Descriptions of Scottish Priority Marine Features (PMFs).

Background The seas around Scotland are rich and diverse – Scotland’s position at the edge of the continental shelf, the long coastline, large area of sea and the mixing of warm and coldwater currents combine to make its waters a special place for marine wildlife and habitats. Scotland has over 18,000 km of coastline and its inshore and offshore areas are among the largest of any EU country, representing 13% of all European seas. Scotland’s seas are of outstanding scenic, historical and cultural value and are part of the national identity at home and abroad. The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 and the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 include new powers and duties to ensure that our seas are managed sustainably for future generations, integrating the economic growth of marine industries with the need to protect these assets. Measures to conserve Scotland’s marine natural heritage are based on a three pillar approach, with action at the wider seas level (e.g. marine planning or sectoral controls); specific species conservation measures (e.g. improved protection for seals); and through site protection measures - the identification of new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). To help target action under each of the three pillars, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) have generated a focused list of habitats and species of priority conservation importance - the Priority Marine Features (PMFs). The aim of the current study was to produce a descriptive catalogue of the Scottish PMFs (including component habitats and species where appropriate) to serve as a reference for future nature conservation action. Whilst derived from available existing accounts, the succinct 1-page descriptions are written from a Scottish perspective, refining, but clearly linking to more generic UK, EC or OSPAR (Oslo and Paris Commission) commentary. Available information on the geographic distribution of the features was collated as part of the project and a summary map is provided in each description. Main findings  This project has generated a descriptive catalogue of the 81 PMFs that have been identified in the seas around Scotland (out to the limit of the UK continental shelf). The list comprises 26 broad habitats (e.g. burrowed mud), seven low or limited mobility species (e.g. ocean quahog) and 48 mobile species, including fish (e.g. blue ling) and marine mammals (e.g. minke whale).  Information on the distribution of the PMFs was collated within a Geographic Information System (GIS). This is the first time that data about such a diverse range of Scottish marine nature conservation interests have been compiled within a single repository. These data have and will be used in conjunction with other contextual base-mapping to inform the development of nature conservation advice and commentary (e.g. in the production of the Scotland’s Marine Atlas - Baxter et al., 2011).  The feature distribution mapping used in the production of this report is being made available to view online via the National Marine Plan Interactive web portal (NMPi - http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/seamanagement/nmpihome). As new or refined data on Scottish PMFs become available, these will be fed into updates to the project geodatabase and NMPi.

Descriptions of Scottish Priority Marine Features (PMFs).

Background The seas around Scotland are rich and diverse – Scotland’s position at the edge of the continental shelf, the long coastline, large area of sea and the mixing of warm and coldwater currents combine to make its waters a special place for marine wildlife and habitats. Scotland has over 18,000 km of coastline and its inshore and offshore areas are among the largest of any EU country, representing 13% of all European seas. Scotland’s seas are of outstanding scenic, historical and cultural value and are part of the national identity at home and abroad. The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 and the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 include new powers and duties to ensure that our seas are managed sustainably for future generations, integrating the economic growth of marine industries with the need to protect these assets. Measures to conserve Scotland’s marine natural heritage are based on a three pillar approach, with action at the wider seas level (e.g. marine planning or sectoral controls); specific species conservation measures (e.g. improved protection for seals); and through site protection measures - the identification of new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). To help target action under each of the three pillars, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) have generated a focused list of habitats and species of priority conservation importance - the Priority Marine Features (PMFs). The aim of the current study was to produce a descriptive catalogue of the Scottish PMFs (including component habitats and species where appropriate) to serve as a reference for future nature conservation action. Whilst derived from available existing accounts, the succinct 1-page descriptions are written from a Scottish perspective, refining, but clearly linking to more generic UK, EC or OSPAR (Oslo and Paris Commission) commentary. Available information on the geographic distribution of the features was collated as part of the project and a summary map is provided in each description. Main findings  This project has generated a descriptive catalogue of the 81 PMFs that have been identified in the seas around Scotland (out to the limit of the UK continental shelf). The list comprises 26 broad habitats (e.g. burrowed mud), seven low or limited mobility species (e.g. ocean quahog) and 48 mobile species, including fish (e.g. blue ling) and marine mammals (e.g. minke whale).  Information on the distribution of the PMFs was collated within a Geographic Information System (GIS). This is the first time that data about such a diverse range of Scottish marine nature conservation interests have been compiled within a single repository. These data have and will be used in conjunction with other contextual base-mapping to inform the development of nature conservation advice and commentary (e.g. in the production of the Scotland’s Marine Atlas - Baxter et al., 2011).  The feature distribution mapping used in the production of this report is being made available to view online via the National Marine Plan Interactive web portal (NMPi - http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/seamanagement/nmpihome). As new or refined data on Scottish PMFs become available, these will be fed into updates to the project geodatabase and NMPi.

