Categorizing ocean conservation targets to avoid a potential false sense of protection to society: Portugal as a case-study

Costa, Bárbara Horta e; Gonçalves, Jorge Manuel dos Santos; Franco, Gustavo; Erzini, Karim; Furtado, Ricardo; Mateus, Célia; Cadeireiro, Emília Margarida; Gonçalves, Emanuel João

doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2019.103553

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…As long as there are no major changes in the current seabed exploitation (including the use of highly impacting fishing gears and seabed mining) and aquaculture regimes, the Azorean MPAs will maintain their Moderately to Fully Protected status under the regulation-based classification. This situation is similar to MPAs in other Portuguese regions (Horta e Costa et al 2019), where fully protection is residual and the less protected class is moderately protected. This is a relevant level of protection when compared with most other regions in Europe, which would most possibly be considered Unprotected or Poorly Protected under this classification given their authorisation of higher impact of gears.…”

Section: The Azores Mpassupporting

confidence: 79%

Evaluating seabed habitat representativeness across a diverse set of marine protected areas on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

et al. 2020

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Marine ecosystem-based management requires good spatial information on the distribution of marine species and habitats. Often, such information is limited to a few sampled locations, but modelling techniques can be applied to produce predictive distribution maps. A harmonized broad-scale seabed habitat map was recently produced for the archipelagos of Macaronesia under the EMODnet Seabed Habitats Programme. We use this new information to produce an extent-based evaluation of the representativeness and level of protection conferred by the current set of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Azores to the variety of benthic marine habitats found in this oceanic region. A more objective assessment of the protection effectively provided to the habitats is obtained by applying a scoring system to the MPAs based on the number of allowed extractive and non-extractive human activities and their potential impact on marine biodiversity and habitats. Results show that Azorean habitats within the MPAs are nearly entirely classified as highly protected. In total, 26 habitats (7 of which are endangered and 2 are rare) have at least 10% of their extent in the Azores EEZ protected by MPAs, but another 29 fail to meet this target (4 on-shelf habitats and 25 deep-sea habitats), highlighting the need to extend current protection of bathyal and abyssal habitats and applying adequate ecological coherence criteria. This approach sets a standard that can be used wherever similar information is available, be it in other European regions or beyond.

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Section: The Azores Mpassupporting

confidence: 79%

Evaluating seabed habitat representativeness across a diverse set of marine protected areas on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

et al. 2020

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“…What is needed to achieve effective ocean protection? To prevent overestimation of how much ocean is actually protected (9,19,25,26), knowledge of the total MPA coverage across different levels of protection is needed at the global scale. This requires assessment of the number, area, and impact of MPAs to ensure these are sufficient to achieve local, national, or international goals for healthy, productive, and resilient ocean ecosystems that support biodiversity and sustainable use (27).…”

Section: Removing Confusion Around Marine Protected Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

The MPA Guide: A framework to achieve global goals for the ocean

Grorud-Colvert

Sullivan-Stack

Roberts

et al. 2021

Science

229

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Consistency in conservation Marine protected areas (MPAs) are now well established globally as tools for conservation, for enhancing marine biodiversity, and for promoting sustainable fisheries. That said, which regions are labeled as MPAs varies substantially, from those that full protect marine species and prohibit human extraction to those that permit everything from intensive fishing to mining. This inconsistency can in some cases inhibit both conservation and quantifying the proportion of the marine environment that is truly protected. Grorud-Colvert et al . review the consistency of MPAs and propose a framework by which levels of protection can be evaluated and improved. —SNV

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“…Yet, the rearrangement of the no-take/access area came at the expense of a greater edge effect, which led to the decision to increase the no-take areas (i.e., fully protected zones) to offset that disadvantage. Indeed, if this zoning is accepted and declared by the government, the resulting no-take area, totalling 20.4km 2 , will be the largest in mainland Portugal (Horta e Costa et al, 2019). The suggested change in this area's position and shape also led to recognizing that relevant nearshore habitats with conservation interest could be left with less protection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Co-design of a marine protected area zoning and the lessons learned from it

et al. 2022

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Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a tool to safeguard marine natural systems, yet their effectiveness depends on how well they are integrated into the existing socioeconomic context. Stakeholder engagement in MPA design can contribute to increasing integration. This study focuses on the co-design of an MPA between researchers, public administration, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations. The proposed MPA is in Portugal and includes an area that is a hotspot for biodiversity and economic activities. This is the first MPA proposal in mainland Portugal co-designed using a participatory approach. This study highlights the steps of the zoning process and synthesizes the eight main lessons learned, useful for other cases, particularly for relatively small coastal MPAs with multiple socioeconomic activities. Three zoning proposals were developed and discussed within the participatory process. The proposals considered the best scientific and local knowledge available and were defined using ecological, socioeconomic, and shape-area guiding principles. In an iterative manner and following a participatory approach, compromises with stakeholders were achieved, and a final proposal, scientifically sound and socially accepted by most stakeholders, was delivered to the government. The final zoning plan will achieve ambitious conservation goals, including the largest fully protected area to be declared in mainland Portugal, while minimizing the impacts on the existing economic activities and promoting its sustainability. This process resulted in valuable lessons that may be applied elsewhere and guide future MPA implementation or rezoning of existing ones. These transdisciplinary and participatory processes can be time and resource-consuming but are vital for ensuring MPA effectiveness.

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Categorizing ocean conservation targets to avoid a potential false sense of protection to society: Portugal as a case-study

Cited by 9 publications

References 20 publications

Evaluating seabed habitat representativeness across a diverse set of marine protected areas on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Evaluating seabed habitat representativeness across a diverse set of marine protected areas on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

The MPA Guide: A framework to achieve global goals for the ocean

Co-design of a marine protected area zoning and the lessons learned from it

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