Lack of recognition of genetic biodiversity: International policy and its implementation in Baltic Sea marine protected areas

Abstract

Genetic diversity is needed for species’ adaptation to changing selective pressures and is particularly important in regions with rapid environmental change such as the Baltic Sea. Conservation measures should consider maintaining large gene pools to maximize species’ adaptive potential for long-term survival. In this study, we explored concerns regarding genetic variation in international and national policies that governs biodiversity and evaluated if and how such policy is put into practice in management plans governing Baltic Sea Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Germany. We performed qualitative and quantitative textual analysis of 240 documents and found that agreed international and national policies on genetic biodiversity are not reflected in management plans for Baltic Sea MPAs. Management plans in all countries are largely void of goals and strategies for genetic biodiversity, which can partly be explained by a general lack of conservation genetics in policies directed toward aquatic environments.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-016-0776-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Baltic Sea genetic biodiversity: Current knowledge relating to conservation management

“…This is not the case for the MPAs studied here. Not only are Baltic Sea MPAs not constructed to protect genetic variation per se (Laikre et al, ), they also rarely focus specifically on marine organisms, although their general, broad aim includes conserving biodiversity at all levels. Second, MPAs should generally fulfill several of the following key features: no take allowed (i.e.…”

“…Although both international and national policies that govern Baltic Sea biodiversity identify genetic diversity as an essential component for conservation, and MPAs as a means for conserving such diversity, management plans for MPAs in the Baltic Sea are largely devoid of goals and strategies for genetic biodiversity (Laikre et al, ). Sandström et al () explored why this is the case by interviewing regional managers in the area and found that there are several possible explanations including lack of knowledge of genetic variation and how it can be used in management.…”

Understanding and bridging the conservation‐genetics gap in marine conservation

“…Although goals for conserving genetic diversity were clearly stated in international and national documents, they were rarely mentioned in regional documents (Laikre et al. ) (Fig. , stage 1).…”

“…National authorities can make a big contribution by stipulating in their instructions to regional authorities the necessity to work with genetic biodiversity and by reviewing and updating guidelines and manuals on how to form new MPAs and on what to consider when developing conservation goals and updating management plans. There is an opportunity to learn from other policy areas; genetic concerns are more prominent in terrestrial policy than in marine policy (Laikre et al ; Sandström et al. ).…”

“…Here, we sought to synthesize key findings from previous studies (Laikre et al. ; Sandström et al. ; Lundmark et al.…”