Abstract
The United Republic of Tanzania has jurisdiction over a large marine area (223,000 km2) of which over 92% is deeper than 200 m. These deep areas extend from, in most cases <10 km from shore, have connections to shallow and coastal marine habitats through oceanographic processes, and support important living and non-living resources, which are becoming increasingly exploited to support a valuable blue economy. Recognising the need for sustainable development, implementation of conservation and management measures in Tanzania's offshore waters has begun, with the development of coastal protected areas and marine spatial plans (e.g. the Coastal and Marine Spatial Plan for Zanzibar). As yet, the deeper areas of Tanzania have not been considered in marine spatial planning. Here we present a synthesis of available data on the habitats and biological communities of deep-water Tanzania, including new data collected in collaboration with the deep-water oil and gas industry, to provide an indication of regional-scale patterns and areas of potential importance. We also discuss the value and multiple uses of the deep ocean areas to Tanzania, and assess the ecological effects of impacts in these environments. This information is valuable to the Tanzanian government to help inform development of management measures to continue to make sustainable use of valuable deep-water resources. To facilitate uptake, we provide a series of recommendations on considering the Tanzanian deep ocean areas in marine spatial planning to boost future management of the important and sensitive offshore domain.
Highlights
Marine spatial planning (MSP) is an important approach for imple menting successful ecosystem-based management around the world through managing the multiple uses of marine spaces (Douvere, 2008)
Such data have been used in the development of Marine protected areas (MPA) (e.g. Fernandes et al, 2005), including in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO; Crochelet et al, 2016; Le Corre et al, 2012; Daw et al, 2011)
We present a synthesis of available data on the habitats and biological communities of deep-water Tanzania, including new infor mation collected in collaboration with deep-water oil and gas industry, to provide an indication of regional-scale patterns and areas of potential importance
Summary
Marine spatial planning (MSP) is an important approach for imple menting successful ecosystem-based management around the world through managing the multiple uses of marine spaces (Douvere, 2008). MPAs (including Marine Parks and Marine Reserves) have been established in Tanzania since the 1970s (Wells et al, 2007) These cover >13% of the continental shelf (Fig. 1) and are mostly focussed on pro tection of coastal and shallow habitats, including coral reefs, mangroves and turtle nesting areas (Rocliffe, 2011; Rocliffe et al, 2014). The mainland coast includes the Rufiji-Mafia-Kilwa Marine Ramsar Site, added to the List of Wetlands of International Importance in October 2004 Such a network should be considered at a regional scale (Maina et al, 2020), but as is common elsewhere (Danovaro et al, 2020), the deeper water areas of Tanzania have not been considered in MSP. This information is valuable to the Tanzanian government to help inform development of management measures to continue to make sustainable use of valuable deep-water resources
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
