Marine and Coastal Resources Managment in Puntarenas
( Costa Rican Institute for Fisheries and Aquaculture)

The Blue Economy approach to the oceans supports economic growth, social inclusion, and improvement of livelihoods, while also ensuring the continued health of coastal and marine ecosystems and the services they provide. This takes careful planning and management, based on a sound understanding of marine and coastal environments. However, these areas are expensive and challenging to measure and monitor using in situ techniques alone. In many cases, there are no viable alternatives to EO for providing the information decision-makers need to build a sustainable blue economy.

To promote the integrated planning and management of marine and costal ecosystems in the Multiple-Use Marine Areas (MUMAs) of Marine and Coastal Resources Management in Puntarenas (MCRMP), with the goal of conserving important biodiversity, maintaining the provision of crucial ecosystem services, and providing a basis for sustainable socioeconomic development through tourism, artisanal fishing and other income generating activities at the local scale.

Billions of people worldwide rely on the oceans for food and jobs. Around 60 million people are involved in fisheries and aquaculture – most of them in small scale fisheries in developing countries. Healthy oceans and coasts are essential for economic growth and food production and the health and well-being of local populations. Coastal and marine environments are often rich, with high levels of productivity and biodiversity, but they are also vulnerable to climate change and pressures from human activities.

Objectives

MCRMP will work with a range of stakeholders to define and implement a large-scale demonstration of how EO-derived information can support sustainable development activities in marine and coastal environments. Specifically, we aim to demonstrate the use of EO to support, for example:

• Training and Researches.

• Mapping of coastal bathymetry, coastline change, and changes in coastal land cover and land use

• Mapping the extent and status of benthic habitats such as coral reefs, macro-algae and seagrass beds

• Monitoring of water quality and marine pollution

• Assessments of coastal habitat extent and status

• Monitoring of coastal environments required for the planning, implementation and management of marine protected areas

• Surveillance of illegal and unreported fisheries

• Monitoring of economic activities such as aggregate extraction and dredging

• Marine spatial planning and the selection of suitable sites for aquaculture and other activities to develop blue economy activities such as tourism, transportation, and marine energy generation

Where We Work

The MCRMP Marine and Coastal project aims to develope and demonstrate the provision of customized information services to support the operations of the following IFIs (international financing institutions): the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Bank Group (WBG), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)

A preliminary list of case studies are being developed in consultation with these institutions and representatives of regional initiatives in the regions indicated below.