Programme Goals

20% fully protected marine protected areas (MPAs)

One of the overarching goals of the programme is to set aside 20% of Bermuda’s waters as fully protected marine protected areas (MPAs). These areas are primarily being set aside to protect nursery habitat and spawning areas for commercial and recreational fishes, as well as to preserve representative portions of key marine habitats. This can help provide ecosystem resilience to climate change and climate-related weather events, such as hurricanes. 

MPAs help more than fish 

Many of these MPAs also help Bermuda’s marine ecosystem in other ways. They help preserve important cultural heritage resources, such as shipwrecks; protect some of the highest densities of coral in Bermuda; will help prevent future development from impacting key marine habitats, including fish spawning sites; and will still allow for conservation and habitat restoration activities to take place. 

Goals of the MSP 

The MSP has a list of 15 goals that were decided upon through a lengthy stakeholder engagement process. The goals cover a wide variety of topics including restoring degraded and vulnerable habitats; promoting scientific and technical research; supporting maritime infrastructure needs; and facilitating commercial and recreational fisheries. Each goal may have one or more spatial (location-bound) or nonspatial (usually time-bound) objectives or actions associated with it to guide its successful achievement. For more information, please view the MSP’s Principles, Goals, and Objectives document online. 

 It's a Two-Part Plan 

The Blue Prosperity Plan has two parts, the Marine Spatial Plan and the Blue Economy Strategy; one cannot work without the other. A thriving, successful blue economy depends upon healthy marine resources—corals, diverse and robust fish populations, good water quality, and abundant seagrass and mangroves. These resources help support blue economy businesses such as waterfront restaurants, tourism operators, beach concessions, hotels, and more. A well-managed and well-monitored Marine Spatial Plan provides the framework for the sustainable management and enhancement of these resources, or “blue assets.”  

The Blue Economy Strategy is a roadmap to leverage local entrepreneurs and human capital with Bermuda’s positive regulatory climate to create opportunities for investment in ocean-related industries, technologies, and sustainable businesses. The Blue Economy Strategy supports investment in four sectors: aquaculture, sustainable fisheries, renewable energy technologies, and sustainable marine tourism.

Stakeholder Consultation

Ocean Village

The most important aspect of the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme is that it is led by the Government of Bermuda, the people of Bermuda, and includes comprehensive consultations with the public throughout the process. A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the parties to ensure the priorities of Bermudians are put first.

The Ocean Village was a group involved early in the process composed of stakeholders with specific interests and perspectives regarding Bermuda’s ocean environment. The role of Ocean Village participants was to act as representatives of diverse ocean interests to ensure that the needs and perspectives of Bermuda’s communities, industries and ocean users were addressed in the Blue Prosperity Plan. Ocean Village perspectives and feedback contributed to the Steering Committee’s decision-making throughout the Plan’s creation. 

Ocean Village groups included: commercial fishers; recreational fishers; passive recreation, conservation and swimming; aquaculture (mariculture); tourism, boating, sports, diving and snorkeling; and wastewater/pollution management, utilities infrastructure and development. 

Focus Groups

In April and May 2023, BOPP hosted a series of focus groups to explore key topics that were highlighted during the 2022 public consultation period. These groups were designed for stakeholders to explore and share what they viewed as priorities and opportunities, and to identify the challenges, gaps or aspects of the draft Plan that needed clarification. Topics included: 

●      maritime enforcement;

●      licensing and monitoring;

●      the blue economy strategy; and

●      proposed maps for the nearshore marine protected area network. 

During this period, the BOPP Online Engagement webpage featured the presentations and documents shared with focus group participants, providing Bermuda’s residents access to updates about key issues in the draft Blue Prosperity Plan. Online surveys were also available so those at home could provide input and share their opinions on these topics.

Public Consultation

General Public 

The Blue Prosperity Plan included multiple phases of engagement with various mechanisms for the public to share thoughts and feedback. From September 2020 to February 2021, BOPP conducted an Ocean Use Survey and gathered information from 1,488 respondents to better understand how residents use the ocean and which areas are most valuable to them. Members of the public were invited to help shape the principles, goals, and objectives (PGOs) that ultimately define the purpose and desired outcomes of the MSP. 

Public Consultation Period 

Public consultation on the first draft Blue Prosperity Plan was held from September 12 to December 31, 2022, during which hundreds of comments were received through Ocean Village groups, as well as during town halls, pop-up events, targeted outreach to specific stakeholders and through emails, surveys, and individual outreach. Feedback received during this period is available at https://www.bermudaoceanprosperity.org/. 

Major Next Steps

• Data collection, review, and synthesis: The BOPP team is still in the process of conducting one-on-one consultations with stakeholders, including members of the commercial fishing industry and the conservation community. Feedback from these meetings will be incorporated into the updated maps before they go to the BOPP Steering Committee.

• Stakeholder consultations: In mid-October, the updated maps will be shown to the individuals that participated in the Focus Group series for their feedback.

How to Get Involved

We are always looking for stakeholder representatives from different sectors across the island to meet and share perspectives, hopes, and ideas to shape Bermuda’s future. These perspectives will be especially valuable as we implement the Blue Economy Strategy, which will provide guidance for the development of sustainable marine industries, well into the future.

 Please contact Blue Economy Specialist Cheryl-Ann Mapp (cmapp@bermudaoceanprosperity.org) or Outreach Manager Ali Hochberg (Ahochberg@bermudaoceanprosperity.org) if you have any questions.