Abstract
AbstractAimMarine protected areas can serve to regulate harvesting and conserve biodiversity. Within large multi‐use MPAs, it is often unclear to what degree critical sites of biodiversity are afforded protection against commercial activities. Addressing this issue is a prerequisite if we are to appropriately assess sites against conservation targets. We evaluated whether the management regime of a large MPA conserved sites (Key Biodiversity Areas, KBAs) supporting the global persistence of top marine predators.LocationSouthwest Atlantic Ocean.MethodWe collated population and tracking data (1,418 tracks) from 14 marine predator species (Procellariiformes, Sphenisciformes, Pinnipedia) that breed at South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and identified hotspots for their conservation under the recently developed KBA framework. We then evaluated the spatiotemporal overlap of these sites and the different management regimes of krill, demersal longline and pelagic trawl fisheries operating within a large MPA, which was created with the intention to protect marine predator species.ResultsWe identified 12 new global marine KBAs that are important for this community of top predators, both within and beyond the focal MPA. Only three species consistently used marine areas at a time when a potentially higher‐risk fishery was allowed to operate in that area, while other interactions between fisheries and our target species were mostly precluded by MPA management plans.Main conclusionsWe show that current fishery management measures within the MPA contribute to protecting top predators considered in this study and that resource harvesting within the MPA does not pose a major threat—under current climate conditions. Unregulated fisheries beyond the MPA, however, pose a likely threat to identified KBAs. Our approach demonstrates the utility of the KBA guidelines and multispecies tracking data to assess the contributing role of well‐designed MPAs in achieving local and internationally agreed conservation targets.
Highlights
For the conservation of marine species and ecosystems, for those where harvesting of living resources is pursued, it is imperative to ensure both sustainable production and adequate long-term protection are appropriately maintained (Margules & Pressey, 2000)
As these projected distributions reflect the likely distribution for this species across the whole of South Georgia as oppose to the site-based tracking data approach, we based abundance estimates for these data-groups on the island-wide population estimates for species during the breeding period
For the remaining five species and 14 of 19 data-groups, the relevant fishery would be closed during the period for which we identified Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) (Appendix S2, “Temporal overlap of KBA sites with fisheries operating periods”)
Summary
For the conservation of marine species and ecosystems, for those where harvesting of living resources is pursued, it is imperative to ensure both sustainable production and adequate long-term protection are appropriately maintained (Margules & Pressey, 2000). KBAs are sites important for the global persistence of biodiversity, identified as containing a significant proportion of a species’ global population or ecosystem extent; the criteria include, but are not limited to, thresholds for threatened and geographically restricted species or ecosystems, and congregations of species during key life stages (IUCN, 2016) These global criteria are applicable to all macro-organisms, and KBA identification follows a standardized and quantitative set of guidelines that have recently been released (IUCN, 2016; KBA Standards & Appeals Committee, 2019). We focused on two objectives of the MPA, namely to “better protect important biodiversity” and to “protect foraging areas used by spatially constrained krill-eating predators.” Assessing whether these objectives are being met will enhance the ability of the Government of SGSSI to implement adaptive management regimes within the MPA and will facilitate understanding about the broader factors that may play a role in driving species population trends. This approach is readily applicable for use by practitioners requiring the identification of KBA sites elsewhere
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