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.

     

Understanding the impact of climate change on the oceanic circulation in the Chilean island ecoregions

1. The largest changes in the circulation of the South-eastern Pacific resulting from global warming are associated with the southward shift and intensification of the anticyclone and with coastal surface warming. Coastal upwelling is projected to be increase off central Chile, due to an increase in equatorward winds, although increased oceanic stratification and associated enhanced nearshore turbulence will yield an onshore deepening/flattening of the thermocline.
2. The overall increase in south-easterly trade winds of the South-eastern Pacific in a warmer climate are likely to increase the connectivity pattern between Juan Fernandez and Desventuradas islands, and along the Sala y Gomez ridge, through increasing wind-driven mean ocean currents.
3. Deoxygenation associated with the warmer temperatures and changes in ventilation are likely to modify marine habitat and the respiratory barriers of species in the seamounts located in the vicinity of the limits of the minimum oxygen zone.
4. In the South-eastern Pacific, the prevailing 2D understanding of the responses of marine life to climate change needs to be expanded to 3D approaches, integrating the vertical habitat compression of marine organisms as a result of ocean warming and deoxygenation, as climate velocities for temperature and oxygen have contrasting vertical and horizontal patterns.
5. There is a need for regional biogeochemical-coupled modelling studies dedicated to the Chilean islands in order to provide an integrated view of the impact of anthropogenic stressors (e.g. deoxygenation, increased stratification, and climate shift) at the scale required for addressing socio-ecological interactions.
6. A refined understanding of the large-scale biogeography and spatial dynamics of marine populations through experimentation with high-resolution regional ocean models is a prerequisite for scaling-up regional management planning and optimizing the conservation of interconnected marine ecosystems across large scales.

     

Marine protected areas invaded by floating anthropogenic litter: An example from the South Pacific

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You can choose your relatives: Building marine protected area networks from sister sites

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Drivers of consensus‐based decision‐making in international environmental regimes: Lessons from the Southern Ocean

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Recasting shortfalls of marine protected areas as opportunities through adaptive management

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From one to ten: Canada's approach to achieving marine conservation targets

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Bio‐physical models of marine environments reveal biases in the representation of protected areas

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Reinventing residual reserves in the sea: are we favouring ease of establishment over need for protection?

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Assessing the potential of marine Natura 2000 sites to produce ecosystem‐wide effects in rocky reefs: A case study from Sardinia Island (Italy)

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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.

     

UK deep‐sea conservation: Progress,lessons learned,and actions for the future

1. Despite a relatively long history of scientific interest fuelled by exploratory research cruises, the UK deep sea has only recently emerged as the subject of targeted and proactive conservation. Enabling legislation over the past 10 years has resulted in the designation of marine protected areas and the implementation of fisheries management areas as spatial conservation tools. This paper reflects on progress and lessons learned, recommending actions for the future.
2. Increased investment has been made to improve the evidence base for deep‐sea conservation, including collaborative research surveys and use of emerging technologies. New open data portals and developments in marine habitat classification systems have been two notable steps to furthering understanding of deep‐sea biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in support of conservation action.
3. There are still extensive gaps in fundamental knowledge of deep‐sea ecosystems and of cause and effect. Costs of new technologies and a limited ability to share data in a timely and efficient manner across sectors are barriers to furthering understanding. In addition, whilst the concepts of natural capital and ecosystem services are considered a useful tool to support the achievement of conservation goals, practical application is challenging.
4. Continued collaborative research efforts and engagement with industry to share knowledge and resources could offer cost‐effective solutions to some of these barriers. Further elaboration of the concepts of natural capital and ecosystem services will aid understanding of the costs and benefits associated with human–environment interactions and support informed decision‐making in conserving the deep sea.
5. Whilst multiple challenges arise for deep‐sea conservation, it is critical to continue ongoing conservation efforts, including exploration and collaboration, and to adopt new conservation strategies that are implemented in a systematic and holistic way and to ensure that these are adaptive to growing economic interest in this marine area.

     

Marine ecosystem science and the media: Exploring ways to improve news coverage through journalist–scientist working relations

1. The ocean's remoteness, ecological complexities, lengthy ecosystem processes, and vulnerability to multiple and cumulative anthropogenic threats make marine conservation communication particularly difficult. Both scientists and journalists face unique challenges in explaining the science of these often out-of-sight ecosystems. Given the inadequacies of marine news, improvement appeared necessary. However, the experiences and views of journalists and scientists have hardly been examined within marine news contexts. Thus, this study sought the perspectives of these two professional groups to provide a discussion on ways to improve news coverage of complex ocean issues through enhanced journalist–scientist working relations.
2. Both journalists and scientists rated the quantity, breadth and quality of marine news as average and were receptive to alternative ways for reporting ecosystem complexities. Although some frustrations remain, both valued impactful news stories resulting from their working relations and preferred direct contact with each other over indirect methods such as press releases and science news platforms. Both groups generally agreed on what to include in marine news, but scientists favoured a collaborative approach to news content decision-making more strongly than journalists.
3. Journalists' and scientists' commonly shared views and goals concerning marine news identified in this study could serve as a common ground for uniting the two professions. Institutional policies that permit one-on-one journalist–scientist interactions could lead to mutual understandings about the contexts of their relationship challenges. More trustful and mutually beneficial relationships, in turn, could be a basis for a more collaborative news generation process. Compiling and making marine visuals readily accessible to journalists; training programmes that enhance journalists' and scientists' understanding of the influence of media message framing on conservation actions; media appreciation of marine ecosystem complexities' newsworthiness; and the notion of media's social responsibility in reporting marine conservation issues could contribute to more impactful coverage.

