Marine Conservation Planning Research Articles

Social networks and information flow: Building the ground for collaborative marine conservation planning in Portofino Marine Protected Area (MPA)

Social networks and information flow: Building the ground for collaborative marine conservation planning in Portofino Marine Protected Area (MPA)

Explicitly incorporating socioeconomic criteria and data into marine protected area zoning

Addressing community needs or aspirations is critical for the success of marine protected areas (MPAs). However MPA design based on the results of systematic conservation planning tools alone does not fully represent important information on socioeconomic factors. This is because of the reliance of conservation planning tools on spatial data which is better suited to ecological rather than socioeconomic factors which are predominantly non-spatial. We present a case study from Raja Ampat in Indonesia, to demonstrate how we developed MPA zoning plans for six multiple use MPAs that encompass more than 1 million ha of the world's most diverse coral reef ecosystems. These were developed by combining analysis of ecological and spatial socioeconomic data using decision support tools (Marzone), and incorporation of non-spatial socioeconomic data from experts, stakeholders, and local communities. By explicitly including socioeconomic criteria and data into MPA zoning, the final zoning plans recognize community use and governance of resources, maximize equity and access to traditional fishing grounds, and better support long-term food security and livelihoods of local communities. These plans also met recommended guidelines for resilient MPA design and were supported by the community and MPA managers (i.e. Raja Ampat Regency and Indonesian National Government). This case study can act as a guide to other MPA managers and conservation practitioners to better incorporate socioeconomic considerations into MPA zoning plans and systematic marine conservation planning.

The Foraging Ecology of the Endangered Cape Verde Shearwater, a Sentinel Species for Marine Conservation off West Africa.

Large Marine Ecosystems such as the Canary Current system off West Africa sustains high abundance of small pelagic prey, which attracts marine predators. Seabirds are top predators often used as biodiversity surrogates and sentinel species of the marine ecosystem health, thus frequently informing marine conservation planning. This study presents the first data on the spatial (GPS-loggers) and trophic (stable isotope analysis) ecology of a tropical seabird—the endangered Cape Verde shearwater Calonectris edwardsii–during both the incubation and the chick-rearing periods of two consecutive years. This information was related with marine environmental predictors (species distribution models), existent areas of conservation concern for seabirds (i.e. marine Important Bird Areas; marine IBAs) and threats to the marine environment in the West African areas heavily used by the shearwaters. There was an apparent inter-annual consistency on the spatial, foraging and trophic ecology of Cape Verde shearwater, but a strong alteration on the foraging strategies of adult breeders among breeding phases (i.e. from incubation to chick-rearing). During incubation, birds mostly targeted a discrete region off West Africa, known by its enhanced productivity profile and thus also highly exploited by international industrial fishery fleets. When chick-rearing, adults exploited the comparatively less productive tropical environment within the islands of Cape Verde, at relatively close distance from their breeding colony. The species enlarged its trophic niche and increased the trophic level of their prey from incubation to chick-rearing, likely to provision their chicks with a more diversified and better quality diet. There was a high overlap between the Cape Verde shearwaters foraging areas with those of European shearwater species that overwinter in this area and known areas of megafauna bycatch off West Africa, but very little overlap with existing Marine Important Bird Areas. Further investigation on the potential nefarious effects of fisheries on seabird communities exploiting the Canary Current system off West Africa is needed. Such negative effects could be alleviated or even dissipated if the ‘fisheries-conservation hotspots’ identified for the region, would be legislated as Marine Protected Areas.

Integrating multiple species connectivity and habitat quality into conservation planning for coral reefs

Incorporating connectivity into the design of marine protected areas (MPAs) has met with conceptual, theoretical, and practical challenges, which include: 1) the need to consider connectivity for multiple species with different dispersal abilities, and 2) the role played by variable habitat quality in determining the spatial patterns of connectivity. We propose an innovative approach, combining biophysical modeling with a routinely‐used tool for marine‐reserve design (Marxan), to address both challenges by using ecologically‐informed connectivity parameters. We showed how functional demographic connectivity for four candidate reef‐associated species with varying dispersal abilities and a suite of connectivity metrics weighted by habitat quality can be used to set conservation objectives and inform MPA placement. Overall, the strength of dispersal barriers varied across modeled species and, also across species, we found a lack of spatial concordance of reefs that were high‐quality sources, self‐persistent, and stepping‐stones. Including spatially‐heterogeneous habitat quality made a considerable difference to connectivity patterns, significantly reducing the potential reproductive output from many reefs. We also found that caution is needed in combining connectivity data from modeled species into multi‐species matrices, which do not perform reliably as surrogates for all connectivity metrics of individual species. We then showed that restricting the habitat available for conservation has an inequitable impact on different connectivity objectives and species, with greatest impact on betweenness centrality and long‐distance dispersers. We used Brazilian coral reefs as a case study but our approach is applicable to both marine and terrestrial conservation planning, and offers a holistic way to design functionally‐connected reserves to tackle the complex issues relevant to planning for persistence.

