Effective marine protections provide key policy tools to safeguard biodiversity, enhance fisheries, build resilience against the effects of climate ch

New Technology Aims to Make Marine Protected Areas More Effective

submited by
Style Pass
2021-05-30 10:00:07

Effective marine protections provide key policy tools to safeguard biodiversity, enhance fisheries, build resilience against the effects of climate change, and sustain healthy coastal communities. However, realizing such benefits depends on the ability of people who manage marine spaces, including marine protected areas (MPAs), other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs), and fisheries to evaluate and effectively manage protected waters.

National governments and marine agencies often lack critical information about how human activities, such as fishing, impact marine biology and ocean health, which can lead to ineffective protected areas. For example, an MPA designed to avoid shark bycatch cannot meet this objective without data on shark movement and how the species interacts with the fishing sector in the area.

Global Fishing Watch Marine Manager will provide a new portal that harnesses near real-time, dynamic data on ocean conditions and human activities and their impacts. The technology will allow marine managers and researchers to combine numerous datasets to make informed decisions to better manage the ocean. Specifically, it aims achieving this goal by gathering and overlaying data on marine biology, such as species distribution and migratory patterns; oceanographic conditions, including salinity and sea surface temperature; and human activity, such as movements of vessels involved in fishing, tourism, oil drilling, and shipping.

Leave a Comment