Modelling habitat use by the Guiana dolphin,Sotalia guianensis,in south‐eastern Brazil: Effects of environmental and anthropogenic variables,and the adequacy of current management measures

1. Species distribution modelling has been used to identify critical habitats for the delimitation of Marine Protected Areas. Although Marine Protected Areas may often overlap with the distribution of key marine species, illegal human activities often continue within these areas, causing negative impacts on the local biodiversity.
2. A generalized linear model with spatial eigenvector mapping was used to investigate, for the first time, the influence of environmental variables and anthropic activities on the number of Guiana dolphin, Sotalia guianensis sightings/grid, and to determine whether a Marine Reserve, in south‐eastern Brazil, is adequate for the protection of the local population. Data were collected between May 2007 and October 2013 onboard a 7.5‐m vessel with an inboard engine.
3. The models for the different periods (annual, dry, and rainy seasons) all indicated that depth, the distance to seafood farms and fishing grounds, and mean sea surface temperatures influenced the distribution of the dolphins within the study area. The annual and seasonal models predicted that the dolphins prefer a continuous area between Cedro and Pico Islands, a large area that lies outside the limits of the Marine Reserve.
4. Although the habitat of Ilha Grande bay is still much less degraded than that inhabited by other nearby Guiana dolphin populations, the results of the present study indicate that anthropic activities in this area influence habitat use by the dolphins. Less than 30% of the area used by the dolphins is protected by the Tamoios Ecological Station (ESEC Tamoios).
5. Sotalia guianensis is classified as ‘Vulnerable’ in Brazil, although the marine reserve (ESEC Tamoios) does not protect the core area used by the local dolphin population. The results of the present study provide specific locations for the creation of a new multiple‐use MPA, as suggested by the Brazilian National Action Plan for the Conservation of Small Cetaceans, or the inclusion of a special management programme for the area between Cedro and Pico islands to better protect the dolphins in the ESEC Tamoios buffer zone. The continuation of surveys to better understand the current and future impacts of human activities, and the development of a closer interaction with both the local community and local stakeholders will help to safeguard Ilha Grande Bay and the local Guiana dolphin population.

     

The Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative: Promoting scientific support for global ocean governance

1. Addressing the challenge of protecting biodiversity in the global ocean requires a sound knowledge and understanding of the complex marine environment.
2. Since 2008 the Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative (GOBI) has been established as a voluntary dedicated group of marine institutions and scientists working to support conservation and protection of marine biodiversity. A focus has been work to support the Convention on Biological Diversity's Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Area (EBSA) process. GOBI partners have provided expert interpretation of evidence‐based information and sought to compile and collate available information.
3. An effective and coherent global network of marine protected areas must include bioregional representative replicates of features; once described, EBSAs can help focus attention on where and what kind of protective measures may be needed.
4. GOBI is currently undertaking a 5‐year programme of research funded by the German International Climate Initiative, working to strengthen baselines and contribute new data to the EBSA and other processes. This involves developing detailed biogeographies for the Pacific and Indian Oceans, assessing the movement of migratory species, advancing understanding of biodiversity at vents and seeps, developing a model governance system for the Costa Rica Thermal Dome, and incorporating Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas and Important Marine Mammal Areas.
5. GOBI has taken initiatives to build on the results of the Census of Marine Life and ensure best available marine biodiversity information is considered by states and intergovernmental organizations. GOBI support for ocean governance, including data development and expert consultation, will also contribute to the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030). Future challenges include capacity building and new approaches to incorporate traditional knowledge.

