Marine research,resources and conservation in the Azores

• 1 A history of marine research on the Azores is outlined. Until two decades ago most oceanic and littoral marine studies had been carried out by foreign scientists. Studies by Azorean scientists started to increase in the early 1980s when the University of the Azores was created.
• 2 Ocean circulation in this part of the Atlantic is described as a background for biogeography and diversity. The picture emerges that Azores is a ?meeting point’? for shallow water marine fauna and flora of different origins.
• 3 The species composition of one of the best studied groups of organisms, the fish, is compared between locations in the northeastern Atlantic. The work on fish is also compared with other well studied groups (algae and hydroids) to highlight the interest of the Azores as a natural biogeographical experiment.
• 4 Studies of marine resources began less than two decades ago. The development of demersal fisheries is described focusing on the switch from small-scale artisanal fishing to more commercial fisheries.
• 5 Conservation of species and legislation in force for molluscs, crustaceans, fishes, marine turtles, seabirds and marine mammals are summarized.
• 6 Protected marine areas already designated are defined, as well as new areas recommended.
• 7 The paper concludes with a discussion of current threats and future management strategies.

     

Marine protected areas in southern China: Upgrading conservation effectiveness in the ‘eco‐civilization’ era

1. ensuring that marine systems are not overwhelmed within the new national jurisdiction, and maintaining and enhancing marine capacity;
2. increased resourcing, supported by comprehensive and systematic economic valuations of ecosystem goods and services and natural capital;
3. upgraded enforcement of existing environmental laws and regulations, combined with further refinement and development, especially around cumulative impact management;
4. a particular focus on major reduction in water pollution in all forms;
5. integration of marine management between Hong Kong SAR and surrounding Guangdong Province; and
6. enhanced community engagement, participation and education.
7. Finally, much greater, collaborative engagement by the international community with Chinese marine management and conservation would bring major, and very mutual, benefits.

     

A review of climate change and the implementation of marine biodiversity legislation in the United Kingdom

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Policy analysis of the ‘MPA‐process’ in temperate continental shelf areas

• 1. The decision to designate, implement and manage marine protected areas (MPAs) is often made ad hoc without clear guiding procedures. This study evaluates the process of establishment and management of MPAs in temperate soft‐bottom marine areas, including identification of objectives, site selection, designation, implementation, ecological effectiveness and socio‐economic impacts.
• 2. For the first time, literature about marine conservation strategies in soft‐bottom temperate areas is brought together in one ‘systems approach’, which is visualized in a flow chart including three phases: setting policy objectives, making decisions and evaluating the eventual effects of the MPA. Policy objectives are generally easy to identify and in most cases national policy objectives are driven by international and regional legal obligations. The decision making process is the most complex phase, as the acceptance of MPAs has to be balanced against the human activities that take place in the area.
• 3. The relation between fisheries and MPA‐management appears to be most challenging in soft‐bottom temperate marine areas because of conflicting interests and institutional differences. Activities limited in space and not relying directly on ecosystem functions (e.g. offshore energy production and aggregate extraction) are generally easier to manage than fisheries.
• 4. The conceptual mapping exercise presented here serves as a basis for a systems approach for MPAs and has been tested for the Belgian coastal environment. In the Belgian ‘MPA‐process’, the application of the systems approach proves to be useful in providing insight into the complex interactions of various authorities with scattered jurisdictions.
• 5. The unified and simplified representation of the various aspects is (1) a useful communication tool for policy makers and managers to inform other sectors and the public at large and (2) a valuable support during the ‘MPA‐process’ that considerably enhances the prospects for success.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Food risk trade‐off in the Indo‐Pacific humpback dolphin: An exploratory case study

1. Based on optimal foraging theory, animals are expected to maximize foraging benefits whilst minimizing risks. Despite risking being subjected to anthropogenic impacts such as water contamination, marine traffic, and underwater noise, estuaries have been identified as the preferred habitat of the Indo‐Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis, IPHD). However, it remains unclear why this vulnerable species favours such risky habitats.
2. Here, an exploratory case study in Zhanjiang estuary, China, was conducted to test the hypothesis that IPHDs select estuarine habitats as a trade‐off that maximizes foraging opportunities whilst minimizing the risk of mortality.
3. The results showed that IPHDs accept greater mortality risks for higher food rewards but select habitats with lower risks when food rewards are similar between two locations.
4. Although this type of information is important for underpinning models for individual dolphins, its principal role is to show environmental protection agencies why IPHDs favour estuaries despite the increased mortality risks.
5. Habitat conservation plans should carefully consider prey stocks, possibly through the presence of marine protected areas near estuaries, as local overfishing may lead vulnerable cetacean populations to take greater risks.