Small-scale fishing in Central American indigenous people: governance, tenure and sustainable management of marine resources

This research develops four case studies on small-scale fisheries in Central America located within indigenous territories. The ngöbe Bugle Conte Burica Territory in the south of Costa Rica, the Garífuna territory in nueva Armenia Honduras, the Rama territory in Nicaragua and the ngöbe Bugle territory in Bocas del Toro, Panamá. This is one of the first studies focusing on indigenous territories, artisanal fisheries and SSF guidelines. The cases are a first approach to discussing and analyzing relevant social and human rights issues related to conservation of marine resources and fisheries management in these territories. The cases discussed between other issues of interest, the relationships between marine protected areas under different governance models and issues related to the strengthening of the small-scale fisheries of these indigenous populations and marine fishing territories. They highlight sustainability, governance, land tenure and access to fishing resources, gender, traditional knowledge importance and new challenges as climate change.

Toward adaptive management of coastal MPAs: The influence of different conservation targets and costs on the design of no-take areas

There is still much discussion on the most appropriate location, size and shape of marine protected areas (MPAs). These three factors were analyzed for a small coastal MPA, the Luiz Saldanha Marine Park (LSMP), for which a very limited amount of local ecological information was available when implemented in 1998. Marxan was used to provide a number of near-optimal solutions considering different levels of protection for the various conservation features and different costs. These solutions were compared with the existing no-take area of the LSMP. Information on 11 habitat types and distribution models for 3 of the most important species for the local artisanal fisheries was considered. The human activities with the highest economic and ecological impact in the study area (commercial and recreational fishing and scuba diving) were used as costs. The results show that the existing no-take area is actually located in the best area. However, the no-take area offers limited protection to vagile fish and covers a very small proportion of some of the available habitats. An increase in the conservation targets led to an increase in the number of no-take areas. The comparative framework used in this study can be applied elsewhere, providing relevant information to local stakeholders and managers in order to proceed with adaptive management. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Catlin Seaview Survey – kilometre-scale seascape assessment, and monitoring of coral reef ecosystems

1.Marine ecosystems provide critically important goods and services to society, and hence their accelerated degradation underpins an urgent need to take rapid, ambitious and informed decisions regarding their conservation and management. 2.The capacity, however, to generate the detailed field data required to inform conservation planning at appropriate scales is limited by time and resource consuming methods for collecting and analysing field data at the large scales required. 3.The ‘Catlin Seaview Survey’, described here, introduces a novel framework for large-scale monitoring of coral reefs using high-definition underwater imagery collected using customized underwater vehicles in combination with computer vision and machine learning. This enables quantitative and geo-referenced outputs of coral reef features such as habitat types, benthic composition, and structural complexity (rugosity) to be generated across multiple kilometre-scale transects with a spatial resolution ranging from 2 to 6 m2. 4.The novel application of technology described here has enormous potential to contribute to our understanding of coral reefs and associated impacts by underpinning management decisions with kilometre-scale measurements of reef health. 5.Imagery datasets from an initial survey of 500 km of seascape are freely available through an online tool called the Catlin Global Reef Record. Outputs from the image analysis using the technologies described here will be updated on the online repository as work progresses on each dataset. 6.Case studies illustrate the utility of outputs as well as their potential to link to information from remote sensing. The potential implications of the innovative technologies on marine resource management and conservation are also discussed, along with the accuracy and efficiency of the methodologies deployed.