     

Modelling dolphin distribution within an Important Marine Mammal Area in Greece to support spatial management planning

1. Understanding marine mammal distributions is essential for conservation, as it can help identify critical habitat where management action can be taken. The semi‐enclosed Gulf of Corinth, Greece, has been identified as an Important Marine Mammal Area by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force, based on the regular occurrence of odontocete populations. A 7‐year (2011–17) dataset of boat‐based surveys was used to model and predict the distribution of striped dolphins, Stenella coeruleoalba, common dolphins, Delphinus delphis, and common bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, in the entire Gulf (2400 km²).
2. Multiple geographic, bathymetric, oceanographic, and anthropogenic variables were incorporated in a combined generalized additive model and generalized estimation equation (GAM‐GEE) framework to describe dolphin occurrence and produce distribution maps.
3. Modelling indicated that striped and common dolphins prefer deep waters (>300 m) in the central and southern part of the Gulf, whereas bottlenose dolphins prefer shallow waters (<300 m) and areas close to fish farms along the northern–central shore.
4. Model‐based maps of the predicted distribution identified a preferred habitat encompassing most of the Gulf, also revealing: (i) hot spots of dolphin distribution covering about 40% of the Gulf's surface; (ii) an almost complete overlap of striped and common dolphin distribution, consistent with the hypothesis that common dolphins modified their habitat preferences to live in mixed species groups with striped dolphins; (iii) a clear partitioning of striped/common and bottlenose dolphin habitat; and (iv) the important role played by fish farms for bottlenose dolphins, consistent with studies conducted elsewhere in Greece.
5. Evidence provided by this study calls for area‐specific and species‐specific management measures to mitigate anthropogenic impacts.

     

Geospatial genetics: Integrating genetics into marine protection and spatial planning

1. The protection of evolutionary processes and maintenance of genetic diversity is necessary for the persistence of biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. The importance of genetic diversity has been reflected in a range of marine policy mechanisms, and the genetic ‘toolbox’ has great potential to support marine protection and marine spatial planning (MSP) at multiple scales. Despite scientific advances in the application of genetics in marine protection and management, systematic integration of genetic information has been generally lacking, primarily due to a knowledge and communication disconnect between geneticists and the marine policy and management community.
2. To meet these outstanding needs, a ‘geospatial genetics’ approach to spatially map species-specific genetic data and associated information in a way that can be readily integrated by practitioners into marine protection and MSP decisions was developed. Techniques to derive geospatial genetic data layers, which can be viewed and mapped alongside other kinds of spatial data commonly used by conservation practitioners, hold promise for increasing the accessibility of genetic data to support policy decisions more fully.
3. While applicable to many mobile and sessile taxa, an initial focus was placed on marine mammals, and the approach was developed and refined through a series of international meetings and published papers, as well as the development of interactive, expert-reviewed case studies hosted on the MSP tool SeaSketch.
4. Outcomes of the work to date are currently serving in the policy arena by informing the identification of Important Marine Mammal Areas, an initiative led by the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force to apply criteria to identify marine mammal habitats across the world's ocean, seas and relevant inland waters through a standardized process.
5. It has become clear that geospatial genetics has great potential to foster increased collaboration among an intersectional community of geneticists, spatial ecologists, and practitioners. This increased opportunity for dialogue and cooperation will help ensure that evolutionary processes are factored into marine protection and MSP processes, and potentially for freshwater and terrestrial systems.

     

Conservation of transnational species: The tensions between legal requirements and best scientific evidence

1. This paper describes the tensions between the legal requirements for conservation and the most beneficial biological practice for mobile transnational marine species, using the harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) in European Atlantic waters as a case study.
2. Harbour porpoise are the smallest and one of the most abundant cetaceans occurring throughout the European continental shelf waters, and are affected by human activities occurring in the same waters, especially certain fishing activities.
3. The Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (the Bern Convention) and its implementing legislation the Council Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora 92/43/EEC (i.e. the Habitats Directive) are the main legal drivers for species conservation throughout the European Union. They aim for the long-term achievement of favourable conservation status and make provision for the use of two conservation measures: protected areas and strict protection measures. The strict protection measures aim to ensure that all forms of deliberate killing are prevented, and that where incidental killing and capture occurs, it does not have a negative effect on conservation status.
4. The conservation of harbour porpoise is currently dependent upon tackling the key issue of bycatch in fisheries. However, in challenges to Member States on their application of the Habitats Directive, the European Commission has chosen to focus on site designation rather than the implementation of the strict protection measures required to monitor and, where necessary, reduce bycatch.
5. This tension between a legal focus on the designation of protected areas instead of tackling threats such as bycatch has potentially led to negative conservation consequences for harbour porpoise and, in part, may explain why wider marine biodiversity has continued to deteriorate in Europe.

