Bervoets, T.

Debrot, A.O.

Rijn, J., van

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Lifeweb-Spain UNEP-CEP Meeting 
San Juan, Puerto Rico, 23-24 April 2014 
Meeting Synopsis 
 
Scenarios for trans-boundary marine mammal management in the Wider Caribbean 
 
Executive Summary 
The eastern Caribbean is of special significance to regional marine mammal conservation based on its 
high abundance and diversity of cetaceans. As signatory to both the CBD and the Cartagena Convention, 
and based on its international commitment to cetacean conservation, the Netherlands is also highly 
committed to cetacean conservation in the Caribbean, and asked IMARES to represent the Ministry of 
Economic Affairs at this meeting.   
Using scenario development based on overlap analysis, Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) was demonstrated 
as useful tool for planning the regional network of protected areas which will be required for integrated 
long-term management and conservation of wide-ranging migratory cetaceans. Several cetacean 
sanctuaries have already been established or are currently underway in the region as the whale watching 
industry continues to grow and island nations gradually recognize the economic potential they represent. 
Several marine areas of key cetacean concern were identified along the Lesser Caribbean island arc. 
Results show that the Windward Dutch Caribbean EEZ (of the Saba Bank, Saba, St. Maarten and St. 
Eustatius), lies adjacent to two identified marine mammal conflict areas and, therefore, emphasizes the 
special importance of the Windward Dutch Caribbean EEZ to Wider Caribbean marine mammal 
conservation. This should serve as additional impetus to the Netherlands and Dutch Caribbean islands 
towards implementation of their ambitions for a Marine Mammal Reserve in this area. 
Local importance of any specific area for MSP-based management of wide-ranging species like cetaceans 
can only be defined in regional context. This means that Caribbean-wide data are also critical at the local 
level. Hence, it is vital for any national research program to also contain a major component of broader 
trans-boundary collaboration. The Dutch representatives informed the meeting about several new and 
valuable cetacean reports and studies, plans, and projects, as well as their continued commitment to 
collaborate in regional projects. Several key opportunities for knowledge development and participation, 
as well as knowledge gaps, were identified which can serve as possible focus topics for research. 
 
Introduction 
This meeting, held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, comes directly as follow-up to the Inter-regional 
Workshop on Broad-Scale Marine Spatial Planning and Trans-boundary Marine Mammal 
Management, held in Panama City, Panama, 21-24 May 2012. The meeting was opened by the 
Secretary of Natural Resources and Environment of Puerto Rico, Professor Carmen R. Guerrero Pérez. In 
2012, the meeting had only one Dutch Caribbean representative. That was Diego Marquez from the 
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Dept. of Nature and Environment of Aruba. This meeting in San Juan was attended by three 
representatives for the Dutch Caribbean. These were: Jimmy van Rijn, representing the Saba 
Conservation Foundation, Tadzio Bervoets, representing the St. Maarten Nature Foundation and Dolfi 
Debrot, representing the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands. The meeting was organized by 
the Regional Activity Center for Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (RAC-SPAW), part of UNEP-CEP, 
Guadeloupe. All travel and venue costs were paid by the Government of Spain through their voluntary 
contribution to the SPAW program, stemming from their long-term involvement and support for 
development of Latin America. The manpower for participation of the Dutch Caribbean representatives 
were jointly covered by the respective park organizations and the Ministry of EZ.  
Cetacean conservation in the wider Caribbean and tropical South America has grown greatly in recent 
decades. Cetacean sanctuaries are being established as the whale watching industry continues to grow 
and island nations gradually grow to recognise the great economic potential that cetaceans represent 
within the context of tourism as a primary regional industry. Ambitious new initiatives for the 
establishment of marine protected areas include several initiatives in Puerto Rico and the British Virgin 
Islands, a trans-boundary project between Puerto Rico and the USVI, and a multinational tropical Pacific 
initiative led by the Costa Rican NGO MARVIVA. All parties involved recognise the need to establish a 
network of linked protected areas conserving key habitat for cetaceans throughout the Caribbean region. 
This follows from the fact that, without exception, marine mammals represent widely migratory species 
that make use of widespread areas for different critical functions during the course of their long life 
cycles. 
The Caribbean Netherlands also possess a rich and diverse cetacean fauna, most species of which are 
either internationally endangered or protected, or both.  Consequently, their conservation and the 
collection of key biological information from these poorly known species is a major priority for the 
Netherlands, not only in the Dutch Caribbean but also in European and international context. IMARES is 
the key agency providing the government of The Netherlands with policy advice on marine mammal 
issues in Europe, world-wide and including the Caribbean. Marine mammals form a major topic of 
concern in the Nature Policy Plan for the Caribbean Netherlands as well as the EEZ management plan 
developed jointly by the Dutch Caribbean islands. Since 2010, the Netherlands has assumed a leading 
role in cetacean conservation and research in the region and, following the lead of the nearby Dominican 
Republic and France, the government of the Netherlands and her island partners are looking to establish 
a large Marine Mammal Reserve in the Caribbean, probably by the end of 2014. Dutch involvement is 
greatly appreciated particularly by the French and the USA, as it greatly reinforces their own independent 
conservation and research initiatives. 
The overall goal of the meetings on Scenarios for trans-boundary marine mammal management in 
the Wider Caribbean is to assist implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity Programme 
of Work on Protected Areas. The project also directly supports implementation of Marine Mammal Action 
Plans of the Regional Conventions of UNEP´s Regional Seas Programmes for the Wider Caribbean 
(Cartagena Convention) and the Southeast Pacific (Lima Convention). The involvement of The 
Netherlands follows from the fact that it is signatory to the Cartagena Convention, which is the main 
legal framework for implementation of the CBD convention goals in the marine environment of the 
Caribbean.  
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In the 2012 meeting, the eastern Caribbean island chain, of which St. Maarten, Saba and St. 
Eustatius form part, were identified as a key region of priority due to its exceptional regional 
concentration and diversity of cetaceans. During the 2014 meeting, a new Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) 
approach was presented and initial modelling results based on 2 years of research were discussed and 
evaluated.  
Key conclusions were that using the MSP approach of “overlap analysis”, several marine areas of key 
cetacean concern were identified. These were a sequence of areas stretching along the island chain 
from Turks and Caicos south to Barbados and Grenada (see figure). Local importance of any specific 
area for wide-ranging species can only be defined in regional context. This means that 
Caribbean-wide data are of key importance even at the local level. Such information can only be 
obtained through joint cooperative projects. Hence, it is critical for any national research program 
that it should contain a major component of international collaboration. The meeting concluded 
that protecting whales forces humans to collaborate across national boundaries. 
 