Emerging conservation challenges and prospects in an era of offshore hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation.

Globally, extensive marine areas important for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem functioning are undergoing exploration and extraction of oil and natural gas resources. Such operations are expanding to previously inaccessible deep waters and other frontier regions, while conservation-related legislation and planning is often lacking. Conservation challenges arising from offshore hydrocarbon development are wide-ranging. These challenges include threats to ecosystems and marine species from oil spills, negative impacts on native biodiversity from invasive species colonizing drilling infrastructure, and increased political conflicts that can delay conservation actions. With mounting offshore operations, conservationists need to urgently consider some possible opportunities that could be leveraged for conservation. Leveraging options, as part of multi-billion dollar marine hydrocarbon operations, include the use of facilities and costly equipment of the deep and ultra-deep hydrocarbon industry for deep-sea conservation research and monitoring and establishing new conservation research, practice, and monitoring funds and environmental offsetting schemes. The conservation community, including conservation scientists, should become more involved in the earliest planning and exploration phases and remain involved throughout the operations so as to influence decision making and promote continuous monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystems. A prompt response by conservation professionals to offshore oil and gas developments can mitigate impacts of future decisions and actions of the industry and governments. New environmental decision support tools can be used to explicitly incorporate the impacts of hydrocarbon operations on biodiversity into marine spatial and conservation plans and thus allow for optimum trade-offs among multiple objectives, costs, and risks.

Marine historical ecology in conservation: applying the past to manage for the future

Chapter Contributors Viewpoint Contributors Foreword (Daniel Pauly) Acknowledgments 1. Managing Human Legacies in a Changing Sea: An Introduction (John N. Kittinger, Louise K. Blight, Keryn B. Gedan, and Loren McClenachan) PART I. Recovering Endangered Species (Lead Section Editor: Louise K. Blight) 2. What Recovery of Exploited Marine Animals Tells Us about Management and Conservation (Heike K. Lotze) 3. Natural or Anthropogenic? Novel Community Reassembly after Historical Overharvest of Pacific Coast Pinnipeds (Jon M. Erlandson, Todd J. Braje, Robert L. DeLong, and Torben C. Rick) 4. Using Disparate Datasets to Reconstruct Historical Baselines of Animal Populations (Francesco Ferretti, Larry B. Crowder, and Fiorenza Micheli) PART II. Conserving Fisheries (Lead Section Editor: John N. Kittinger) 5. Improving Fisheries Assessments Using Historical Data: Stock Status and Catch Limits (Alan M. Friedlander, Joshua Nowlis, and Haruko Koike) 6. Understanding Fisheries through Historical Reconstructions: Implications for Fishery Management and Policy (Dalal Al-Abdulrazzak, Dirk Zeller, and Daniel Pauly) 7. Back to the Future: Integrating Customary Practices and Institutions into Comanagement of Small-scale Fisheries (John N. Kittinger, Joshua E. Cinner, Shankar Aswani, and Alan T. White) PART III. Restoring Ecosystems (Lead Section Editor: Keryn B. Gedan) 8. Historical Information for Ecological Restoration in Estuaries and Coastal Ecosystems (Keryn B. Gedan, Denise L. Breitburg, Robin M. Grossinger, and Torben C. Rick) 9. Estimates of Historical Ecosystem Service Provision Can Guide Restoration Efforts (Philine S. E. zu Ermgassen, Mark D. Spalding, and Robert D. Brumbaugh) 10. Incorporating Historical Perspectives into Systematic Marine Conservation Planning (Natalie C. Ban, John N. Kittinger, John M. Pandolfi, Robert L. Pressey, Ruth H. Thurstan, Matthew J. Lybolt, and Simon Hart) PART IV. Engaging the Public (Lead Section Editor: Loren McClenachan) 11. Engaging Public Interest in the Ocean of the Past: The Promise of New Media (Catherine Marzin, Sian Evans, and Karen Alexander) 12. Choice without Memory: Uncovering the Narrative Potential of Historical Ecology (J. B. MacKinnon) Index

