In theory, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) allow us to protect the ocean from human activity, conserve nature, and support the local economy - a real win-win for everyone.

But many of them are criticised for being so-called 'paper parks' - meaning although they exist on government maps, in practice, there's little policing and destructive activities like trawling - which involves the use of huge net to collect everything in the water - are still allowed. 

So, are Marine Protected Areas working, and what can we do to improve them? 

Jeremy Wilks discusses this question with Joachim Claudet, a Senior Researcher and Ocean Advisor at French research organisation CNRS and Dr Purificació Canals, President of MedPAN, which is the network of Marine Protected Area managers in the Mediterranean. 

At the end of the episode you’ll hear from Ingrid Newkirk, the founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals about a special ocean creature. 

Hosted by Euronews Science Reporter, Jeremy Wilks.

Produced by Naira Davlashyan and Natalia Oelsner.

Sound design and mixing are done by Jean-Christophe Marcaud and Matthieu Duchaine.  

The theme music is by Gabriel Dalmasso.

Our Production Coordinator is Carolyne Labbe and our Editor-in-Chief is Sophie Claudet. 

To learn more about Joachim Claudet’s work follow this link. 

For more on Puri Canals’ work follow MedPAN. 

Check out Ingrid Newkirk’s Twitter account. 

This episode features sounds recorded at a nest of a male corkwing wrasse as part of the master thesis of Karen Bussmann, Anne Christine Utne-Palm & Karen de Jong: https://doi.org/10.1080/09524622.2020.1838324

A video of the recording set-up can be found here. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDA86zeQFnYFj05-OoeVG4A.

The Ocean Calls podcast is made possible by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

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