     

The Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean marine mammals

• 1. In February 2002, France, Italy and Monaco agreed to establish an international sanctuary for Mediterranean marine mammals. The resulting Pelagos Sanctuary encompasses over 87500 km² of the north‐western Mediterranean Sea, extending between south‐eastern France, Monaco, north‐western Italy and northern Sardinia, and surrounding Corsica and the Tuscan Archipelago.
• 2. The Pelagos Sanctuary illustrates how the tenets of Marine Protected Area (MPA) design can be reconciled with the dynamic nature of oceanic systems, because its spatial scale was defined by oceanographic and ecological considerations, specifically the location of the Ligurian permanent frontal system.
• 3. By expanding protective measures beyond national waters, the Pelagos Sanctuary also sets a precedent for the implementation of pelagic protected areas in the high seas. The Pelagos Sanctuary will contribute to the conservation of the Mediterranean Sea at two scales: (i) locally, by protecting important cetacean foraging and breeding grounds in the Ligurian Sea, and by providing ‘umbrella’ protection to other marine predators in this area; and (ii) regionally, by empowering other conservation measures, such as the Specially Protected Areas Protocol of the Barcelona Convention and the wider goals of the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black and Mediterranean Seas (ACCOBAMS).
• 4. However, because few cetacean species are resident within the Sanctuary, their effective long‐term conservation will require large‐scale management and coordinated monitoring throughout the Mediterranean basin.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conservation of Rapa Nui waters strongly supported by publications in Aquatic Conservation

1. This paper describes how a series of papers published in Aquatic Conservation have had a clear impact on the conservation process run at Rapa Nui by the Chilean Government and the Rapanui community.
2. Exploratory expeditions set the scientific basis for the creation of Rapa Nui Multiple Use Marine Protected Area.
3. Past conservation initiatives lacked proper participative processes and were strongly resisted by the local communities.
4. Science transfer through capacity building was key for a local transformation towards embracing marine conservation objectives.
5. Publications showed the importance of participation, a good balance between political will and a local wish for protection of the sea, and the incorporation of a local worldview, for a successful conservation process.
6. Strong differences between the socio‐ecological systems in mainland Chile and that in Rapa Nui were recognized and helped to build a new conservation strategy for Rapa Nui between the Chilean Government and Rapanui community.
7. International experience exchanges also helped to develop the conservation process in Rapa Nui, and recent ecological studies will help future Marine Protected Area implementation.

     

Viewpoint. Management of Marine Protected Areas in the UK: Lessons from statutory and voluntary approaches

• 1. The establishment of Marine Protected Areas in the UK has been an extremely slow process. Two sites have statutory protection and a further nine are voluntary marine conservation areas.
• 2. There has been a distinctly different approach to site protection depending on whether the initiative is statutory or voluntary. The advantages and disadvantages of each are illustrated through examples.
• 3. Sites with voluntary protection are often seen as positive, and involving the local community. The overriding issue for legally protected sites is concern that they are a threat to existing rights.
• 4. A combined approach is needed. There should be statutory protection for key sites, whereas voluntary marine protected areas should be encouraged all around the coast, regardless of whether an area is of nature conservation value.
• 5. A key lesson to learn from the voluntary approach is the need to involve people who will be affected by the proposals as early as possible.