Modelling dynamic ecosystems: venturing beyond boundaries with the Ecopath approach

Thirty years of progress using the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) approach in different fields such as ecosystem impacts of fishing and climate change, emergent ecosystem dynamics, ecosystem-based management, and marine conservation and spatial planning were showcased November 2014 at the conference “Ecopath 30 years-modelling dynamic ecosystems: beyond boundaries with EwE”. Exciting new developments include temporal-spatial and end-to-end modelling, as well as novel applications to environmental impact analyses, in both aquatic and terrestrial domains. A wide range of plug-ins have been added to extend the diagnostic capabilities of EwE, and the scientific community is applying EwE to a diversified range of topics besides fishing impact assessments, such as the development of scientific advice for management, the analysis of conservation issues, and the evaluation of cumulative impacts of environmental and human activities in marine food webs (including habitat modification and the invasion of alien species). Especially promising is the new potential to include the EwE model in integrated assessments with other models such as those related to climate change research. However, there are still many challenges, including the communication of scientific results in management procedures. In addition, other important scientific issues are how to improve model result validation and perform model quality control. During the conference, the Ecopath International Research and Development Consortium was presented as a way for the EwE user community to become involved in the long-term sustainability of the EwE approach. Overall, exciting times are facing the ecosystem modelling scientific community, and as illustrated by the conference: synergistic cooperation is the future path for the EwE approach.

Balancing extractive and non-extractive uses in marine conservation plans

Socioeconomic considerations are crucial in the design process of marine protected areas (MPAs). Most systematic planning processes that incorporate socioeconomic aspects mainly concentrate on extractive user interests by integrating spatial data on fisheries thus overlooking other interests such as non-extractive recreational uses of the marine environment such as wildlife observation, diving or kayaking. Additionally, most theory on systematic spatial conservation planning is focused on the design of single zone reserves. The present study, focused in Wales (UK), uses the systematic conservation software Marxan with Zones to quantify the benefits of integrating extractive and non-extractive interests in the planning process of MPAs and assesses whether the impacts on affected users differs between single vs. multiple zones MPAs. Results indicate that MPAs designed with consideration of non-extractive interests reduced the potential economic impacts on this sector by approximately 50% more than MPAs designed without that consideration, without extra cost to the extractive sector. The design of a multiple-zone MPA outperformed that of a single-zone MPA by reducing and generating more equitable impacts for both extractive and non-extractive interests. This study highlights the importance of including the interests of any groups that might be impacted by the designation of an MPA.

Genetic connectivity of the broadcast spawning reef coral Platygyra sinensis on impacted reefs, and the description of new microsatellite markers

As tropical coral reef habitats continue to be lost or degraded, understanding the genetic diversity and connectivity among populations is essential for making informed management decisions. This is particularly important in rapidly developing, land-scarce nations (such as Singapore) that require targeted conservation efforts. Sixty percentage of Singapore’s coral cover has been lost over the past five decades, and with further coastal reclamation underway, it is imperative to understand the effects of development on coral connectivity. In this study, we used seven microsatellite markers, of which six are newly described here, to investigate the genetic diversity and connectivity of the massive hard coral Platygyra sinensis at nine sites in Singapore and three in the nearby Indonesian island of Bintan. Our results show that P. sinensis currently retains large effective population sizes, high genetic diversity, as well as high connectivity among sites within each locality, which suggest that these populations have good potential for continued survival provided that there are no island-wide disturbances. However, the Singapore Strait appears to be a mild barrier to gene flow, which may lead to an increased reliance on self-seeding at either location. We suggest some directions for their management based on these potential population boundaries, which can help pave the path for marine conservation planning in Singapore.

Mapping inshore fisheries: Comparing observed and perceived distributions of pot fishing activity in Northumberland