Queensland Coastal Wetland Resources: Cape Tribulation to Bowling Green Bay

This report provides key resource data for the ongoing assessment of the requirement for additional Marine Protected Areas (e.g. FHAs under the Queensland Fisheries Act 1994) in regions of high fish habitat value in northern Queensland from Cape Tribulation to Bowling Green Bay (hereafter referred to as the Study Area). The study also provides baseline information on the coastal wetlands within this Study Area for consideration in the Ramsar site nomination process. The Study Area extends from Cape Tribulation (16o 6’S, 145o 24’E) to Bowling Green Bay (19o 30’S, 147o 24’E) in tropical north Queensland. The project aimed to: 1. document and map the coastal wetland communities of the Study Area; 2. document levels of existing disturbance to and protection of the wetlands; 3. examine existing recreational, indigenous and commercial fisheries resources in the region; 4. evaluate the conservation values of the areas investigated from the viewpoint of fisheries productivity and as habitat for important and/or threatened species for future FHA/MPA declaration. Dataset URL Link: Queensland Coastal Wetlands Resources Mapping data. [Dataset]

Queensland Coastal Wetland Resources: The Whitsunday Region

This report provides key resource data for the ongoing assessment of the requirement for additional Marine Protected Areas (e.g. FHAs under the Queensland Fisheries Act 1994) in regions of high fish habitat value in the Whitsunday Region from Gloucester Island to Cape Hillsborough (hereafter referred to as the Study Area). The study also provides baseline information on the coastal wetlands within this Study Area for consideration in the Ramsar site nomination process. The project aimed to: 1. document and map the coastal wetland communities of the Study Area; 2. document levels of existing disturbance to and protection of the wetlands; 3. examine existing recreational, indigenous and commercial fisheries resources in the region; 4. evaluate the conservation values of the areas investigated from the viewpoint of fisheries productivity and as habitat for important and/or threatened species for future FHA/MPA declaration.

Report of the Study Group on “Ecosystem-Based Management Science and its application to the North Pacific”

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION OVERVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL EBM HISTORY References CANADA Overview Activities to date Integrated Management implementation in Canada Objectives, indicators and reference points Assessment approaches Research directions for the future Management directions for the future References JAPAN Overview Conservation and sustainable use of marine living resources Harvest control by TAC system Stock Recovery Plan and effort regulation system Stock enhancement by hatchery-produced juvenile release Conservation and sustainable develop-ment on coastal waters The implementation of ecosystem-based management PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA Overview Current actions Output control Input control Summer fishing ban Enhance ecosystem health REPUBLIC OF KOREA Initiatives and actions of ecosystem-based management in Korea Current ecosystem-based management initiatives in Korea Precautionary TAC-based fishery management Closed fishing season/areas Fish size- and sex-controls Fishing gear design restrictions Marine protected areas (MPA) RUSSIA Existing and anticipated ecosystem-based management initiatives Issues related to the implementation of ecosystem-based management UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Definitions and approaches to ecosystem-based fishery management in the United States Present U.S. legislative mandates relating to ecosystem-based fishery management Target species Bycatch species Threatened or endangered species Habitats Food webs Ecosystems Integration of legislative mandates into an ecosystem approach Scientific issues in implementing ecosystem-based approaches References DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS APPENDICES Appendix 10.1 Study group membership and participants Appendix 10.2 Terminology definitions Appendix 10.3 Present state of implementing ecosystem-based fishery management in Alaska: Alaska groundfish fisheries Appendix 10.4 Present state of implementing ecosystem-based fishery management off the West Coast of the United States: Pacific Coast groundfish fisheries Appendix 10.5 Descriptions of multi-species and ecosystem models developed or under development in the U.S. North Pacific region that might be used to predict effects of fishing on ecosystems Appendix 10.6 A potential standard reporting format (developed by Australia, and currently being used by the U.S.A in their contribution to this report) (83 page document)

