Preliminary diagnostics are carried out with communities to assess their perception of the state of marine resources, the need for management and their motivation to take responsibility for management. To ensure adequate community ownership, it is critical that the support organisation (e.g. an NGO), does not pressure the community into agreeing to management measures that they are not necessarily motivated to enforce. If adequate recognition of a need for management and community motivation exists, the support organisation can move on to the next step.

The cultivation of seaweed for the production of carrageenan, a thickener widely used in foods, has been a major source of income for Zanzibari women for more than 20 years. An analysis of the local conditions revealed that the cultivation of seaweed is subject to a sharp decline in production due to increasing occurrences of diseases and pests, and a low world-market price. Consequently, unmarried women with kids are no longer able to make a living from seaweed farming.

When searching for alternative means of income many aspects such as the know-how of the parties involved, eco friendliness, market-opportunities, investment requirements, general acceptance of the method, scalability, and availability of resources need to be considered. Aquaculture of sponges was identified to be a suitable alternative to seaweed farming promising substantially higher incomes.

Identifying the most appropriate means of assessing the different competences requires the development of a number of assessment ‘instruments’ to provide varied opportunities for competences to be demonstrated. The instruments should be appropriate both for the type of skill or understanding being assessed, and to the level at which the assessment is taking place. The instruments used by WIO-COMPAS are:

• Application form for initial screening (all Levels)
• Portfolio of evidence comprising documents produced in the workplace (all Levels)
• Core Activity Document/Case study (all Levels)
• Practical demonstration through scenarios (Level 1)
• Written quiz, based on projected images of key species (Level 1); Written test (Level 2)
• Face to face interview (Levels 1 and 2); Panel interview (Level 3)

To develop a system and associated ‘tools’ by which the assessed competences can be marked or ‘scored’. In WIO-COMPAS the most important competences carry a weighting of a possible score of 4 points, with the others weighted at 2 points. A score sheet is used for each instrument, and the scores are transferred to an Excel based ‘Candidate Scoring Package’.

The purpose is to identify the critical competence requirements for effective functioning at all levels. The levels are closely linked having the same competence areas (see below) and with many of the competences within these demonstrating progression in skills and understandings through the levels. Some competences are specific to particular levels. The competences are then used to:

• Establish benchmarks for operations at the three levels
• Provide rigorous criteria for professional certification
• Inform assessment of existing competence and identify competence gaps
• Inform training and other capacity development intervention needs
• Certify MPA personnel who meet the competence requirements as MPA–PROs.
• Inform recruitment, performance review, and promotion processes
• Establish a career path for MPA personnel
• Shape the training provided for MPA personnel

The competences are grouped into 7 ‘Competence Areas’:

1. Policy, Legislation and Compliance
2. MPA Concept and Establishment
3. Communication and Stakeholder Engagement
4. Financial Management and Fundraising
5. Management Operations
6. Biophysical and Sociocultural Environment
7. Leadership, Ethics and Innovation

The dina is a traditional social convention that helps regulate life in Madagascar communities. It enables local communities to develop a set of rules and regulations to govern a particular set of circumstances and is commonly used in relation to natural resource management. Dinas are developed in a participatory manner and given legal weight through their homologation in local courts. Their enforcement lies with the local community. In the case of Antongil Bay, 26 dinas were created – one for each fishers association in each locally managed marine reserve. The dinas encompass:

1. a set of regulations for the principal infractions (destructive gear, fish minimum size, etc.),
2. a set of regulations in accordance with the local context (taboos, night fishing regulations, etc.), and
3. a set of sanctions.

In addition to the local dinas, the local communities of the 26 marine reserves agreed to create a “dinabe”, which aims to federate the individual dinas and provides an overall framework for sustainable use of the marine resources and coastal areas in the bay in a complementary manner to the Bay-wide management plan.

Scientific results and data are often published in formats that managers cannot access or find challenging to process and extract directly useful information (e.g. scientific publications). Once managers know what data they need to inform management (have thought through objectives and indicators), they can create a data request form asking researchers for the specific data most relevant to MPA management and in the format managers are using to allow rapid understanding and integration into existing databases.

Managers and community members often have little training in marine and coastal ecological and social systems. Conducting monthly monitoring provides data about the system, but also provides a mechanism for managers to understand and witness changes in the system. Engaging community members in this process helps promote collaborative problem solving. Finally, this process helps managers better understand data they receive from scientists because they know what is involved in collecting data.

Managing without targeted objectives is like driving a car blindfolded. Objectives help determine how effective the current management is, which areas need active management, and whether actions taken contribute to moving the system toward objective targets. We develop a comprehensive suite of ecological and social indicators, have these prioritized by regional social and ecological scientists, and work with managers to independently prioritize indicators and develop objectives focused around each management goal. The final list includes manager and scientist priorities and is peer reviewed by stakeholders and regional scientists. Lists of objectives are flexible and updated often. Due to the lack of data or analytical capacity, we help them conduct a literature review, and establish ecological targets using baseline data (e.g., historical status or status within reference areas of long protected MPAs), non-linearity in large datasets (i.e., threshold levels at which ecosystem state changes), or established target levels (e.g., levels set by governments). For social state targets, we work with managers and stakeholders and use reference directions (improvement from existing state), or normative (value-based) targets.

From 1991-1994 Chumbe Island Coral Park Limited (CHICOP) successfully negotiated with the semi-autonomous government of Zanzibar, Tanzania for the western coral reef and forest of Chumbe Island to be gazetted as an MPA, with management of the MPA entrusted to CHICOP. The company was specifically established for the purpose of developing and managing the MPA financially self-sustainably, utilizing ecotourism to generate revenue for all MPA operational costs and associated conservation, research and education activities. Through this Chumbe became the first managed marine park in Tanzania, the first privately managed MPA in the world, and to date is one of the only financially self-sustainable MPAs globally. The company objectives are not-for-profit, implementing conservation and education initiatives over more than 20 years under the framework of two management plan iterations that were developed with wide stakeholder participation (1995-2005 and 2006-2016). Ecotourism business operations follow commercial principles for maximizing revenue and promoting cost-effectiveness to ensure a sustainable revenue stream for MPA activities, exemplifying a successful business-oriented approach to sustainable and effective MPA management.

A study provides information about the ecological structure of healthy mangrove stands and the original conditions of hydrological flow at the site.