Marine mammals play a crucial role in marine ecosystem function, providing valuable ecosystem services. However, many continue to be adversely impacted by human activity and are often underrepresented in Area-Based Management Tool management plans, including Marine Protected Areas.
To address this, the Marine Mammals Management Toolkit was designed to develop the technical capacities of managers, policy makers and marine practitioners for the inclusion of marine mammals into ABMTs, facilitating and guiding their effective conservation.
Since 2023, Blue Pangolin Consulting has coordinated the Marine Mammals Management Toolkit, ensuring its legacy and continued implementation to support marine managers, governments and stakeholders to develop and implement management actions for marine mammals.
The Toolkit was designed and created support the inclusion of marine mammals into ABMT management plans, and to help build the technical capacities of MPA managers by sharing knowledge, expertise and good practices. In order to guide effective management of marine mammals, and support MPA managers, the Marine Mammals Management Toolkit contains four key components: factsheets; Self-Assessment Tool (SAT); good practices and the “Help Desk”:
24 factsheets are available and are designed to accompany the Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) in supporting those involved in the integration of marine mammals into ABMT management plans. The factsheets incorporate international best practice, new case studies, the latest scientific information, and new factsheets as relevant.
The SAT was designed and created for the use of managers, stakeholder and any other relevant parties to assess the extent to which marine mammals are included in their management plans. It functions through Excel and provides managers with understanding the strengths and gaps of existing and proposed plans to promote adaptive management.
The Good Practices were developed to present examples of strong management and conservation measures implemented throughout ABMTs and the marine environment concerning marine mammal management, MPA design, impact alleviation and monitoring.
The Help Desk serves the purpose of supporting the use of the Toolkit, including the SAT, aiding the understanding of which components of the Toolkit to use as well as connecting managers and practitioners who have previously used the Self-Assessment Tool and/or toolkit components to support their work.
Working alongside many partners and collaborators, multiple regional and local networks were supported through technical support and the toolkit was promoted across a range of platforms, from the Toolkit’s website to social media and other media channels.
To date, 25 MPAs, management plans and political landscapes had used the Self-Assessment Tool, assessing an area over 1,712,784 km2 for effective marine mammal management. Over 30 international, regional and national in-person and online events were coordinated, with 1,100 attendees, from 123 countries joining the discussion!
Read the full range of achievements in the “Marine Mammals Management Toolkit’s Impact Report: 2020 – 2023“.
Since 2020, Blue Pangolin, has coordinated the Marine Mammal Twinning and undertook numerous activities to strengthen the Toolkit, disseminate its resources, and to support managers, policy makers and practitioners in its application, including the hosting of regional webinars, development of new, and updating existing, components of the toolkit, and maintaining a strong regional and international presence at technical events, meetings, and workshops.
Through this coordination Blue Pangolin was responsible for designing, producing, and promoting a suite of tools to support marine mammal conservation across ABMTs and MPAs, including the Self-Assessment Tool, the Factsheets and the range of videos and resources within the Help Desk. The following objectives were implemented:
Tom and Francis also published in Marine Policy on the use of the Toolkit to aid countries in achieving their national, regional and international commitments.
Blue Pangolin coordinated and developed the technical components of the Marine Mammals Management Toolkit, including the development of the factsheets, the Self-Assessment Tool, including the SAT-LITE, and the production of the Help Desk contents.
The Toolkit was developed through a consortium of over 10 partners, to which Blue Pangolin was responsible for the animation of the partnership, alongside the large network of managers and practitioners established through the use of the Toolkit.
Blue Pangolin maintained the various Marine Mammals Management Toolkit’s communication platforms, including the website, newsletters, and communication with the Toolkit partners. Multiple capacity development resources were produced.
Blue Pangolin maintained the various Marine Mammals Management Toolkit platforms, including the website, and showcased the toolkit at multiple international forums. Regular meetings were organised and managed, including two international members workshops.
To accompany the core components of the Marine Mammals Management Toolkit, Blue Pangolin also oversaw the development of the “Help Desk” – a central element of the Toolkit to support its application by managers and practitioners. Alongside Frequently Asked Questions and information on how to share data from SAT assessments, a complete online tutorial was developed.
The Online Tutorial was designed to provide guidance on the use of the toolkit, and aims to build capacity of MPA managers, practitioners and Toolkit users, supporting its use and showcasing the many benefits of the Toolkit and its complimentary components.
Blue Pangolin coordinated the production of these tutorials, providing multiple modules available in English with French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.
Interested in learning more about the Marine Mammals Management Toolkit, or need support in developing, and implementing, effective management actions for the conservation of marine mammals?
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