Most MPAs report a shortfall in their capacity to manage operations. A 2017 survey of 433 marine protected areas found that 65% reported shortfalls in funding for basic management, while 91% reported inadequate or below optimum staff capacity (capacity/numbers). Further, the study found a relationship between budget and staffing capacity with conservation impact (measured by fish populations) [1]. In other words, generally-speaking, management capacity in the form of budgets and staffing is important to the goals of an MPA, and there is no reason to think that this relationship would not also apply to marine mammal conservation in the MPA.

This section focuses on the capacity of the MPA to manage the operations that directly or indirectly affect marine mammal conservation, as outlined in previous factsheets. In many cases, collaborating organisations or other government agencies fulfilling some of the management operations (such as monitoring or enforcement) [2].