Abstract

Programs to protect threatened and endangered species and conserve important areas have overlapping conservation goals and can benefit from close collaboration. Here we provide an overview of this type of collaboration focusing on the Gulf and Caribbean. The Protecting Species and Places (PSP) conservation program was created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Protected Resources and Office of National Marine Sanctuaries to build partnerships to link and align place-based and species-based conservation efforts in U.S. waters and beyond. PSP has three main goals. The first is to improve coordination between marine protected area (MPA) management plans and species recovery plans to increase protection of species under multiple jurisdictions. The second is to identify conservation strategies and mechanisms to conserve species and places that fall outside MPA management and recovery plans. The third is to identify, support, and enhance interagency and international collaboration to conserve marine species and places. NOAA is involved in key international partnerships such as the Cartagena Convention’s Protocol on Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) in the Wider Caribbean that includes species such as the Nassau grouper listed as endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature and threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. By leveraging partnerships using the multiple NOAA offices engaged in the program, PSP promotes the conservation of species such as Nassau grouper and their habitats in support of efforts under SPAW and the Spawning Aggregations Working Group of the Western and Central Atlantic Fishery Commission.

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