Abstract
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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adapted from Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 and Sydney Recommendation, respectively. The colour code represents level of protection: light grey as moderately protected, dark grey as highly protected and black as fully protected. Note the only fully protected area covers a mere 0.1% of the infralittoral
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Acknowledgements
Mara Schmiing was supported by an Individual Research Grant from the Fundo Regional para a Ciência e Tecnologia (M3.1.a/F/044/2016). Barbara Horta e Costa was supported by national funds through FCT: Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., in the scope of Norma Transitória DL57/2016/CP1361/CT0038. Part of the seabed habitat data was obtained from the European Marine Observation Data Network (EMODnet) Seabed Habitats Project (www.emodnet-seabedhabitats.eu), funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE). Thanks are due to Project MESH-Atlantic (AA-10/1218525/BF) for co-financing Patrícia Amorim’s Contract. We acknowledge funds provided by the Portuguese Science & Technology Foundation (FCT) through individual contracts/grants to Pedro Afonso (IF/01640/2015) and to Fernando Tempera (Ref. SFRH/BPD/79801/2011) while at IMAR/DOP-UAz. CCMAR is supported by FCT through the strategic Project UID/Multi/04326/2019.
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Communicated by David Hawksworth.
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Milla-Figueras, D., Schmiing, M., Amorim, P. et al. Evaluating seabed habitat representativeness across a diverse set of marine protected areas on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Biodivers Conserv 29, 1153–1175 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01929-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01929-y