Marine Spatial Planning

Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) "is becoming a key management approach throughout the world. The process includes the mapping of how humans and wildlife use the marine environment to inform the development of management measures. An integrated multi-species approach to identifying key areas is important for MSP because it allows managers a global representation of an area, enabling them to see where management can have the most impact for biodiversity protection. However, multi-species analysis remains challenging. This paper presents a methodological framework for mapping key areas for marine megafauna (seabirds, pinnipeds, cetaceans) by incorporating different data types across multiple species. The framework includes analyses of tracking data and observation survey data, applying analytical steps according to the type of data available during each year quarter for each species. It produces core-use area layers at the species level, then combines these layers to create megafauna core-use area layers. The framework was applied in the Falkland Islands. The study gathered over 750,000 tracking and at-sea observation locations covering an equivalent of 5495 data days between 1998 and 2015 for 36 species. The framework provides a step-by-step implementation protocol, replicable across geographic scales and transferable to multiple taxa. R scripts are provided. Common repositories, such as the Birdlife International Tracking Database, are invaluable tools, providing a secure platform for storing and accessing spatial data to apply the methodological framework. This provides managers with data necessary to enhance MSP efforts and marine conservation worldwide." - Framework for Mapping Key Areas for Marine Megafauna to Inform Marine Spatial Planning: The Falkland Islands Case Study 

Examples

North America

• Gitdisdzu Lugyeks (Kitasu Bay) Marine Protected Area is the first indigenous planned and lead example of marine spatial planning, as the Canadian government continued to pull out of plans, leaving the community frustrated after 20 years of unproductive talks. The area is protected by the Coastal Guardian Watchmen. 

How To Improve Marine Spatial Planning

• Optimizing Marine Spatial Plans with Animal Tracking Data

• Overhauling Ocean Spatial Planning to Improve Marine Megafauna Conservation

• Risk to Animals from Electromagnetic Fields Emitted by Electric Cables and Marine Renewable Energy Devices Understanding the risks these pose to various species and using that information in conjunction with marine spatial planning may be critical for preserving migration routes and healthy wildlife populations.

Existing Protected Ocean Zones

Europe

UK

• Existing Marine Conservation Zones (interactive map) "There have been 31 Marine Conservation Zones designated in the Eastern Channel so far, from the chalk reefs of Dover to Deal, to the seagrass beds of Torbay, Devon."

North America

Canada

• Gitdisdzu Lugyeks (Kitasu Bay) Marine Protected Area is the first indigenous planned and lead example of marine spatial planning, as the Canadian government continued to pull out of plans, leaving the community frustrated after 20 years of unproductive talks. The area is protected by the Coastal Guardian Watchmen. 

Tools 

• Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) Toolkit "The MSP toolkit provides practitioners with practical guidance, examples of tools and methods that are necessary for designing and carrying out the MSP process in an LME context." 

Maps

Maps are critical for this type of project. Migration maps can help conservationists work out which places need to be protected and which can be made safer during seasonal journeys. Maps that track where injuries and fatalities are most common are also of great value. Each species movements are unique, but this section is intended aid in the planning process. 

International

• Biodiversity Hotspots 

• Existing Wildlife Refuges, Parks, and Indigenous Lands 

• Protected Areas (WDPA) (Interactive) "The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the most comprehensive global database on terrestrial and marine protected areas."

Aquatic Ecosystems

• Living Oceans Collection of maps

• Marine Traffic (Interactive) See what types of vessel are at sea, dock or traveling waterways.

• Marine Vessel Traffic Tracker (Interactive) See what types of vessel are at sea, dock or traveling waterways.

• River Status "Map of the world’s free-flowing rivers. The intensity of blue indicates the length of free-flowing rivers, red the length of impacted rivers." Impact in this case refers to dams weirs, and other physical barriers to aquatic species or even the entire flow of water bodies.

• Seminal Study Maps Impacts of Wastewater on Coastal Ecosystems Most of the maps in this link focus only on ocean impacts. One map shows humanity's impacts on both ocean and on-land water bodies.

Oceans

• Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) "This map is based on electronic tagging of Atlantic bluefin tuna from 1996 to 2007"

• Global Map of Total Human Effects on Oceans

• Living Oceans Collection of maps

• Mapping Global Inputs and Impacts from of Human Sewage in Coastal Ecosystems

• Marine Traffic (Interactive) See what types of vessel are at sea, dock or traveling waterways.

• Marine Vessel Traffic Tracker (Interactive) See what types of vessel are at sea, dock or traveling waterways.

