's coast, the Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary.

People "immediately assume the worse case scenario, of a no-access area or a no- fishing zone," Cowie-Haskell told the crowd gathered Tuesday at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History for the "Ocean Treasure" program it sponsors with the Sanctuary.

But only 1 percent of the Marine Protected Areas in the country fall into that category, said Cowie-Haskell, operations coordinator, at Stellwagen Bank.

Although they may have been around for more than 60 years (one of the first was the Fort Jefferson National Monument, off Florida, in 1936) they have garnered a lot more interest in the last several years.

For one, they caught the interest of then-President Bill Clinton, who signed the first executive order supporting MPAs in May 2000. It is an order that the current president also supports.

Since the order defines a Marine Protected Area as "any area that has been reserved to provide lasting protection for all or part of the natural and cultural resources therein," there is a lot of room for interpretation, said Cowie-Haskell.

The value of MPAs has also been discussed in both national ocean reports that were published last year, and were suggested by both state Sen. Robert O'Leary, Democrat of Barnstable, and the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies as a way to protect Nantucket Sound.