Section 2: What are MPA Networks & Systems? to the take of certain species, are not considered MPAS. There are exceptions, however, such as the Fish Habitat Reserves in Australia, which have been assigned an LUCN protected area management category, and are established under fisheries legislation to protect key fishery habitats including estuaries and sea grass beds. Fishing is allowed in these areas, but activities that will damage the habitat are prohibited (Ward and Hegel, 2003). There has been much recent discussion on the role of MPAS in fisheries management, some of which was summarized through the 2006 workshop hosted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on this topic, where a Draft framework for Technical Guidelines on the design, implementation and review of MPAS as a tool for fisheries management was developed prepared (FAO, 2007). Seasonal and temporary management areas: These include areas such as the conservation 'boxes' established in European Union (EU) waters, or the seasonal closures found in inshore waters in Okinawa, Japan (Kakuma in litt, 2008) within which seasonal, full-time, temporary or permanent controls are placed on fishing methods andor access. The Irish Sea Cod Box, for example, is designed to conserve cod stocks in the Irish Sea by restricting fishing activities during the spawning period. A similar box has been established for fisheries management in the waters of the Shetland Islands (Gubbay, 2004). These are critically important conservation areas for sites, such as fish spawning aggregation areas or migratory routes, where species are vulnerable at specific and predictable times of the year but may not need any greater management than surrounding areas at other times. Whale Sanctuaries: The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has a mandate to establish whale sanctuaries that provide permanent no-take zones for cetaceans (Phillips, 1996; WWF, 1998). These are not recognized as MPAS, as their objectives address only the capture of certain species and they are not considered legally 'permanent, although they are subject to regular review. Mangrove Forest Reseres: In some countries, all mangroves are classified as forest reserves (such as in Ecuador). Sometimes these are considered to be protected areas, as in Tanzania, while in other cases, they are not nationally recognized or have not been submitted for listing in the IDEA. 212. NETWORKS AND SYSTEMS The words 'network' and 'system' are used interchangeably in much of the conservation literature to describe a group of protected areas spread across a country or region. The use of the two words can be confusing as neither term has a globally accepted definition and they are often used with the same meaning in the same document, as in the US Federal Register (US Federal Register, 2000). Although there are exceptions, the word 'system' tends to be used most frequently for protected areas in general, and also for terrestrial protected areas. The LUCNWCPA guidelines, for example, refer to national protected area 'system' plans (Davey, 1998). The term 'network' Is more prevalent among MPA practitioners and is defined by WCPA-MARINE as follows (LUCNWCPA, 2008a): A collection of individual MPAS or reserves operating co-operatively and synergistically, at various spatial scales and with a range of protection levels that are designed to meet objectives that a single reserve cannot achieve. Agardy and Wolfe (2002) suggest that 'systems' are protected area groupings that have an element of governance and management, as well as a biological rationale, for their structure and composition. A system thus has a functional sense in that it implies consistent institutional and managerial arrangements with co-originated planning, as well as describing geographical and physical relationships. It does not however imply that there should be a single management authority. An effective system could equally comprise a number of management areas under different governance regimes adapted to local conditions. In contrast, a 'network' has a primarily geographical and physical sense, ie. a group of protected areas with 'connectivity' between them, although in the context of MPAS, the term 'network' is often used to imply governance and management relationships as well. An additional confusion is due to the fact that the word 'network' is also used to describe organized groups of people, projects and institutions involved in protected area establishment and management. These 'social, 'institutional' and 'learning' networks may be regional (such as the North American MPA Network (NAMPAN), Mediterranean Protected Area Network (MEDIAN), the Wider Caribbean MPA Managers Network and Forum (CAMPAM) and the Local Marine Management Areas (LIMA) network in the Pacific) or national (such as Vietnam and the Philippines) and all are equally Important aspects of effective protected area management (Christie and White, 2007). The term 'ecological network' is often used to distinguish a group of MPAS from a 'social network' of Individuals and organization. In Decision VII5 on marine and coastal biodiversity, the CBD uses the term 'network' for the global level and 'system' for national and regional levels. The 20