Marine mammals are often underrepresented in Marine Protected Area (MPA) management plans, commonly as a result of low capacity, lack of resources and/or lack of knowledge to implement such plans. The EU-funded Ocean Governance Project has designed and created a toolkit Marine Mammal Twinning for the inclusion of marine mammals into MPA management plans. The toolkit contains three core components: 23 factsheets that provide critical resources and information to MPA managers and policy makers, Good Practices, and the Self-Assessment Tool available both online and offline in English, French and Spanish. The Self-Assessment Tool enables MPA managers to understand the level to which marine mammals are considered within MPA management plans.
The Marine Mammal Twinning continually welcomes further comments and suggestions to strengthen the toolkit and its resources and are currently looking for collaborative opportunities with MPAs to apply the Self-Assessment Tool. If of interest, please contact us at ocean-governance@biodiv-