SAMUDRA Report, No. 52, April 2009

Report: COFI Session-Securing small-scale fisheries; Statement-Contributing Significantly; Somalia: Pirate Fishing -Pirates or Saviours of the Coast?; Marine Protected Areas-Managing to Benefit; Mexico: Marine Reserves--Caught Up in Change; MPAs-Importance of Social Capital; MSC Ecolabels-Work Together for Community-based Fisheries; Netherlands: Inland Fisheries -A Management Fantasy?;Small Indigenous Species -Small is Nutritional; ICSF Resources- Information Updates

A bioregional classification of the continental shelf of northeastern North America for conservation analysis and planning based on representation

Understanding how well National Marine Sanctuaries and other marine protected areas represent the diversity of species present within and among the biogeographic regions where they occur is essential for assessing their conservation value and identifying gaps in the protection of biological diversity. One of the first steps in any such assessment should be the development of clearly defined and scientifically justified planning boundaries representing distinct oceanographic conditions and faunal assemblages. Here, we propose a set of boundaries for the continental shelf of northeastern North America defined by subdivisions of the Eastern Temperate Province, based on a review and synthesis (i.e. meta-analysis) of the scientific literature. According to this review, the Eastern Temperate Province is generally divided into the Acadian and Virginian Subprovinces. Broad agreement places the Scotian Shelf, Gulf of Maine, and Bay of Fundy within the Acadian Subprovince. The proper association of Georges Bank is less clear; some investigators consider it part of the Acadian and others part of the Virginian. Disparate perspectives emerge from the analysis of different groups of organisms. Further, while some studies suggest a distinction between the Southern New England shelf and the rest of the Mid-Atlantic Bight, others describe the region as a broad transition zone with no unique characteristics of its own. We suggest there exists sufficient evidence to consider the Scotian Shelf, Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, Southern New England, and Southern Mid-Atlantic Bight as distinct biogeographic regions from a conservation planning perspective, and present a set of proposed mapped boundaries. (PDF contains 23 pages.)

Channel Islands Deep Water Monitoring Plan Development Workshop Report April 26-27, 2005 University of California, Santa Barbara

In 2003, twelve marine protected areas were established in state waters (0-3 nmi) surrounding the Channel Islands. NOAA is considering extending this network (3-6 nmi) into deeper waters of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS). In order for effective long-term management of the deep water reserves to occur, a well-structured monitoring program is required to assess effectiveness. The CINMS and the National Marine Sanctuary Program (NMSP) hosted a 2-day workshop in April 2005 to develop a monitoring plan for the proposed federal marine reserves in that sanctuary. Conducted at the University of California at Santa Barbara, participants included scientists from academic, state, federal, and private research institutions. Workshop participants developed project ideas that could answer priority questions posed by the NMSP. This workshop report will be used to develop a monitoring plan for the reserves. (PDF contains 47 pages.)

Addressing and adapting to contemporary coastal management issues in the central Philippines

With arguably the world’s most decentralized coastal governance regime, the Philippines has implemented integrated coastal management (ICM) for over 30 years as one of the most successful frameworks for coastal resource management in the country. Anthropogenic drivers continue to threaten the food security and livelihood of coastal residents; contributing to the destruction of critical marine habitats, which are heavily relied upon for the goods and services they provide. ICM initiatives in the Philippines have utilized a variety of tools, particularly marine protected areas (MPAs), to promote poverty alleviation through food security and sustainable forms of development. From the time marine reserves were first shown to effectively address habitat degradation and decline in reef fishery production (Alcala et al., 2001) over 1,100 locally managed MPAs have been established in the Philippines; yet only 10-20% of these are effectively managed (White et al., 2006; PhilReefs, 2008). In order to increase management effectiveness, biophysical, legal, institutional and social linkages need to be strengthened and “scaled up” to accommodate a more holistic systems approach (Lowry et al., 2009). This summary paper incorporates the preliminary results of five independently conducted studies. Subject areas covered are the social and institutional elements of MPA networks, ecosystem-based management applicability, financial sustainability and the social vulnerability of coastal residents to climate change in the Central Philippines. Each section will provide insight into these focal areas and suggest how management strategies may be adapted to holistically address these contemporary issues. (PDF contains 4 pages)