     

Geophysical approaches to the classification,delineation and monitoring of marine habitats and their communities

• 1. If marine environments are to be systematically protected from the adverse effects of human activities, then identification of the types of marine habitats and the communities they contain, and delineation of their boundaries utilizing a consistent classification is required. Human impacts on defined communities can then be assessed, the ‘health’ of these communities can be monitored, and marine protected areas can be designated as appropriate.
• 2. Schemes to classify habitats at local and regional scales, according to their geophysical properties, may identify different factors as determinants, and/or use them in different sequences in a hierarchical classification. We examined the reasons for these differences in local and regional applications of a global concept, and argue that a common set of factors could be applied in a defined and defensible sequence to produce a common hierarchy of habitat types among geographic regions.
• 3. We show how simple mapping and GIS techniques, based on readily available data, can lead to the identification of representative habitat types over broad geographic regions. We applied a geophysical framework first to the entire Canadian coastline and second to the Scotian Shelf of Atlantic Canada to establish broad scale marine natural regions and ‘seascapes’, respectively. This ecosystem level approach — which defines representative habitat types — is a fundamental prerequisite for many purposes. It can form the basis for further analyses including: definition of community types from habitat — community relationships; evaluation of the potential roles of focal species in marine conservation; evaluation of candidate marine protected areas; definition of unaffected reference areas against which the effects of human activities can be gauged; guidance for water quality monitoring studies; management of marine resources.

Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strengthening the synergies among global biodiversity targets to reconcile conservation and socio‐economic demands

1. Most of the world's nations adopted the 20 Aichi global biodiversity targets to be met by 2020, including the protection of at least 10% of their coastal and marine areas (Target 11) and the avoidance of extinction of threatened species (Target 12). However, reconciling these biodiversity targets with socio‐economic demands remains a great dilemma for implementing conservation policies.
2. In this paper, Aichi Targets 11 and 12 were simultaneously addressed using Brazil's exclusive economic zone as an example. Priority areas for expanding the current system of marine protected areas within the country's eight marine ecoregions were identified with data on threatened vertebrates under different scenarios. Additionally, the potential effects of major socio‐economic activities (small? and large‐scale fishing, seabed mining, and oil and gas exploration) on the representation of conservation features in proposed marine protected areas were explored.
3. Areas selected for expanding marine protected areas solely based on biodiversity data were different (spatial overlap from 62% to 93%) from areas prioritized when socio‐economic features were incorporated into the analysis. The addition of socio‐economic data in the prioritization process substantially decreased opportunity costs and potential conservation conflicts, at the cost of reducing significantly (up to 31%) the coverage of conservation features. Large? and small‐scale fisheries act in most of the exclusive economic zone and are the major constraints for protecting high‐priority areas.
4. Nevertheless, there is some spatial mismatch between areas of special relevance for conservation and socio‐economic activities, suggesting an opportunity for reconciling the achievement of biodiversity targets and development goals within the intricate Brazilian seascape by 2020 and beyond.

     

Conservation of aquatic invertebrates: concerns,challenges and conundrums

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Investigating decadal changes in persistent organic pollutants in Scottish grey seal pups

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Marine spatial plans focusing on biodiversity conservation: The case of the Aegean Sea

1. The expansion and intensification of marine uses have severe cumulative impacts on marine ecosystems and human well-being, unless they are properly managed with an ecosystem-based management approach.
2. A systematic conservation planning approach, using marxan with zones , was applied to generate alternative marine spatial plans for the Aegean Sea. Relevant human uses were included and their cumulative impact on a wide set of key biodiversity features was considered in the analysis. Different cost scenarios were developed to gain insight on the effects of the approaches used to assess socio-economic factors, and their potential impact on spatial plans.
3. The spatial plans generated differed greatly depending on the method used to estimate opportunity costs and evaluate human activities in monetary terms.
4. The vulnerability weights (the relative vulnerability of ecological features to specific human activities and their impacts) that were estimated based on a cumulative impact assessment, allowed the assessment of each zone in contributing to the achievement of conservation targets, through a transparent planning approach.
5. Results indicate that special care should be given to how socio-economic activities, their impact on the ecosystems, and related costs are incorporated into planning.
6. The proposed approach demonstrates how EU member states may effectively comply with the new Biodiversity Strategy 2030 targets, while planning for the sustainable use of their marine resources.

