It would also have detrimental effects on the multi-million dollar tourist and fishing industries. The focus for marine research on Bermuda is the Bermuda Biological Station. Both sanctuaries also have ongoing monitoring programs. In the Caribbean, coastal zone management plans in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico as well as regional fisheries management plans help guide conservation efforts. This new framework is an advance in international environmental law.
Appropriate protection focuses on the system as a whole, rather than on individual species.
It will foster comprehensive national and regional policies for managing these fragile and threatened ecosystems in integrated coastal marine land use strategies, incorporating, but not exclusively based on, protected areas. The SPAW protocol was opened for signature in January 1990. The United States, Netherlands, France, and Great Britain have sponsored substantial research and management programs in their respective possessions and affiliated islands in the Caribbean. Belize has been the site of a substantial amount of research focused on the Smithsonian field station in Carrie Bow Key. Belize is also beginning to establish an integrated coastal zone management program.