Designation & Management of Marine Reserve Networks (DEMARN)

This article reports on the research case study that uses multi-criteria analysis (MCA) to develop a proposed management plan for the Rosh Hanikra protected area.  The proposed expansion of the existing (small) conservation area serves as the case study for this part of the research.

The MCA approach incorporates the use of stakeholder preferences (as surveyed by the researchers) and physical attribute data valued for a number of ecosystem services. We identified a number of impediments to the use of ecosystem service values in the near shore marine environment through the methods application.

Link to the full, open access publication:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154473

“Incoporation of Socio-economic Features’ Ranking in Multicriteria Analysis Based on Ecosystem Services for Marine Protected Area Planning” January 26, 2016 Tel Megido, Israel.

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Research Assistant Asaf Zanzuri presented DEMARN results at the Annual Conference of the Israel Society for Science and Environment.  The conference took place October 12-14, 2015 on the Givat Ram Campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

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PI Assistant Professor Michelle Portman
GeoHab Conference location – Salvador da Bahia, Brasil

Research assistant and doctoral student Ateret Shabtai-Yanai presented progress in DEMARN at the annual GeoHab Conference for Marine Geological and Biological Habitat Mapping. The conference that took place this year in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil http://www.geohab2015.org/.

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Portman, M.E., Nathan, D. 2015. “Conservation ‘Identity’ and Marine Protected Areas Management: A Mediterranean case study”, Journal of Nature Conservation. 24: 109-116: 2015.

Abstract:
Protection of natural environments sought through management plans varies greatly between countries; characterizing these differences and what motivates them can inform future regional and international conservation efforts. This research builds on previous work, published in Ambio, addressing the spatial distribution of marine protected areas in the Mediterranean Sea. This paper examines the relationship between a “protection level” (PL) score and a set of variables pertaining to each country’s conservation efforts, economic conditions, and human impact along the coast using regression analysis. Four sets of models demonstrated country characteristics that correlate with higher protection levels within marine protected areas (MPAs). Certain contextual factors – particularly economic dependence on the marine environment, efforts at terrestrial conservation and greater human impact – were found to be significantly associated with higher PLs among the northern littoral countries of the Mediterranean. Such findings can inform policy makers about where efforts and investments should be directed for marine conservation.

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A PhD student at the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion. Ateret has a Bachelor degree (B.Sc) in biology from Haifa University (2008) and a master’s degree (M.Sc) in ecology and environmental studies from the Zoology Department of the Tel Aviv University (2011). During her master’s, Ateret studied the population dynamics of invasive species along the Israeli Mediterranean Sea coast and participated in research projects in the field of nature conservation around the world. After completing a continuing education program in town planning, she started her doctoral research on the contribution of marine infrastructures to marine conservation.

Click to View PDF of presentation [in Hebrew]

At the Annual Conference of the Israeli Geographers Society held in December, 2014 at the University of Haifa, Israel, Research Assistant Asaf Zanzuri presented the DEMARN team’s work marine protected area management. The presentation focused on presentation of the spatial multi-criteria analysis method used to develop a (theoretical) management plan for the area proposed for the expansion of the Rosh Ha Nikra Marine Protection Area.