Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) were formulated by the joint International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission / World Commission on Protected Areas, Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force (MMPATF)
Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) were formulated by the joint International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission / World Commission on Protected Areas, Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force (MMPATF)
Marine Conservation is the overarching term that refers to the protection of threatened oceanic species, and usually involves the establishment of marine reserves. [1] Marine conservation is increasingly beginning to make use of protected area models that are based on principles of landscape ecology and ecosystem management. [2]
The most widely used protected area model is Marine protected areas (MPAs), whose purpose is to conserve biodiversity, protect vulnerable ecosystems and enhance marine invertebrate and fish productivity. [3] Marine Protected Areas however, have failed to properly account for Marine Mammals, who have been overlooked in many marine conservation efforts. As a result of this noted shortcoming in the previously existing conservation frameworks, IMMAs were introduced as a separate conservation measure to help rectify this issue. [4]
The initial criteria for identifying IMMAs were developed at the Workshop for the Development of Important Marine Mammal Area Criteria in Marseille, France, in October 2013. They were further refined in advance of the 3rd International Conference on Marine Mammal Protected Areas in Adelaide, Australia, in November 2014, and through the consultations of a working group following that conference. Finally, a public consultation was held online throughout September–October 2015 on the draft criteria, with the results of the consultation being presented at the Society for Marine Mammalogy Biennial Conference, San Francisco, in December 2015. Consideration in the selection of IMMA criteria was given to the need of IMMAs to be used for the successive identification of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) and Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs). [5] [6] The criteria for inclusion cover sites that host vulnerable species or a significant percentage of the members of a species, sites that are important for reproduction or feeding, and sites that are home to a wide variety of species. [7]
From 2016 onwards the major activity of the MMPA Task Force has been to organize a series of regional expert workshops tasked with identifying IMMAs in several of the world’s marine macroregions. The following seven IMMA workshops have been held to date:
As of October 2021, 173 IMMAs have been identified following the hosting of seven expert workshops in the regions represented above. There are an additional 23 candidate IMMAs (cIMMAs) and 140 Areas of Interest (AoI). Details of all these are in the online IMMA searchable database [8] and displayed on the online e-Atlas. [9]
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic, species, and ecosystem level.
An ecoregion or ecozone is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species. The biodiversity of flora, fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. In theory, biodiversity or conservation ecoregions are relatively large areas of land or water where the probability of encountering different species and communities at any given point remains relatively constant, within an acceptable range of variation.
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the enabling laws of each country or the regulations of the international organizations involved. Generally speaking though, protected areas are understood to be those in which human presence or at least the exploitation of natural resources is limited.
The Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park is a National Marine Conservation Area, one of three in the Canadian national park system, located where the Saguenay River meets the Saint Lawrence River. This park is jointly managed by Parks Canada and Sépaq. It is the first park in all of Canada to protect a purely marine environment, and covers a surface area of 1,245 km2. The area that is now the Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park is a part of the Innue Essipit First Nation's land claim, and a treaty resulting from this claim could impact activities that are practiced within the park. The region surrounding the park is an important part of the history of Canada, being one of the first points of contact between Indigenous Peoples and European explorers and the birthplace of the intercontinental fur trade.
A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation. Norman Myers wrote about the concept in two articles in The Environmentalist in 1988 and 1990, after which the concept was revised following thorough analysis by Myers and others into “Hotspots: Earth’s Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions” and a paper published in the journal Nature, both in 2000.
Reconciliation ecology is the branch of ecology which studies ways to encourage biodiversity in the human-dominated ecosystems of the anthropocene era. Michael Rosenzweig first articulated the concept in his book Win-Win Ecology, based on the theory that there is not enough area for all of earth's biodiversity to be saved within designated nature preserves. Therefore, humans should increase biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes. By managing for biodiversity in ways that do not decrease human utility of the system, it is a "win-win" situation for both human use and native biodiversity. The science is based in the ecological foundation of human land-use trends and species-area relationships. It has many benefits beyond protection of biodiversity, and there are numerous examples of it around the globe. Aspects of reconciliation ecology can already be found in management legislation, but there are challenges in both public acceptance and ecological success of reconciliation attempts.
Originally called the International Ligurian Sea Cetacean Sanctuary, what is now known as the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals is a Marine Protected Area aimed at the protection of marine mammals (cetaceans). It covers an area of approximately 84,000 km2, comprising the waters between Toulon, Capo Falcone, Capo Ferro and Fosso Chiarone (Tuscany).
The Tethys Research Institute is a non-profit research organisation founded in 1986 to support marine conservation through science and public awareness. The institute has its headquarters at the Civic Aquarium of Milan, Italy. Tethys' activities are mainly carried out in the Mediterranean Sea, although research programmes have been conducted also in the Black Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean as well as in the Red Sea and Antarctica. The results of these activities have been presented in scientific publications as well as in meetings, workshops and conferences.