Marine spatial planning (MSP) is increasingly promoted as part of an ecosystem-based approach to marine resource management. Impacts of MSP may be particularly great in inshore fisheries, yet despite their vulnerability, assessing potential impacts of spatial measures on inshore fisheries is limited by data scarcity, and the comparability of patterns of fishing activity produced by different data sources is poorly understood. This study contributes to the debate around information needs for MSP by describing the distribution of lobster potting activity at four ports in Northumberland, UK, using two sources of spatial data: observed fishing vessel sightings by patrol vessels and perceived fishing activity elicited through interviews with local fishers. The comparability of the distributions of potting activity mapped by the two datasets was explored using Mantel tests and overlap of fishing hotspots identified. Fishing activity at all ports tended towards an aggregated or patchy distribution, with hotspots located in inshore areas in close proximity to vessels׳ home ports. The two datasets were correlated at each port, though the strength of correlation varied among ports, being greater in ports with more highly aggregated fishing activity. Results suggest that vessel sightings are likely to better represent variable intensity of fishing activity, while interview data may more accurately capture the absolute extent of grounds important to fishers. This study highlights some of the merits and limitations of two available data sources currently used to inform fisheries management and marine conservation planning, and outlines an approach to assessing the consistency of datasets in describing the spatial distribution of activity. Given the limitations of individual datasets, we recommend triangulation of available data to inform MSP, alongside qualitative data on fishers׳ behaviour.

The crowded sea: incorporating multiple marine activities in conservation plans can significantly alter spatial priorities.

Successful implementation of marine conservation plans is largely inhibited by inadequate consideration of the broader social and economic context within which conservation operates. Marine waters and their biodiversity are shared by a host of stakeholders, such as commercial fishers, recreational users and offshore developers. Hence, to improve implementation success of conservation plans, we must incorporate other marine activities while explicitly examining trade-offs that may be required. In this study, we test how the inclusion of multiple marine activities can shape conservation plans. We used the entire Mediterranean territorial waters of Israel as a case study to compare four planning scenarios with increasing levels of complexity, where additional zones, threats and activities were added (e.g., commercial fisheries, hydrocarbon exploration interests, aquaculture, and shipping lanes). We applied the marine zoning decision support tool Marxan to each planning scenario and tested a) the ability of each scenario to reach biodiversity targets, b) the change in opportunity cost and c) the alteration of spatial conservation priorities. We found that by including increasing numbers of marine activities and zones in the planning process, greater compromises are required to reach conservation objectives. Complex plans with more activities incurred greater opportunity cost and did not reach biodiversity targets as easily as simplified plans with less marine activities. We discovered that including hydrocarbon data in the planning process significantly alters spatial priorities. For the territorial waters of Israel we found that in order to protect at least 10% of the range of 166 marine biodiversity features there would be a loss of ∼15% of annual commercial fishery revenue and ∼5% of prospective hydrocarbon revenue. This case study follows an illustrated framework for adopting a transparent systematic process to balance biodiversity goals and economic considerations within a country's territorial waters.

Large-scale conservation planning in a multinational marine environment: cost matters.

Explicitly including cost in marine conservation planning is essential for achieving feasible and efficient conservation outcomes. Yet, spatial priorities for marine conservation are still often based solely on biodiversity hotspots, species richness, and/or cumulative threat maps. This study aims to provide an approach for including cost when planning large-scale Marine Protected Area (MPA) networks that span multiple countries. Here, we explore the incorporation of cost in the complex setting of the Mediterranean Sea. In order to include cost in conservation prioritization, we developed surrogates that account for revenue from multiple marine sectors: commercial fishing, noncommercial fishing, and aquaculture. Such revenue can translate into an opportunity cost for the implementation of an MPA network. Using the software Marxan, we set conservation targets to protect 10% of the distribution of 77 threatened marine species in the Mediterranean Sea. We compared nine scenarios of opportunity cost by calculating the area and cost required to meet our targets. We further compared our spatial priorities with those that are considered consensus areas by several proposed prioritization schemes in the Mediterranean Sea, none of which explicitly considers cost. We found that for less than 10% of the Sea's area, our conservation targets can be achieved while incurring opportunity costs of less than 1%. In marine systems, we reveal that area is a poor cost surrogate and that the most effective surrogates are those that account for multiple sectors or stakeholders. Furthermore, our results indicate that including cost can greatly influence the selection of spatial priorities for marine conservation of threatened species. Although there are known limitations in multinational large-scale planning, attempting to devise more systematic and rigorous planning methods is especially critical given that collaborative conservation action is on the rise and global financial crisis restricts conservation investments.