• Migration Movements of Iconic Marine Migrants

• Ocean Sewage Alliance: Overview global map shows locations of coral as well as sewage impact locations.

• Pacific Bluefin "Young Pacific Bluefin Tuna migrate from the spawning grounds off the coast of Japan to the shores of California. The fish make the 5,000 miles (8,000 km) journey at around the age of one and after a few years of feeding and growing they make the exact same trek but in reverse." Map shows spawning area, juvenile routes, maturing fish routes, and post spawner routes.

• Protected Areas (WDPA) (Interactive) "The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the most comprehensive global database on terrestrial and marine protected areas."

Europe

• Dam Removal Map Europe (interactive)

Denmark

• Analysis of marine protected areas – in the Danish part of the North Sea and the Central Baltic around Bornholm (PDF) contains many maps

UK

• Existing Marine Conservation Zones (interactive map) "There have been 31 Marine Conservation Zones designated in the Eastern Channel so far, from the chalk reefs of Dover to Deal, to the seagrass beds of Torbay, Devon."

• Go north, and swim fast - New evidence of migration of young salmon leaving Ireland "Until now, it was unknown if juvenile salmon leaving Ireland’s east coast rivers headed around the North or South coasts to get to their oceanic feeding grounds.  These first three tracked fish took a northward route from rivers on the east coast to exit the Irish Sea. These salmon also moved offshore quickly, behaving very differently from sea trout, which remained closer to their spawning rivers and swam closer to the coast and river mouths."

• Spring Migration Routes of Long-tailed Skuas Stercorarius longicaudus Across and Around the UK "Solid red line shows potential track of an adult male Long-tailed Skua between a point west of Ireland on 27th May 2011 and a location in the North Sea on 28th May 2011"

Canada

BC

• Living Oceans: Maps 

United States

• Critical Habitat for Threatened & Endangered Species [USFWS]  - Interactive map. Click on the marked areas to learn which species needs each location for survival. 

• Eastern North America Migration Highways and Natural Metropolis Map "Here, plant and animal species thrive due to their ability to move and adapt. As the planet warms, these places will be even more important."

• National Marine Sanctuary System "The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries serves as the trustee for a network of underwater parks encompassing more than 600,000 square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters from Washington state to the Florida Keys, and from Lake Huron to American Samoa. The network includes a system of 15 national marine sanctuaries and Papahānaumokuākea and Rose Atoll marine national monuments."

 Europe

• Dam Removal Europe 🚧 "Rivers have always provided fundamental and vital services for mankind and the environment. However, dams disrupt the natural functioning of rivers and can cause a wide-scale decline in fish and other river wildlife. For these reasons, it is necessary to remove these barriers to return rivers to their natural, free-flowing state."

North America

• Living Oceans: Ocean Planning 🗺️ "Ocean planning is an opportunity for stakeholders to put aside their conflicts and work together to find solutions to create sustainable economies, vibrant communities and healthy oceans. We need a vision to protect the natural abundance of Canada’s oceans and the coastal communities that rely on them so we can manage our use of the ocean without using it up."

Canada

• Living Oceans: Ocean Planning 🗺️ "Ocean planning is an opportunity for stakeholders to put aside their conflicts and work together to find solutions to create sustainable economies, vibrant communities and healthy oceans. We need a vision to protect the natural abundance of Canada’s oceans and the coastal communities that rely on them so we can manage our use of the ocean without using it up."

BC

• Coastal Guardian Watchmen ⚓ 👮 "provide a regional stewardship focus, each Nation monitors and stewards its own territory, carrying on its unique stewardship traditions."

Funding

North America

USA

• Wildlife Crossings Funding Opportunities "The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed into law on November 15, 2021. The law reauthorizes the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, and includes a new pilot program to help states, cities, tribes, and other entities construct wildlife crossing structures that can improve wildlife migration and enhance habitat connectivity, while simultaneously improving driver safety. The new law also amends other federal-aid transportation programs to make them eligible to fund the development of these structures and calls for modernizing the science and research surrounding wildlife corridors and vehicle safety. Interested in learning more about national grants and other Federal, Tribal, and State funding programs that can be used to pay for wildlife mitigation measures, including animal road crossing structures?"

Oceana

Australia

Western Australia

• The Landowner Biodiversity Conservation Grants Program "provides financial support to Cockburn residents living in the rural, rural living and resource zones, who wish to conserve and enhance the natural bushland and wetland areas on their property."