全球变化知识资源中心

The interaction between science and policy is often iterative: policy defines the need for scientific information, and the resulting science shapes future policy. This evolution is exemplified by the history of marine protected areas (MPAs). We describe how some policy applications of MPAs have changed through time from focusing on fisheries to becoming an ecosystem-based conservation tool, and then back to a more integrated fisheries-conservation approach. We show that changing applications of MPAs shaped the kind of research conducted to inform policies and also that the research results influenced those policies (e.g., from fisheries to conservation, and from standalone MPAs to MPA networks). We use California's MPA experience within the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem as a case study to illustrate this process.