The general objective of the SENAVES project “Sensitivity of seabirds to fishing gear for marine planning” is to contribute to the conservation of marine biodiversity through the generation of scientific, participatory and useful tools for the adaptive planning of maritime space. To this end, it will develop monthly maps of the ecological sensitivity of seabirds to three types of fishing gear (longline, trammel and purse seine), integrating information on the distribution, abundance and level of threat of the species, together with behavioural variables and susceptibility to bycatch. This approach will allow seasonal and spatial variability to be analysed with high resolution.

The technical outputs will be based on the SEO/BirdLife database on the monthly distribution and abundance of seabird species, prepared from sea census campaigns and GPS tracking data and supplemented with additional information from scientific and administrative sources.

The information will be combined with ecological factors such as physical and behavioural vulnerability to bycatch, the degree of threat of species and their potential attraction to different gears, in order to build an aggregate index of ecological sensitivity. The modelling will be carried out using specific algorithms for each fishing gear, integrating ecological, ethological and spatial variables. The end result will be a continuous map grouping the sensitivity per fishing gear in each cell, for all the species considered.

The approach is described as innovative, based exclusively on biological and ecological information, fully feasible with existing data and avoiding reliance on currently fragmentary fishing effort or bycatch data. In addition, it will make it possible to identify areas of potential conflict between biodiversity and fishing activity in advance, supporting decision-making in marine planning.

The active participation of the fishing sector will be essential and the project will have an advisory committee with expert profiles and representatives of the sector to validate methodology, review products and propose improvements. In addition, technical workshops will be held where the maps will be presented and non-binding but guiding recommendations will be discussed, incorporating criteria for the technical and operational viability of the sector. These recommendations will be structured at three levels: areas where it would be desirable to strengthen monitoring, areas where mitigation measures could be assessed and, finally, areas that would require an adaptive assessment.

SENAVES will undertake a critical review of the national system for collecting data on bycatches, comparing the sensitivity map with existing information, to identify shortcomings, inconsistencies and barriers and propose technical and methodological improvements.

The project includes a reinforced institutional transfer component, with technical meetings with the competent Administration, delivery of products in GIS (Geographic Information Systems) formats, technical reports by demarcation and informative summary. Public access to the results and their integration with other existing tools (e.g. pre-sensitivity maps or planning layers) will also be ensured.