Recent SMEA graduates Clayton McKean and Caroline Potter, along with SMEA Associate Professor Emeritus David Fluharty, SMEA Affiliate faculty member Amber Himes-Cornell, and accompanying authors recently published an article in Frontiers in Marine Science titled “Reaching Global Marine Biodiversity Conservation Goals With Area-Based Fisheries Management: A Typology-Based Evaluation“.

Those who are tracking the issues surrounding Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as part of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Convention on Biodiversity may be aware that Other Effective Conservation Measures (OECM) are essential to meeting the marine targets. This article assesses the evidence that fishery management spatial management areas can qualify as OECM.

This article was the result of a capstone project in which McKean and Potter collaborated with Himes-Cornell and partners at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and Fluharty served as the project advisor.