     

Spatio-temporal distribution of mutton snapper and dog snapper spawning aggregations in the South-west Atlantic

1. Sites and periods of spawning aggregations of two important fishery resources, the mutton snapper, Lutjanus analis, and the dog snapper, Lutjanus jocu, were identified and validated along the Brazilian north-east coast (latitude 8–15°S) using exploratory analysis of catch per unit effort (CPUE) data, gonadosomatic index analysis, and gonad histology.
2. The CPUE analysis for both species allowed the identification of outliers and far outliers, representing fisheries with exceptional catches, which were used as proxies of possible aggregation.
3. The presence of pre-spawning and recent spawning signs (hydrated oocytes and post-ovulatory follicles) in the ovary of females caught at sites with recurrent records of high CPUE allowed the validation of spawning activity at those specific sites for each species. All aggregation sites identified in this study were located on the outer shelf, close to the shelf break, a region that has been declared an Ecologically and Biologically Significant Marine Area.
4. Comparison of two subregions showed significant differences in size structure of the fish sampled during landings, suggesting a fishing depletion effect in the north region.
5. For both species, reproduction peaked twice in all regions studied, with a more marked peak during summer. However, spawning activity was observed in almost every month of the year, suggesting that seasonal closures could be more effective if combined with spatial measures.
6. In the northern part of the study range, spawning grounds were found to lie just outside the boundaries of one of Brazil's largest marine protected areas. Inclusion of those grounds in the marine protected area would increase protection of these species and also mean increased protection of an Ecologically and Biologically Significant Marine Area, encompassing mesophotic reefs.
7. The identification of these spawning aggregations sites on the north-east coast of Brazil was conducted in collaboration with local fishers that traditionally use bottom handline. Co-management approaches are suggested in view of the importance of these fishing sites for traditional fishing communities that may also face threats due to encroachment of mobile fleets.

     

Getting the measure of Marine Protected Areas: surface area or volume as measures for reserve system auditing?

• 1. Comprehensive classification systems to accurately account for areas managed for biodiversity conservation are an essential component of conservation planning and policy. Traditionally, quantitative targets for reserve system auditing has used a two‐dimensional measure of the surface area protected.
• 2. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are three‐dimensional systems and where zoning of allowable uses or protection is vertically stratified, measures of surface area at sea level are potentially misleading.
• 3. Measuring the proportion of the volume of MPAs managed for particular purposes provides a more accurate and transparent measure of the amount of protection or management intent in a single reserve.
• 4. This paper outlines a number of other emerging policy issues in relation to the zoning, protection and auditing of MPAs in Australia. It will be important to ensure that zoning is clearly and accurately articulated to better inform conservation planning decisions when establishing representative systems of Marine Protected Areas.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Revisiting UK Marine Protected Areas governance: A case study of a collaborative approach to managing an English MPA

1. Case studies of Marine Protected Area (MPA) upscaling were solicited from participants of a workshop at the International Marine Protected Areas Conference held in Autumn 2013 in Marseille.
2. One such case study was Solandt, Jones, Duval‐Diop, Kleiven, and Frangoudes (2014; Governance challenges in scaling up from individual MPAs to MPA networks. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 24, 145–152) which illustrated the role of science, non‐governmental organizations, government and local regulators in applying systemic management measures for local MPAs based on risk, highlighting the importance of balancing top‐down and bottom‐up drivers.
3. Here we follow up on the UK example, illustrating the incentives and actors involved in developing centralized and subsequent fisheries management measures in UK waters. Forty local laws were created to protect features in 143 inshore MPAs between 2013 and 2019.
4. We illustrate best practice in delivering management, focusing on multiple practitioner involvement in a single MPA and the monitoring put in place after trawling and dredging were banned.
5. We reflect on how the governance mechanisms in place in English inshore waters can be used as a template to allow for progressive MPA management in other coastal states.

     

Is the protected Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) population in Gilbert Bay,Labrador, nearing a tipping point?

1. The Gilbert Bay Marine Protected Area (MPA), Labrador, was created in 2005 to protect a resident, locally adapted population of Atlantic cod and its habitat. Twenty years of monitoring has shown a 90% decline in this bay-cod population since the creation of the MPA.
2. The decline of large commercial-sized cod in the bay was accompanied with increases in the abundance of other fish species, including rock cod (Gadus macrocephalus ogac), sculpin (Myoxocephlalus scorpius), and winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus), suggesting loss of strong top-down community control.
3. These changes suggest a positive feedback mechanism leading to a fish community tipping point, which could severely impact the recovery potential of the protected Atlantic cod population in the MPA.
4. We suggest that managers should be including this possibility in their management decisions for the Gilbert Bay MPA.

