The French Marine Protected Areas Agency (MPAA) is leading the effort to organize the Second International Conference on Marine Mammal Protected Areas.
The Marine Protected Areas Agency was created in 2006 and is headquartered in Brest. The agency is a French government public body and reports to the Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development. Its main remit is to support public policy for the creation and management of marine protected areas in France, coordinate the network of MPA managers, and manage the human, technical and financial resources dedicated to the marine nature parks that it is tasked with creating or other marine protected areas entrusted to it.
The agency’s objectives include developing international action, notably by supporting the French State in its regional seas conventions undertakings (Caribbean, North-East Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, South Pacific and the Antarctic).