The politics of participation: Evaluating stakeholder equity in co-management regimes

Within natural resource management, there is increasing criticism of the traditional model of top-down management as a method of governance, as researchers and managers alike have recognized that resources can frequently be better managed when stakeholders are directly involved in management. As a result, in recent years the concept of co-management of natural resources, in which management responsibilities are shared between the government and stakeholders, has become increasingly popular, both in the academic literature and in practice. However, while co-management has significant potential as a successful management tool, the issue of equity in co-management has rarely been addressed. It is necessary to understand the differential impacts on stakeholders of co-management processes and the degree to which diverse stakeholders are represented within co-management. Understanding the interests of various stakeholders can be a way to more effectively address the distributional and social impacts of coastal policies, which can in turn increase compliance with management measures and lead to more sustainable resource management regimes. This research seeks to take a closer look at the concepts of co-management and participation through a number of case studies of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Caribbean. (PDF contains 4 pages)

Influence of ocean conditions on the timing of early life history events for blue rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) off California

Settled juvenile blue rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) were collected from two kelp beds approximately 335 km apart off Mendocino in northern California and Monterey in central California. A total of 112 rockfish were collected from both sites over 5 years (1993, 1994, 2001, 2002, and 2003). Total age, settlement date, age at settlement, and birth date were determined from otolith microstructure. Fish off Mendocino settled mostly in June and fish off Monterey settled mostly in May (average difference in settlement=23 days). Although the difference in the timing of settlement followed this same pattern for both areas over the five years, settlement occurred later in 2002 and 2003 than in the prior years of sampling. The difference in the timing of settlement was due primarily to differences in birth dates for the two areas. The time of settlement was positively related to upwelling and negatively related to sea level anomaly for most of the months before settlement. Knowledge of the timing of settlement has implications for design and placement of marine protected areas because protection of nursery grounds is frequently a major objective of these protected areas. The timing of settlement is also an important consideration in the planning of surveys of early recruits because mistimed surveys (caused by latitudinal differences in the timing of settlement) could produce biased estimates.

The vulnerability of reproductively active squaretail coralgrouper (Plectropomus areolatus) to fishing

Squaretail coralgrouper (Plectropomus areolatus) were captured and tagged at a fish spawning aggregation (FSA) site with conventional and acoustic tags to assess their vulnerability to fishing and spatial dynamics during reproductive periods. Males outnumbered females in catch and, on average, were larger than females. Findings revealed a high vulnerability to fishing, particularly during reproductive periods, and most fish were recaptured within the 5-month spawning season and within 10−12 km of the aggregation site. Individual and sex-specific variability in movement to, and residency times at, the FSA site indicates that individual monthly spawning aggregations represent subsets of the total reproductive population. Some individuals appeared to move along a common migratory corridor to reach the FSA site. Sex-specific behavioral differences, particularly longer residency times, appear to increase the vulnerability of reproductively active males to fishing, particularly within a FSA, which could reduce reproductive output. Both fishery-dependent and fishery-independent data indicate that only males were present within the first month of aggregation. The combined results indicate that reproductively active P. areolatus are highly vulnerable to fishing and that FSAs and migratory corridors of reproductively active fish should be incorporated into marine protected areas. The capture of P. areolatus during reproductive periods should be restricted as part of a comprehensive management strateg