     

Understanding and valuing conflicts in marine protected areas: The best way to develop innovations?

1. Marine protected areas face numerous conflicts associated with the implementation of conservation measures. These conflicts generate costs, prevent progress, make cooperation between stakeholders difficult and create risks of ineffectiveness.
2. Although they are often concealed or circumvented, they also offer opportunities for new connections and collective innovation. Rather than leaving them to these kinds of avoidance strategies, conflicts were the subject of a Knowledge Café event at the Fourth International Marine Protected Area Congress to compare the perspectives of managers, decision‐makers and scientists on dealing with conflict.
3. This contribution presents the conceptual framework for discussions during and after the Fourth International Marine Protected Area Congress and the operational and research avenues they open up.
4. Cross‐referencing the results of this collective approach and research contributions makes it possible to characterize the diversity and complexity of conflicts in marine protected areas and the driving forces behind them and analyse resolution strategies. Instead of avoidance strategies, the causes and consequences of the idea of understanding and valuing conflicts is explored, along with operational approaches to achieving this.

     

Advances and challenges in marine conservation in Chile: A regional and global comparison

1. Despite significant progress made in Chile, and globally, in establishing marine protected areas (MPAs), the actual contribution to marine biodiversity conservation needs to be revised, to focus on representativeness and the diversity of tools alongside effective implementation, management, and enforcement.
2. This study makes progress in this direction, describing the most recent advances in marine conservation in Chile and analysing the contribution of the different conservation instruments as well as the distribution of designated areas across ecoregions. Furthermore, it examines the potential contribution of alternative area-based instruments to balance ocean protection. The advances observed in Chile were compared among four South American countries and five leading countries in ocean conservation, analysing protection levels in coastal areas, continental exclusive economic zones, and overseas territories.
3. Data on MPA boundaries and attributes were sourced from the World Database on Protected Areas and complemented the official information on MPAs and territorial user rights for fisheries and for indigenous people in South America.
4. The current level of protection in Chile is among the highest in the world in area coverage and in the proportion of the continental exclusive economic zone assigned to fully protected areas. However, it exhibits the strongest imbalances in the distribution of designated MPAs between coastal and oceanic waters, in comparison with the leading countries and also within South America (Perú, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay), and among ecoregions.
5. The patterns observed suggest that Chile has advanced, but concentrated, conservation efforts in low-threat, remote ecoregions. There is an urgent need to progress towards high-threat ecoregions, which implies balancing the needs of nature and people. The distribution of ancillary conservation instruments can help double the level of protection in threatened coastal areas, filling gaps in marine conservation and creating an opportunity to progress and diversify conservation strategies.

     

Progress,opportunities and challenges for marine conservation in the Pacific Islands

1. The people of the Pacific have long relied on the ocean for sustenance, commerce and cultural identity, which resulted in a sophisticated understanding of the marine environment and its conservation.
2. The global declines in ocean health require new and innovative approaches to conserving marine ecosystems. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been shown to be a highly effective means of conserving biodiversity and managing fisheries, while also restoring and preserving overall ecosystem function.
3. Traditional ecological knowledge held by many island peoples in the Pacific is critical to the development, design and implementation of contemporary MPAs.
4. Chile's offshore islands are among the few oceanic archipelagos along the west coast of South America. These islands have cultural and ecological connections to the broader insular Pacific, yet our scientific understanding of them is extremely limited.
5. Chile has created several large-scale MPAs around their offshore archipelagos. By protecting these unique ecosystems, Chile has established itself as a global leader in marine conservation.
6. Effective management and a better understanding of social–ecological interactions are currently the biggest challenges facing MPAs in the Pacific Islands.