An endangered species recovery plan, also known as a species recovery plan, species action plan, species conservation action, or simply recovery plan, is a document describing the current status, threats and intended methods for increasing rare and endangered species population sizes. Recovery plans act as a foundation from which to build a conservation effort to preserve animals which are under threat of extinction.
The devil fish or giant devil ray is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae. It is currently listed as endangered, mostly due to bycatch mortality in unrelated fisheries.
Marine spatial planning (MSP) is a process that brings together multiple users of the ocean – including energy, industry, government, conservation and recreation – to make informed and coordinated decisions about how to use marine resources sustainably. MSP generally uses maps to create a more comprehensive picture of a marine area – identifying where and how an ocean area is being used and what natural resources and habitat exist. It is similar to land-use planning, but for marine waters.
The Coral Triangle (CT) is a roughly triangular area in the tropical waters around the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. This area contains at least 500 species of reef-building corals in each ecoregion. The Coral Triangle is located between the Pacific and Indian oceans and encompasses portions of two biogeographic regions: the Indonesian-Philippines Region, and the Far Southwestern Pacific Region. As one of eight major coral reef zones in the world, the Coral Triangle is recognized as a global centre of marine biodiversity and a global priority for conservation. Its biological resources make it a global hotspot of marine biodiversity. Known as the "Amazon of the seas" (by analogy to the Amazon rainforest in South America), it covers 5.7 million square kilometres (2,200,000 sq mi) of ocean waters. It contains more than 76% of the world's shallow-water reef-building coral species, 37% of its reef fish species, 50% of its razor clam species, six out of seven of the world's sea turtle species, and the world's largest mangrove forest. In 2014, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) reported that the gross domestic product of the marine ecosystem in the Coral Triangle is roughly $1.2 trillion per year and provides food to over 120 million people. According to the Coral Triangle Knowledge Network, the region annually brings in about $3 billion in foreign exchange income from fisheries exports, and another $3 billion from coastal tourism revenues.
Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara is an Italian marine conservation ecologist who has bridged the worlds of marine science, conservation and policy.
Erich Hoyt is a whale and dolphin (cetacean) researcher, conservationist, lecturer and author of 26 books and more than 700 reports, articles and papers. His book Marine Protected Areas for Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, has been widely reviewed as the "definitive reference of the current extent of cetacean ecosystems-based management" and as "a unique and essential book for anybody interested in the conservation and protection of cetaceans. [This] definitive source on MPAs marine protected areas for cetaceans…will influence the design and management of this important and rapidly developing conservation tool." Choice listed the book as an "Outstanding Academic Title’ for the year 2012. Since 2013, as Research Fellow with Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) and IUCN SSC/WCPA Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force co-chair with Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, Hoyt has focussed on the creation and development of the new conservation tool of Important Marine Mammal Areas, or IMMAs. In 2016, following a MAVA Foundation pilot project to identify IMMAs in the Mediterranean, the Task Force's GOBI collaboration funded by the German Climate Initiative (IKI) began a six-year project to identify and implement IMMAs across most of the southern hemisphere. The IMMA tool has been received and widely endorsed by the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), various commissions within the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the International Whaling Commission, as well as national governments and scientists.
The Chagos Marine Protected Area, located in the central Indian Ocean in the British Indian Ocean Territory of the United Kingdom, is one of the world's largest marine protected areas, and one of the largest protected areas of any type on Earth. It was established by the British government on 1 April 2010 as a massive, contiguous, no-take marine reserve, it encompasses 640,000 square kilometres (250,000 sq mi) of ocean waters, including roughly 70 small islands and seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago.
For a small country, Albania is characterised by a considerable wealth of terrestrial and marine ecosystems and habitats with contrasting floral and faunal species, defined in an area of 28,748 square kilometres. Most of the country is predominantly of Mediterranean character, comprehending the country's center and south, while the alpine affinity is more visible in the northeast.
The gill plate trade is the buying and selling of stingray gill plates for their use in traditional Chinese medicine. The gill plates are harvested from stingrays that are caught intentionally, or caught as bycatch. The plates are sold whole or in a powder form. A single kilogram of the gill plate can be sold for up to US$350, though the price varies by ray species.
The Biodiversity of South Africa is the variety of living organisms within the boundaries of South Africa and its exclusive economic zone. South Africa is a region of high biodiversity in the terrestrial and marine realms. The country is ranked sixth out of the world's seventeen megadiverse countries, and is rated among the top 10 for plant species diversity and third for marine endemism.
Isoetes malinverniana, the Piedmont quillwort, is a species of quillwort. It is critically endangered.
Other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) are sites outside of protected areas that are governed and managed in ways that deliver the long-term in situ conservation of biodiversity. As of July 2022, 785 such sites have been reported to the World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures, managed by the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre. OECMs cover 1,818,430 km2 (702,100 sq mi) of the Earth’s surface, accounting for 1,498,111 km2 (578,424 sq mi) on land and 320,319 km2 (123,676 sq mi) in the ocean.