In each indicated area cetaceans face a variety of different problems. Consequently each area will 
require requires additional scientific study as well as tailored measures to be implemented on 
initiative of the respective governments. While much work is needed to refine and perfect for 
implementation of diverse measures, the key observation most pertinent to the Netherlands is that the 
modelling results indicate the Dutch Caribbean EEZ surrounding the Saba Bank, Saba, St. Maarten 
and St. Eustatius lies adjacent to two marine mammal problem areas (based on human use 
pressures…USVI and St. Kitts/Nevis) (see figure).  
Therefore, the results emphasize the special importance of the Windward Dutch Caribbean EEZ 
zone within the wider Caribbean marine mammal context. Hopefully this can serve as additional 
impetus to the Netherlands and Dutch Caribbean islands for a timely implementation of their ambitions 
for a Marine Mammal Reserve in that area. 
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A full report with recommendations from the meeting is forthcoming. 
During the meeting the Dutch Caribbean representatives informed the meeting participants about:  
 the successful engagement of industry sectors (particularly fishermen harbour works and dive 
sector) in joint management and research on cetaceans. In this, the Dutch Caribbean can serve 
as an excellent example to others who generally find involvement of other sectors to be very 
difficult. 
 Several new knowledge products (papers and reports), which were made available to the group 
 Dutch Caribbean interest and commitment to support several ongoing joint initiatives as funding 
and manpower permit (AGOA surveys and MEGARA satellite tagging with the French) 
 Dutch Caribbean commitment to the use and development of acoustic approaches to help 
standardize economic data gathering across larger spatial scales. 
 At the same time, commitment to support collection and reporting of opportunistic data 
(sightings and strandings) as supported by a wide cross section of stakeholder volunteers. 
Key new opportunities for knowledge, and participation in research and awareness were: 
 A noise mapping project for the Caribbean to be led by NOAA 
 A humpback tail ID project to be led by NOAA 
 A regional “Jump with the whales” awareness campaign publicity campaign to be led by UNEP 
 Maps of human pressures available from SPAW-RAC 
 Ship strike conference in June in Panama… IWC/SPAW…proceedings 
 SPAW COP8, November 2014 
 Lobby opportunity at the Florida & Caribbean Cruise Ship Ass. Meeting (6-10 Oct) in St. Maarten 
 Initial MEGARA tagging results showing that the island breeding humpback whales are fully 
shared between island and that they migrate to areas of the eastern and western north Atlantic 
 A large number of knowledge gaps to serve as possible focus topics for research. 
 
April 25, 2014 
 
Dolfi Debrot, IMARES 
Tadzio Bervoets, SMNF 
Jimmy van Rijn, SCF 


Scenarios for trans-boundary marine mammal management in the Wider Caribbean

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