     

Migrations and harvest rates of Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) in a marine protected area

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Representativity and networks of Marine Protected Areas

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Evaluating the distribution of priority benthic habitats through a remotely operated vehicle to support conservation measures off Linosa Island (Sicily Channel,Mediterranean Sea)

1. Explorations of the Mediterranean deep sea using remotely operated vehicles have shown that the sea bed hosts rich habitats, supporting high biodiversity. However, there have been only a few studies dealing with the southern part of the basin, leading to limited protection and conservation efforts in this area.
2. This study aimed to explore the sea bed off Linosa Island (Sicily Channel, southern Mediterranean Sea), which is considered a ‘sentinel area’ for alien species and global environmental changes owing to its geographic position, thus deserving special attention.
3. Remotely operated vehicle surveys, carried out in 2016 and 2017, were analysed to provide the first ecological characterization of benthic assemblages at depths −19 – −384 m around Linosa Island.
4. Communities were dominated by three priority habitats, amounting to 39% of the almost 5 km of the sea floor that was surveyed. These are represented in the euphotic zone by Posidonia oceanica meadows and, at greater depth, by newly discovered dense coral forests and extended rhodolith/maërl beds. Sixteen habitat-forming species included in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (e.g. gorgonians Eunicella cavolini and Paramuricea clavata, and black corals Antipathella subpinnata and Leiopathes glaberrima) were recorded, as well as individuals of Sargassum sp. at −100 m depth.
5. The volcanic island of Linosa represents a small, naturally preserved area, with very limited human pressure, hosting rich marine benthic biodiversity. Given the high species and habitat richness, we recommend its inclusion in the Special Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance project (United Nations Environment Programme) and suggest a redefinition of the existing marine protected area extension.

     

Conservation of Mediterranean habitats and biodiversity countdowns: what information do we really need?

• 1. The relentless increase in both human activities and exploitation of marine resources is a threat to marine habitats and species.
• 2. For marine systems, several protection initiatives have been outlined over the past decade to significantly reduce the current rate of biodiversity loss at global, regional, and national levels, and to establish representative networks of marine protected areas with the aim of protecting 10–30% of marine habitats.
• 3. Reliable estimates of the total area occupied by each habitat are crucial to set adequate protection initiatives. Habitat mapping requires a sound habitat classification. Many classification schemes have been developed in different areas of the world, sometimes based on questionable criteria.
• 4. A critical analysis of the most recent marine habitat classification list produced for the Mediterranean Sea from the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA) showed that (i) 39% of habitats and associated species considered in the list are scarcely covered by scientific knowledge from Web‐based resources; (ii) 62% of the species/genera included in the list are primary producers; (iii) quantitative information about the geographical distribution of selected habitats and associated species is scant; and (iv) when available, information is largely unbalanced and biased towards the shallow western Mediterranean Sea.
• 5. Improved inventories of marine habitats are needed to support accurate and consistent mapping activities. The combination of large‐scale mapping and sound habitat classifications will allow better estimates of biodiversity distribution, to reverse regional/global habitat loss rates through the achievement of conservation targets and deadlines that, for the moment, are systematically not met. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

     

Reconstructing the history of ocean wildlife around Ascension Island

1. In 2016, the UK government announced plans for a large‐scale Marine Protected Area around Ascension Island, a UK Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic.
2. To improve baselines for marine life to support ambitious conservation and assess change over time, archives were searched for historical accounts of wildlife from Ascension's discovery in 1501 to the present. For more recent changes, 139 interviews with past and present inhabitants were conducted.
3. Ascension's marine life has, from first discovery to the present, been consistently remarked upon for its exceptional abundance. Historical sources indicate declines in seabird and turtle populations from human exploitation and introduction of rats and cats. They are recovering with good management, although still below pre‐settlement abundance.
4. Interviews with residents indicate more recent changes, notably declines in catch per unit of fishing effort at popular shore angling sites, a decline in yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) and increase in Galapagos sharks (Carcharhinus galapagensis).
5. What is very notable, however, based on the interviews, was that there was no temporal signal suggestive of recent systemic decline, in marked contrast to many parts of the world where recent wildlife declines have been pervasive and steep. Ascension represents a remarkable and immensely important centre of abundance in a sea of depletion and change, warranting full protection for all the island's waters.