Adding the Third Dimension to Marine Conservation

Abstract

The Earth's oceans are inherently 3-D in nature. Many physical, environmental, and biotic processes vary widely across depths. In recent years, human activities, such as oil drilling, mining, and fishing are rapidly expanding into deeper frontier ocean areas, where much of the biodiversity remains unknown. Most current conservation actions, management decisions and policies of both the pelagic and benthic domains do not explicitly incorporate the 3-D nature of the oceans and are still based on a two-dimensional approach. Here, we review current advances in marine research and conservation, aiming to advance towards incorporating the third dimension in marine systematic conservation planning. We highlight the importance and potential of vertical conservation planning and zoning from the sea surface to the seafloor. We propose that undertaking marine conservation, management and environmental decisions in 3-D has the potential to revolutionize marine conservation research, practice and legislation. Highlights The marine realm is inherently 3-D.2. Conservation and policy decisions are often based on benthic ecosystems. 3. The deep sea includes the majority of ocean volume. 4. However, is it often not explicitly addressed in conservation plans. 5. We provide a first review of existing 3-D marine planning. 6. We develop a framework for explicitly including depth in marine conservation. Ecological gradients along the water columnThe world's oceans cover nearly 71% of the Earth's surface, and within them, offshore and deep-sea areas represent the largest biome on Earth, covering >65% of the globe. Offshore and deep-sea areas hold >95% of the planet's water volume (Danovaro et al., 2010) and provide most of the sea fish harvested and consumed by humans (Game et al. 2009). The Earth's oceans encompass vast gradients ranging from sea level down to ca. 12,000 m, from territorial waters to the High Seas, and from

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“…This is due, on the one hand, to most interactions playing out in specific places such as coastal settings, with spill-over effects for example through trading of marine resources and products or through marine pollution from land-based sources (Schmidt et al 2017 ; Newton et al 2012 ; Stojanovic and Farmer 2013 ). On the other hand, processes, activities and impacts in the marine environment evade concrete geographical boundaries due to the transboundary nature of impacts, effects and the marine environment as such (Kavanaugh et al 2016 ; Levin et al 2017 ). This, and the connectedness between land and sea, complicate the assessment.…”

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