IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/marpol/v49y2014icp146-154.html

A systematic approach towards the identification and protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems

Author

Listed:
  • Ardron, Jeff A.
  • Clark, Malcolm R.
  • Penney, Andrew J.
  • Hourigan, Thomas F.
  • Rowden, Ashley A.
  • Dunstan, Piers K.
  • Watling, Les
  • Shank, Timothy M.
  • Tracey, Di M.
  • Dunn, Mathew R.
  • Parker, Steven J.

Abstract

The United Nations General Assembly in 2006 and 2009 adopted resolutions that call for the identification and protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) from significant adverse impacts of bottom fishing. While general criteria have been produced, there are no guidelines or protocols that elaborate on the process from initial identification through to the protection of VMEs. Here, based upon an expert review of existing practices, a 10-step framework is proposed: (1) Comparatively assess potential VME indicator taxa and habitats in a region; (2) determine VME thresholds; (3) consider areas already known for their ecological importance; (4) compile information on the distributions of likely VME taxa and habitats, as well as related environmental data; (5) develop predictive distribution models for VME indicator taxa and habitats; (6) compile known or likely fishing impacts; (7) produce a predicted VME naturalness distribution (areas of low cumulative impacts); (8) identify areas of higher value to user groups; (9) conduct management strategy evaluations to produce trade-off scenarios; (10) review and re-iterate, until spatial management scenarios are developed that fulfil international obligations and regional conservation and management objectives. To date, regional progress has been piecemeal and incremental. The proposed 10-step framework combines these various experiences into a systematic approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Ardron, Jeff A. & Clark, Malcolm R. & Penney, Andrew J. & Hourigan, Thomas F. & Rowden, Ashley A. & Dunstan, Piers K. & Watling, Les & Shank, Timothy M. & Tracey, Di M. & Dunn, Mathew R. & Parker, Ste, 2014. "A systematic approach towards the identification and protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 146-154.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:marpol:v:49:y:2014:i:c:p:146-154
    DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2013.11.017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X13002765
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.marpol.2013.11.017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heupel, Eric & Auster, Peter J., 2013. "Eco-labeling seafood: Addressing impacts to vulnerable seafloor species, communities, habitats and ecosystems in data-poor regions," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 8-15.
    2. Norse, Elliott A. & Brooke, Sandra & Cheung, William W.L. & Clark, Malcolm R. & Ekeland, Ivar & Froese, Rainer & Gjerde, Kristina M. & Haedrich, Richard L. & Heppell, Selina S. & Morato, Telmo & Morga, 2012. "Sustainability of deep-sea fisheries," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 307-320.
    3. Pomeroy, Robert & Douvere, Fanny, 2008. "The engagement of stakeholders in the marine spatial planning process," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 816-822, September.
    4. C. R. Margules & R. L. Pressey, 2000. "Systematic conservation planning," Nature, Nature, vol. 405(6783), pages 243-253, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ardron, Jeff A. & Rayfuse, Rosemary & Gjerde, Kristina & Warner, Robin, 2014. "The sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity in ABNJ: What can be achieved using existing international agreements?," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 98-108.
    2. Wright, Glen & Ardron, Jeff & Gjerde, Kristina & Currie, Duncan & Rochette, Julien, 2015. "Advancing marine biodiversity protection through regional fisheries management: A review of bottom fisheries closures in areas beyond national jurisdiction," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 134-148.
    3. Manuel Pacheco Coelho & José António Filipe, 2021. "Searching for a New Model of Governance in the High Seas: Game Theory Applied to International Commons Management," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(19), pages 1-28, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bellchambers, Lynda M. & Phillips, Bruce F. & Pérez-Ramírez, Mónica & Lozano-Álvarez, Enrique & Ley-Cooper, Kim & Vega-Velazquez, Armando, 2014. "Addressing environmental considerations for Marine Stewardship Council certification: A case study using lobsters," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(PA), pages 249-260.
    2. Ban, Natalie C. & Maxwell, Sara M. & Dunn, Daniel C. & Hobday, Alistair J. & Bax, Nicholas J. & Ardron, Jeff & Gjerde, Kristina M. & Game, Edward T. & Devillers, Rodolphe & Kaplan, David M. & Dunstan,, 2014. "Better integration of sectoral planning and management approaches for the interlinked ecology of the open oceans," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 127-136.
