The Director of Studies and Projects of the Biodiversity Foundation, Ignacio Torres, and director of the LIFE+ INDEMARES project, took part today in the discussion table on conservation projects, together with representatives of the General Secretariat of the Sea of the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs and SEO/Bird Life, in the seminar “Conservation in action. The challenge of conserving the oceans”.

Within the framework of this seminar, organized by the Center for University Extension and Environmental Dissemination of Galicia in Oleiros, A Coruña, the joint task carried out in this first year of life of the project has been explained, which will be developed until December 2013, with a budget of 15.4 million euros, and co-financed by the European Commission in 50%. and the website www.indemares.es.

The LIFE+ INDEMARES project aims to contribute to the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity in Spanish seas by identifying areas of value for the Natura 2000 Network: Special Protection Areas for Birds (SPAs) and Sites of Community Interest (SCIs).

Coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation, the project has a participatory approach and integrates the work of leading institutions in the field of management, research and conservation of the marine environment: the Ministry of the Environment, Rural Affairs and the Marine Environment (through the General Secretariat of the Sea), the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), ALNITAK, the Coordinator for the Study of Marine Mammals (CEMMA), OCEANA, the Society for the Study of Cetaceans in the Canary Islands (SECAC), SEO/BirdLife and WWF Spain.

The project’s actions are carried out in ten large study areas located in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Macaronesian regions. These are: Creus Canyon, Ebro-Columbretes Delta, Menorca Channel, Seco de los Olivos, Alborán Island and Alborán volcanic cones, Chimeneas de Cádiz, Banco de Galicia, Avilés Canyon, Banco de la Concepción, and Gran Canaria-Fuerteventura Area.

INVESTIGATING THE SEABED
Oceanographic campaigns have already begun to yield results. The ALNITAK organisation has carried out four in the area of the island of Alborán for the development of technological measures to mitigate the risks arising from fishing, transport, tourism, energy and defence, in which it has carried out acoustic and visual censuses to monitor cetaceans and sea turtles. Likewise, in the area of the Chimneys of Cádiz, it has obtained scientific information focused on the conservation of the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), one of the species listed in the Habitats Directive.

Two campaigns have also been carried out in the Avilés Canyon. In this case, CEMMA toured the entire marine area collecting acoustic data from cetaceans and censusing birds. 69 specimens of cetaceans and up to 20 different species of birds were observed, including some of them protected according to the European Directives, such as the Cory’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea), the common tern (Sterna hirundo) or the sandwich tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis).

At the Banco de Galicia, on the other hand, ten scientific observers on board the Santiago Apóstol boat of the Celeiro Fishermen’s Guild, carried out a population study of cetaceans. This will update and expand the biological information already available to CEMMA. In the following stages of study of this area, which includes annual shipments until 2011, the transects carried out will be repeated to confirm the distribution of the species and study their seasonality.

In September 2009, the Institute of Marine Sciences of the CSIC developed a campaign in the Canyon of Creus with the aim of studying the seabed of the marine platform. Based on the surveys carried out in the area during the summer, in which it was possible to observe the presence of some benthic communities that play a key role in the dynamics of marine life, the activities of this campaign have focused mainly on studies of these communities through video images collected with the underwater robot. In addition, other complementary studies have been carried out, such as the continuation of the bathymetry of the area, the analysis of the water column and the collection of benthic samples by dredgers, necessary to complete the information on the area.

IN THE CANARY ISLANDS
The Oceanographic Centre of the Canary Islands (COC), belonging to the IEO, for its part, has carried out a campaign in the study area of Fuerteventura-Gran Canaria, specifically on the banks of Amanay and El Banquete. The objective has been to characterize the fauna of the bottoms of these ecosystems, for which fishing was carried out with pots, vertical bottom and drift longlines, between 30 and 1,500 m deep. SECAC will complement the information in this area through visual and acoustic censuses of cetaceans.

On the other hand, after more than four years of work, SEO/BirdLife has completed the LIFE project Important Areas for Marine Birds (IBA) in Spain. The project has identified a total of 42 marine IBAs in Spain covering more than 40,000 km2, almost 5% of Spanish marine waters. It should also be noted that many of the marine IBAs coincide with significant areas for other species, such as sea turtles, large pelagic fish, and cetaceans.

Currently, SEO/BirdLife continues the work begun in the LIFE IBA Marinas project at INDEMARES, carrying out detailed studies of the use that birds make of the environment in specific and representative areas of the inventory and will evaluate the threats, in order to define effective management measures for future marine SPAs.

DISSEMINATION, A KEY LINK
It should be noted that INDEMARES, although it has a large scientific and research component, also contemplates a much broader activity. In fact, one of its priority actions is to develop, throughout the five years of the project, a campaign to disseminate and raise awareness of the values that the Spanish seas and oceans harbor. Different project partners have launched these campaigns during this first year.

During the summer months, CEMMA carried out some informative campaigns in the northern part of the peninsula. Its objective, in addition to publicizing the project, has been to approach the public and users of the sea, to explain the functioning of the ecosystems in the area and inform about the need to conserve its resources.

Along these lines, and on the occasion of Science Week 2009, held last November at the Mediterranean Centre for Marine and Environmental Research in Barcelona, Josep María Gili, researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences and responsible for the research carried out by the CSIC within the framework of INDEMARES, highlighted the importance of carrying out dissemination and awareness activities on scientific advances. “The sea is a great unknown, even for the most experts, so we must not only continue researching and of course, protecting, but also teaching and showing our work to the entire population,” said Josep María Gili. It should not be forgotten that Spain is one of the richest European countries in terms of marine biodiversity.

At the end of its first year of intense life, INDEMARES is consolidated as a project from which the best fruits will come from the collaboration of partners who complement each other, and crucial for the development of a network of marine spaces that ensures the conservation of the biodiversity and richness of our seas, while guaranteeing the sustainable use of their resources.