     

Distribution of demersal fish assemblages along the west coast of St Lucia: Implications for planning no-take marine reserves

1. Evidence-based decisions relating to effective marine protected areas as a means of conserving biodiversity require a detailed understanding of the species present. The Caribbean island nation of St Lucia is expanding its current marine protected area network by designating additional no-take marine reserves on the west coast. However, information on the distribution of fish species is currently limited.
2. This study used baited remote underwater stereo-video to address this shortcoming by investigating the effects of depth and seabed habitat structure on demersal fish assemblages and comparing these assemblages between regions currently afforded different protection measures.
3. From the 87 stations visited a total of 5,921 fish were observed comprising 120 fish taxa across 22 families. Species richness and total abundance were higher within the highly managed region, which included no-take reserves. Redundancy analysis explained 17% of the total variance in fish distribution, driven predominantly by the seabed habitats. The redundancy analysis identified four main groups of demersal fishes each associated with specific seabed habitats.
4. The current no-take marine reserves protected two of these groups (i.e. fishes associated with the ‘soft corals, hard corals or gorgonians’ and ‘seagrass’ groups). Importantly, habitats dominated by sponges, bacterial mats, algal turfs or macroalgae, which also supported unique fish assemblages, are not currently afforded protection via the marine reserve network (based on the five reserves studied). These results imply that incorporation of the full breadth of benthic habitat types present would improve the efficacy of the marine reserve network by ensuring all fish assemblages are protected.

     

Fishers' experiences and perceptions of marine mammals in the South China Sea: Insights for improving community‐based conservation

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Looking beyond the horizon: An early warning system to keep marine mammal information relevant for conservation

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Measuring responses of harbour seals to potential aversive acoustic mitigation signals using controlled exposure behavioural response studies

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Prioritizing marine invasive alien species in the European Union through horizon scanning

1. The disproportionately low presence of marine species in the list of invasive alien species (IAS) of Union concern of the European Union (EU) Regulation 1143/2014 does not fully acknowledge the threat they pose to the EU marine environment.
2. In this study, the first EU‐scale Horizon Scanning (HS) focusing on marine alien species was performed, aiming to deliver a ranked list of species that should be of high priority for risk assessment (Article 5 of the EU IAS Regulation).
3. Species absent from or with a limited distribution in EU marine waters were targeted. In total, 363 alien species were initially screened for HS by a panel of experts, including a broad range of taxonomic groups. Species were scored for their likelihood of arrival, establishment, spread, and impact in EU waters.
4. A consensus workshop ranked 267 species, including a subset of 26 prioritized species. These species are considered to be mainly introduced by shipping (fouling and ballast water), via the Suez Canal, and aquaculture activities. The 26 priority species were also scrutinized in terms of feasibility of their management; 18 of them were suggested for performing risk assessments on the basis of the EU IAS Regulation.
5. Since biological invasions are dynamic and connected with accelerated globalization and diversified human activities, we recommend HS to be repeated periodically to review the species already listed and assess new ones.

     

Automated detection and tracking of marine mammals: A novel sonar tool for monitoring effects of marine industry

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Prioritizing action for recovery and conservation of marine species: a case study based on species of conservation importance around England

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Identification of a spatially efficient portfolio of priority conservation sites in marine and estuarine areas of Florida

• 1. A systematic conservation planning approach using benthic habitat and imperilled species data along with the site prioritization algorithm, MARXAN, was used to identify a spatially efficient portfolio of marine and estuarine sites around Florida with high biodiversity value.
• 2. Ensuring the persistence of an adequate geographic representation of conservation targets in a particular area is a key goal of conservation. In this context, development and testing of different approaches to spatially‐explicit marine conservation planning remains an important priority.
• 3. This detailed case study serves as a test of existing approaches while also demonstrating some novel ways in which current methods can be tailored to fit the complexities of marine planning.
• 4. The paper reports on investigations of the influence of varying several algorithm inputs on resulting portfolio scenarios including the conservation targets (species observations, habitat distribution, etc.) included, conservation target goals, and socio‐economic factors.
• 5. This study concluded that engaging stakeholders in the development of a site prioritization framework is a valuable strategy for identifying broadly accepted selection criteria; universal target representation approaches are more expedient to use as algorithm inputs, but may fall short in capturing the impact of historic exploitation patterns for some conservation targets; socio‐economic factors are best considered subsequent to the identification of priority conservation sites when biodiversity value is the primary driver of site selection; and the influence of surrogate targets on portfolio selection should be thoroughly investigated to ensure unintended effects are avoided.
• 6. The priority sites identified in this analysis can be used to guide allocation of limited conservation and management resources.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Applications and future challenges in marine species distribution modeling

• 1. Anthropogenic climate change affects both phenology and distribution patterns of the world's biota including marine species. During the last decade, species distribution models have been more frequently used to assess the potential distributions of species and possible effects of climate change. However, unlike for terrestrial species, there have been few investigations assessing climate change effects on distribution patterns of marine organisms.
• 2. An overview of marine species distribution modelling is given. Possibilities of how to characterize and project the environmental niches of species onto climatic change scenarios are highlighted and novel techniques for addressing specific needs in a 3‐D context are proposed. A detailed introduction into different modelling tools and databases for environmental parameters given provides a starting point for the application of these models.
• 3. Application of a species distribution model and its projections onto a glacial and future scenario on a global scale are presented for the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) for illustrative purposes. An approach for addressing marine migratory species with seasonal distribution patterns is presented. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.