From science to policy—a geostatistical approach to identifying potential areas for cetacean conservation: a case study of bottlenose dolphins in the Pelagos sanctuary (Mediterranean Sea)

Cetaceans are top-level predators that serve as sentinels of the health and status of lower trophic levels in the marine ecosystem. For this reason they attract significant attention in marine conservation planning and often have been used to promote designation of reserve areas in many countries (e.g., Ligurian Sea, Moray Firth, Hawaiian Islands, The Gully, Wadden Sea, Banks Peninsula, and Golfo San Jose). Many policies are designed to protect cetaceans. For example, the Habitat Directive requires member states to select, designate, and protect sites that support certain natural habitats or species, such as the bottlenose dolphin, as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) that aim to create a network of protected areas across the European Union known as Natura 2000. The boundaries of protected areas for cetacean species must be defined for management purposes. In recent years, many techniques have been developed to define the distribution of cetaceans in relation to habitat preferences. Although these models can provide an understanding of the ecological processes that determine species distribution, their application requires prior knowledge of the variables that should be included in the model, the interactions among these variables, and their effects on species distribution. Thus, the lack of available data in understudied areas precludes the application of these types of models. As an alternative, we describe a geostatistical approach to identifying areas that potentially should be designated as marine protected areas for cetaceans. We illustrate the application of the kriging algorithm to the bottlenose dolphin population that resides in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. The data derived from a 7-year survey were used. The encounter rate is the only variable required for this method, making it very easy to apply. The resulting georeferenced and high resolution map includes areas most visited by bottlenose dolphins, which are called core areas. Core areas are helpful for establishing the boundaries of marine reserves for the protection of the species. The approach described herein is accurate, precise, unbiased, replicable to all highly mobile species and easy to understand by both researchers and policy makers.

Ten things to get right for marine conservation planning in the Coral Triangle

Systematic conservation planning increasingly underpins the conservation and management of marine and coastal ecosystems worldwide. Amongst other benefits, conservation planning provides transparency in decision-making, efficiency in the use of limited resources, the ability to minimise conflict between diverse objectives, and to guide strategic expansion of local actions to maximise their cumulative impact. The Coral Triangle has long been recognised as a global marine conservation priority, and has been the subject of huge investment in conservation during the last five years through the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security. Yet conservation planning has had relatively little influence in this region. To explore why this is the case, we identify and discuss 10 challenges that must be resolved if conservation planning is to effectively inform management actions in the Coral Triangle. These are: making conservation planning accessible; integrating with other planning processes; building local capacity for conservation planning; institutionalising conservation planning within governments; integrating plans across governance levels; planning across governance boundaries; planning for multiple tools and objectives; understanding limitations of data; developing better measures of progress and effectiveness; and making a long term commitment. Most important is a conceptual shift from conservation planning undertaken as a project, to planning undertaken as a process, with dedicated financial and human resources committed to long-term engagement.

Ten things to get right for marine conservation planning in the Coral Triangle.

Systematic conservation planning increasingly underpins the conservation and management of marine and coastal ecosystems worldwide. Amongst other benefits, conservation planning provides transparency in decision-making, efficiency in the use of limited resources, the ability to minimise conflict between diverse objectives, and to guide strategic expansion of local actions to maximise their cumulative impact. The Coral Triangle has long been recognised as a global marine conservation priority, and has been the subject of huge investment in conservation during the last five years through the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security. Yet conservation planning has had relatively little influence in this region. To explore why this is the case, we identify and discuss 10 challenges that must be resolved if conservation planning is to effectively inform management actions in the Coral Triangle. These are: making conservation planning accessible; integrating with other planning processes; building local capacity for conservation planning; institutionalising conservation planning within governments; integrating plans across governance levels; planning across governance boundaries; planning for multiple tools and objectives; understanding limitations of data; developing better measures of progress and effectiveness; and making a long term commitment. Most important is a conceptual shift from conservation planning undertaken as a project, to planning undertaken as a process, with dedicated financial and human resources committed to long-term engagement.

Ten things to get right for marine conservation planning in the Coral Triangle

Systematic conservation planning increasingly underpins the conservation and management of marine and coastal ecosystems worldwide. Amongst other benefits, conservation planning provides transparency in decision-making, efficiency in the use of limited resources, the ability to minimise conflict between diverse objectives, and to guide strategic expansion of local actions to maximise their cumulative impact. The Coral Triangle has long been recognised as a global marine conservation priority, and has been the subject of huge investment in conservation during the last five years through the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security. Yet conservation planning has had relatively little influence in this region. To explore why this is the case, we identify and discuss 10 challenges that must be resolved if conservation planning is to effectively inform management actions in the Coral Triangle. These are: making conservation planning accessible; integrating with other planning processes; building local capacity for conservation planning; institutionalising conservation planning within governments; integrating plans across governance levels; planning across governance boundaries; planning for multiple tools and objectives; understanding limitations of data; developing better measures of progress and effectiveness; and making a long term commitment. Most important is a conceptual shift from conservation planning undertaken as a project, to planning undertaken as a process, with dedicated financial and human resources committed to long-term engagement.

