Marine Protected Area Managers Training – Seychelles, 2019

Thirty-one Marine Protected Area (MPA) professionals from Seychelles, Kenya, and Tanzania participated in a week-long training in August at the Seychelles Maritime Academy to develop skills in areas critical to MPA management: marine monitoring, data management and graphing, and strategic decision making and management. The purpose of the training was to develop peer trainers who can help other MPA managers in the region identify their management objectives and use science to guide decision-making to reach those objectives.

The Reef Resilience Network led strategic management sessions, including facilitation and communication instruction. The training was conducted in partnership with the SMART Seas Programme and the Pew Fellowship Project, and is the culmination of a long-term collaboration between Seychelles National Parks Authority, the Kenya Wildlife Service, the Tanzania Marine Parks & Reserve Unit, and the SMART Seas Network. The SMART Seas Network is a group of MPA managers and researchers from the Western Indian Ocean striving to ensure that MPAs deliver benefits for people and nature in the region. The SMART Seas Network​ is led by Dr. Jennifer O’Leary, The Nature Conservancy. Learn more about the training.