     

Knock‐on effects of national risk assessments on the conservation of global biodiversity

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Encouraging youth engagement in marine protected areas: A survey of best practices in Canada

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Residual marine protected areas five years on: Are we still favouring ease of establishment over need for protection?

• 1. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are today's cornerstone of many marine conservation strategies. Our 2015 study (Devillers et al., 2015) and others have shown, however, that the placement of MPAs is ‘residual’ to commercial uses and biased towards areas of lower economic value or interest.
• 2. In this paper, we explored the impact of our study on marine science, policy and management practice.
• 3. We reviewed the papers citing our work and compiled expert opinions on some of the impacts of our study.
• 4. Results indicate a strong general uptake in the scientific community but more uneven impacts on policy and management in different contexts, with a likely smaller impact of the research on conservation practice.

     

A generic framework to assess the representation and protection of benthic ecosystems in European marine protected areas

1. There is concern across the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) region that a consideration of vulnerable components and the wider support mechanisms underpinning benthic marine ecosystems may be lacking from the process of marine protected area (MPA) designation, management and monitoring.
2. In this study, MPAs across six European ecoregions were assessed from a benthic ecology perspective. The study included 102 MPAs, designated by 10 countries, and focused on three aspects regarding the role of the benthos in: (i) the designation of MPAs; (ii) the management measures used in MPAs; and (iii) the monitoring and assessment of MPAs.
3. Qualitative entries to a questionnaire based on an existing framework (EU project ‘Monitoring Evaluation of Spatially Managed Areas’, (MESMA) were collected by 19 benthic experts of the ICES Benthic Ecology Working Group. A pedigree matrix was used to apply a numerical scale (score) to these entries.
4. The results showed clear differences in scores between ecoregions and between criteria. The designation‐phase criteria generally achieved higher scores than the implementation‐phase criteria. Poor designation‐phase scores were generally reiterated in the implementation‐phase scores, such as scores for assessment and monitoring.
5. Over 70% of the MPA case studies were found to consider the benthos to some extent during selection and designation; however, this was not followed up with appropriate management measures and good practice during the implementation phase.
6. Poor spatial and temporal coverage of monitoring and ineffective indicators is unlikely to pick up changes caused by management measures in the MPA. There is concern that without adequate monitoring and adaptive management frameworks, the MPAs will be compromised. Also, there could be an increased likelihood that, with regard to the benthos, they will fail to meet their conservation objectives.
7. This assessment was successful in highlighting issues related to the representation and protection of the benthos in MPAs and where changes need to be made, such as expanding the characterization and monitoring of benthic species or habitats of interest. These issues could be attributable to an ongoing process and/or an indication that some MPAs only have ‘paper protection’.

     

Management effectiveness in marine protected areas for conservation of Antillean manatees on the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula,Mexico

1. This study evaluated management effectiveness in three marine protected areas (MPAs) for conservation of the Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus Linnaeus 1758), located on the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. The MPAs evaluated were the Yum‐Balam Flora and Fauna Reserve, Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, and Chetumal Bay Manatee Sanctuary. The extent of the traditional, popular, and scientific manatee knowledge and research were assessed, as well as the prescribed conservation management actions, relevant stakeholders, and the degree of inclusion of manatee species in the management schemes of these MPAs.
2. Four general criteria, 12 specific criteria, and 62 indicators were developed. In total, 199 interviews were completed in seven communities of the MPAs in order to determine the perception of the social, economic, and conservation impacts of the manatee and its management.
3. Although the evaluated MPAs were not wholly comparable among themselves due to their different management categories and schemes, administration, socio‐economic context, and the dynamics and conflicts encountered, a comparison was conducted using standardized criteria and a categorical scale in order to evaluate the level of effectiveness of each MPA.
4. The MPA with the highest management effectiveness in manatee conservation was found to be the Chetumal Bay, with an effectiveness classed as good (71%), followed by Sian Ka'an with intermediate effectiveness (53%) and Yum‐Balam, also with intermediate effectiveness (43%).
5. The relationships between the key stakeholders of the three MPAs and economic activities such as fishing and tourism are the factors that most influence the effectiveness of management for manatee conservation.

     

The protection effects of marine protected areas on exploited molluscs from an oceanic archipelago

1. Limpets are one of the most successful intertidal algal grazers in the north‐eastern Atlantic. They provide valuable ecosystem services, playing a pivotal role in maintaining rocky shore ecological balance and have an important economic value, being subject to high levels of exploitation in several oceanic archipelagos. Limpets represent one of the most profitable economic activities of small‐scale fisheries in the Madeira archipelago. However, limpets are extremely vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts, such as overharvesting, habitat fragmentation, and pollution.
2. The protection effects and the effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs) on the population dynamics of two historically highly exploited limpet species, Patella aspera and Patella candei, were analysed through a comparative study of size, reproduction, and biomass in the Madeira archipelago.
3. The effects of protection from MPAs on limpet populations resulted in a differential increase on size at first maturity, shell size, and capture per unit effort according to the degree of protection.
4. Old and enforced MPAs showed the best‐preserved limpet populations in the study area, and both variables (age and enforcement) best explained the observed variability among the MPAs studied.
5. A thorough and multidisciplinary study is necessary to obtain a reliable picture of commercial stocks of the two targeted species (P. aspera and P. candei). Genetic analysis and studies on the food source of limpets may shed light to develop integrative conservation strategies.