Ten things to get right for marine conservation planning in the Coral Triangle

Systematic conservation planning increasingly underpins the conservation and management of marine and coastal ecosystems worldwide. Amongst other benefits, conservation planning provides transparency in decision-making, efficiency in the use of limited resources, the ability to minimise conflict between diverse objectives, and to guide strategic expansion of local actions to maximise their cumulative impact. The Coral Triangle has long been recognised as a global marine conservation priority, and has been the subject of huge investment in conservation during the last five years through the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security. Yet conservation planning has had relatively little influence in this region. To explore why this is the case, we identify and discuss 10 challenges that must be resolved if conservation planning is to effectively inform management actions in the Coral Triangle. These are: making conservation planning accessible; integrating with other planning processes; building local capacity for conservation planning; institutionalising conservation planning within governments; integrating plans across governance levels; planning across governance boundaries; planning for multiple tools and objectives; understanding limitations of data; developing better measures of progress and effectiveness; and making a long term commitment. Most important is a conceptual shift from conservation planning undertaken as a project, to planning undertaken as a process, with dedicated financial and human resources committed to long-term engagement.

A framework for mapping small-scale coastal fisheries using fishers' knowledge

Abstract Collecting spatial information on fisheries catch and effort is essential to understanding the spatial processes of exploited population dynamics and to manage heterogeneously distributed resources and uses. The use of fishers' knowledge through geographical information systems (GISs) is increasingly considered as a promising source of local information on small-scale coastal fisheries. In this paper we describe the first framework for mapping entire small-scale coastal fisheries using fishers' knowledge on catch size and fishing effort. Four mangrove and coral reef fisheries targeting invertebrates or finfish in New Caledonia (southwest Pacific) were mapped following a five-step framework: (i) stratified random sampling of regular fishers; (ii) collection of fishers' knowledge of fishing areas, fishing effort, and catch size through map-based interviews; (iii) data integration into a spatial geodatabase; (iv) statistical extrapolation of fisher data to the fishery scale; and (v) mapping of catch, effort, and catch per unit effort (CPUE) for each fishery using a GIS overlay procedure. We found evidence that fishers' knowledge supplied precise and accurate quantitative and spatial information on catch size, fishing effort and CPUE for entire fisheries. Fisheries maps captured the fine-scale spatial distribution of fishing activities in a variety of ways according to target taxa, gear type, and home ports. Applications include area-based marine conservation planning and fishery monitoring, management, and governance. This integrated framework can be generalized to a large range of data-poor coastal and inland small-scale fisheries.

Twenty thousand sterling under the sea: Estimating the value of protecting deep-sea biodiversity

The deep-sea includes over 90% of the world's oceans and is thought to be one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. It supplies society with valuable ecosystem services, including the provision of food, the regeneration of nutrients and the sequestration of carbon. Technological advancements in the second half of the 20th century made large-scale exploitation of mineral, hydrocarbon and fish resources possible. These economic activities, combined with climate change impacts, constitute a considerable threat to deep-sea biodiversity. Many governments, including that of the UK, have therefore decided to implement additional protected areas in their waters of national jurisdiction. To support the decision process and to improve our understanding for the acceptance of marine conservation plans across the general public, a choice experiment survey asked Scottish households for their willingness-to-pay for additional marine protected areas in the Scottish deep-sea. This study is one of the first to use valuation methodologies to investigate public preferences for the protection of deep-sea ecosystems. The experiment focused on the elicitation of economic values for two aspects of marine biodiversity: (i) the existence value for deep-sea species and (ii) the option value of deep-sea organisms as a source for future medicinal products.

Species distribution modelling to support marine conservation planning: The next steps

Species distribution models (SDMs) offer great potential for inclusion into the toolbox of today's marine environmental manager, especially with regard to marine conservation and planning. The application of SDMs in the marine environment over recent years has been varied but there are still relatively few examples in comparison with terrestrial application, and this is especially true in deep-sea marine ecosystems. This short article builds upon two recent review articles concerning the application of species distribution modelling studies in the marine realm, offering additional practical considerations for discussion. Recommendations for progressing the improved application of SDMs to support marine conservation planning are given, including combining model outputs with other data layers, metadata standards and model error. SDMs have both an urgent and long term contribution to make to marine conservation planning globally, and it is hoped that this article, in combination with developing research on marine SDMs, will contribute to some much needed discussion and inform best practice and new research to enable these models to be of greater use to marine managers.