TY - JOUR
T1 - Systematic Conservation Planning at an Ocean Basin Scale:
T2 - Identifying a Viable Network of Deep-Sea Protected Areas in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean
AU - Combes, Magali
AU - Vaz, Sandrine
AU - Grehan, Anthony
AU - Morato, Telmo
AU - Arnaud-haond, Sophie
AU - Dominguez-carrió, Carlos
AU - Fox, Alan
AU - González-irusta, José Manuel
AU - Johnson, David
AU - Callery, Oisín
AU - Davies, Andrew
AU - Fauconnet, Laurence
AU - Kenchington, Ellen
AU - Orejas, Covadonga
AU - Roberts, J. Murray
AU - Taranto, Gerald
AU - Menot, Lénaick
N1 - © 2021 Combes, Vaz, Grehan, Morato, Arnaud-Haond, Dominguez-Carrió, Fox, González-Irusta, Johnson, Callery, Davies, Fauconnet, Kenchington, Orejas, Roberts, Taranto and Menot. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).
PY - 2021/6/30
Y1 - 2021/6/30
N2 - Designing conservation networks requires a well-structured framework for achieving essential objectives such as connectivity, replication or viability, and for considering local management and socioeconomic stakes. Although systematic conservation planning (SCP) approaches are increasingly used to inform such networks, their application remains challenging in large and poorly researched areas. This is especially the case in the deep sea, where SCP has rarely been applied, although growing awareness of the vulnerability of deep-sea ecosystems urges the implementation of conservation measures from local to international levels. This study aims to structure and evaluate a framework for SCP applicable to the deep sea, focusing on the identification of conservation priority networks for vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs), such as cold-water coral reefs, sponge grounds, or hydrothermal vents, and for key demersal fish species. Based on multi-objective prioritization, different conservation scenarios were investigated, allowing the impact of key elements such as connectivity and conservation cost to be evaluated. Our results show that continental margin slopes, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and deeper areas of large and productive shelves housing fishing grounds appeared as crucial zones for preserving the deep-sea biodiversity of the North Atlantic, and within the limitations imposed by the data available, of the Mediterranean. Using biologically-informed connectivity led to a more continuous and denser conservation network, without increasing the network size. Even when minimizing the overlap with socioeconomic activities, the inclusion of exploited areas was necessary to fulfil conservation objectives. Such areas included continental shelf fishing grounds for demersal fish species, and areas covered by deep-sea mining exploration contracts for hydrothermal vent communities. Covering 17% of the study area and protecting 55% of each feature on average, the identified priority network held a high conservation potential. However, these areas still suffer from poor protection, with 30% of them benefiting from some form of recognition and 11% only from protection against trawling. Integrating them into current marine spatial planning (MSP) discussions could foster the implementation of a basin-scale conservation network for the deep sea. Overall, this work established a framework for developing large-scale systematic planning, useful for managing Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ).
AB - Designing conservation networks requires a well-structured framework for achieving essential objectives such as connectivity, replication or viability, and for considering local management and socioeconomic stakes. Although systematic conservation planning (SCP) approaches are increasingly used to inform such networks, their application remains challenging in large and poorly researched areas. This is especially the case in the deep sea, where SCP has rarely been applied, although growing awareness of the vulnerability of deep-sea ecosystems urges the implementation of conservation measures from local to international levels. This study aims to structure and evaluate a framework for SCP applicable to the deep sea, focusing on the identification of conservation priority networks for vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs), such as cold-water coral reefs, sponge grounds, or hydrothermal vents, and for key demersal fish species. Based on multi-objective prioritization, different conservation scenarios were investigated, allowing the impact of key elements such as connectivity and conservation cost to be evaluated. Our results show that continental margin slopes, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and deeper areas of large and productive shelves housing fishing grounds appeared as crucial zones for preserving the deep-sea biodiversity of the North Atlantic, and within the limitations imposed by the data available, of the Mediterranean. Using biologically-informed connectivity led to a more continuous and denser conservation network, without increasing the network size. Even when minimizing the overlap with socioeconomic activities, the inclusion of exploited areas was necessary to fulfil conservation objectives. Such areas included continental shelf fishing grounds for demersal fish species, and areas covered by deep-sea mining exploration contracts for hydrothermal vent communities. Covering 17% of the study area and protecting 55% of each feature on average, the identified priority network held a high conservation potential. However, these areas still suffer from poor protection, with 30% of them benefiting from some form of recognition and 11% only from protection against trawling. Integrating them into current marine spatial planning (MSP) discussions could foster the implementation of a basin-scale conservation network for the deep sea. Overall, this work established a framework for developing large-scale systematic planning, useful for managing Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ).
KW - marine spatial planning
KW - marine protected areas
KW - connectivity
KW - vulnerable marine ecosystems
KW - spatial prioritization
KW - Biodiversity Conservation
KW - open ocean
U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2021.611358
DO - 10.3389/fmars.2021.611358
M3 - Article
SN - 2296-7745
VL - 8
JO - Frontiers in Marine Science
JF - Frontiers in Marine Science
ER -