    3. Auriel M. V. Fournier & R. Randy Wilson & Jeffrey S. Gleason & Evan M. Adams & Janell M. Brush & Robert J. Cooper & Stephen J. DeMaso & Melanie J. L. Driscoll & Peter C. Frederick & Patrick G. R. Jodi, 2023. "Structured Decision Making to Prioritize Regional Bird Monitoring Needs," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 53(3), pages 207-217, May.
    4. Wang, Haoluan, "undated". "Land Conservation for Open Space: The Impact of Neighbors and the Natural Environment," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258125, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Eppink, Florian V. & van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M., 2007. "Ecological theories and indicators in economic models of biodiversity loss and conservation: A critical review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2-3), pages 284-293, March.
    6. Marilena Papageorgiou & Georgia Pozoukidou & Theodora Istoriou & Theoni Kostopoulou, 2024. "Inclusive Maritime Spatial Planning: Stakes at the Regional Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-16, November.
    7. repec:plo:pone00:0044075 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Sari, Dwi Amalia & Margules, Chris & Lim, Han She & Widyatmaka, Febrio & Sayer, Jeffrey & Dale, Allan & Macgregor, Colin, 2021. "Evaluating policy coherence: A case study of peatland forests on the Kampar Peninsula landscape, Indonesia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    9. repec:plo:pone00:0164869 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Cho, Seong-Hoon & Kim, Taeyoung & Larson, Eric R. & Armsworth, Paul R., 2017. "Economies of scale in forestland acquisition costs for nature conservation," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 73-82.
    11. Bi Goli Jean Jacques Iritie, 2015. "Economic Growth and Biodiversity: An Overview Conservation Policies in Africa," Journal of Sustainable Development, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(2), pages 196-196, February.
    12. Di Pirro, E. & Sallustio, L. & Capotorti, G. & Marchetti, M. & Lasserre, B., 2021. "A scenario-based approach to tackle trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and land use pressure in Central Italy," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 448(C).
    13. McLane, Adam J. & Semeniuk, Christina & McDermid, Gregory J. & Marceau, Danielle J., 2011. "The role of agent-based models in wildlife ecology and management," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(8), pages 1544-1556.
    14. Jessica L. Needham & Karen F. Beazley & Victoria P. Papuga, 2020. "Accessing Local Tacit Knowledge as a Means of Knowledge Co-Production for Effective Wildlife Corridor Planning in the Chignecto Isthmus, Canada," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-38, September.
    15. Ramel, Cindy & Rey, Pierre-Louis & Fernandes, Rui & Vincent, Claire & Cardoso, Ana R. & Broennimann, Olivier & Pellissier, Loïc & Pradervand, Jean-Nicolas & Ursenbacher, Sylvain & Schmidt, Benedikt R., 2020. "Integrating ecosystem services within spatial biodiversity conservation prioritization in the Alps," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    16. Kininmonth, Stuart & Steinitz, Carl, 2026. "On scale and complexity in model design for marine reserve planning with Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Philippines case studies," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 512(C).
    17. Zhou, Kaile & Yang, Shanlin, 2016. "Emission reduction of China׳s steel industry: Progress and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 319-327.
    18. Sahu, Bikash Kumar & Hiloidhari, Moonmoon & Baruah, D.C., 2013. "Global trend in wind power with special focus on the top five wind power producing countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 348-359.
    19. James Fitzsimons & Michael Heiner & Bruce McKenney & Kei Sochi & Joseph Kiesecker, 2014. "Development by Design in Western Australia: Overcoming Offset Obstacles," Land, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-21, February.
    20. Merrill Baker-Médard & Katherine Concannon & Courtney Gantt & Sierra Moen & Easton R. White, 2024. "Socialscape Ecology: Integrating Social Features and Processes into Spatially Explicit Marine Conservation Planning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-20, July.
    21. Ralph V Tafon, 2018. "Taking power to sea: Towards a post-structuralist discourse theoretical critique of marine spatial planning," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(2), pages 258-273, March.
    22. Egoh, Benis & Rouget, Mathieu & Reyers, Belinda & Knight, Andrew T. & Cowling, Richard M. & van Jaarsveld, Albert S. & Welz, Adam, 2007. "Integrating ecosystem services into conservation assessments: A review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(4), pages 714-721, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:marpol:v:49:y:2014:i:c:p:146-154. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/marpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.