There are still significant gaps in knowledge about the Network of Marine Protected Areas of Spain (RAMPE) that prevent planning its management. The effects of fishing on marine megafauna are mainly overfishing, discard production and in particular bycatch, with seabirds being one of the most affected groups. In fact, 30% of seabird species are threatened and their conservation depends to a large extent on the proper management of human activities in the marine environment. In the case of pelagic birds, accidental death on longlines is undoubtedly their greatest threat. <\/p>\n
Determining the distribution of the species most vulnerable to such catches and understanding the environmental factors that promote them on a small spatial scale may be the key to proper management of the marine environment. This can help to develop a dynamic management of fisheries, based on the protection of smaller areas and for short periods of time, more efficient and less costly than protecting vast marine spaces in perpetuity. Shorebirds also suffer the impacts of human activities, but in general the interactions and causes of bycatch occur in relation to coastal activities, such as aquaculture, recreational fishing and fishing with small gear (trammel nets, pots, palangrillo, etc.). The high concentration of fish in aquaculture culture cages attracts gulls, terns and cormorants, and some birds are sometimes trapped in nets and other systems used to prevent predation. <\/p>\n
The project will first collect data on the movements of birds, both its own and those of external entities, collected in previous years in the Canary Islands region (Atlantic Cory’s shearwater and Bulwer’s petrel) and in the Spanish Levante (Audouin’s and yellow-legged gull, shag and Mediterranean shearwater, Balearic and Mediterranean Cinderella). To avoid recapture, seagulls and cormorants will be instrumented with GPS combined with mobile telephony. To understand the differential sensitivity to interactions and accidental captures with age, adult and immature shearwaters will be instrumented. For the cormorant it will be carried out in two locations (Murcia and the Balearic Islands) and for the yellow-legged gull in three (Catalonia, Valencian Community and Murcia). In addition, the Bulwer’s petrel and the Atlantic Cory’s shearwater in the Canary Islands, as well as the Mediterranean Cory’s shearwater in the Valencian Community, Murcia, Almeria and the Balearic Islands, will be instrumented with GPS and GLS. Finally, the Atlantic and Mediterranean Cory’s shearwater will also be instrumented with new GPS devices equipped with radar detectors. <\/p>\n
With this information, the distribution, activity and habitat exploited by the different populations studied in different periods will be modelled. Secondly, GPS data from the fishing fleet operating in the Spanish Levante and the Canary Islands over these same years will be compiled (VMS data, based on GPS positioning every two hours and GPS delivered by hand to vessels without the obligation to carry VMS, based on GPS positioning every minute). This will allow the study of the spatio-temporal dynamics of fisheries, their overlap with birds inside and outside the RAMPE and the factors that modulate interactions. Finally, the intensity of interactions and mortality of birds in fish farms located in the open sea on the coast of Almeria, Murcia and Alicante will be estimated, through the regular census of birds in these fish farms and through surveys of fish farmers in facilities inside and outside the RAMPE. <\/p>\n
With all this data, it will be possible to superimpose the distribution of seabirds (in space-time), feeding areas, the spatio-temporal overlap between birds and fisheries\/fish farms, the location of direct interactions between birds and fisheries\/fish farms, and, finally, the overlap of all of them with the current RAMPE. All this should make it possible to assess the suitability of a dynamic approach in the management of protected areas and to propose management measures with the ultimate aim of making fishing and aquaculture activities compatible with the conservation of seabirds. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22405,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"financiaci_n":[652],"lineas_actuacion_tematicas":[655],"class_list":["post-97861848","programa_pleamar","type-programa_pleamar","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","financiaci_n-fondo-europeo-maritimo-de-pesca-en","lineas_actuacion_tematicas-marine-ecosystems"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n