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Conservation Plans

Dolphins are threatened species that could disappear from our waters if correction measures are not taken promptly. MPAs can be established with their corresponding management plans in which the necessary actions are determined so that the target species find in them favourable conditions for feeding, reproduction or migration. But it can not be forgotten that for these species, the dimensions and limits of these protected areas might not have any sense. They can help, but they are not enough, by themselves, to ensure that the conservation objective for the species is achieved: to maintain a favourable conservation status.

Therefore, the MPAs are necessary but not enough and they can not be seen as the global solution for the conservation and sustainable management of the marine environment. The limitations of marine reserves can be highlighted especially in the case of marine species that extend across large areas. The marine environment is characterized mainly by being immense, three-dimensional and extraordinarily dynamic. To limit the conservation efforts to areas with rigid limits is obviously insufficient when dealing with conservation of the vast majority of marine species. It is necessary to take into account the special requirements of these species if conservation is to be effective. In addition, the human activities that might be causing a threat are not usually restricted to a particular area, and the management of activities within an area can not deal with external threats that are transported into the area as a result of the three-dimensional nature of the marine environment. This is one of the reasons why MPAs have detractors in the scientific community.

However, MPAs continue nowadays being the main and most extensively used tool for the conservation of cetaceans. There are many areas designated for the conservation of cetaceans, small and large all over world. For example, the SAC for bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoises under the European Union’s Habitat Directive; the extensive cetacean sanctuary ‘Pelagos’ in the Ligurian Sea and many others of small dimensions such as the ‘Losinj Dolphin Reserve’ in Croatia in the Mediterranean; the Stellwagen Bank and the Gully Canyon in the North-east Atlantic; the ‘Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale Sanctuary’ in the Pacific; etc.

Facing this situation, the main challenge of this work is to progress towards the effective conservation of the species and their habitats. Therefore, it needs to be emphasized that the design and creation of MPAs is not the final aim of this work, but just one more action within the future conservation plans for the species, in which these areas and their management plans would be framed.

For this reason we need a conservation plan that brings in the requirements for the conservation of the species at an appropriate scale, as it does not bind itself to a particular protected area but is applied to a more extensive geographical area, usually that of the competences of the involved authorities.

The conservation plan establishes some priority lines of action. There are different types of actions in it: management, legislative, research, monitoring, capacity building and public awareness. In this way, an organised structure is established for implementing, in the most effective possible way, the necessary actions to preserve or reach a favourable conservation status for the target species and its habitat.

Unfortunately, there are few conservation plans in the world that are not framed within particular MPAs, and they are mainly recovery plans for species in sever danger of extinction. Some of these examples are the Recovery Plan for the right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) in the north Atlantic, announced in June 2005, or the Recovery Plan for the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) (National Marine Fisheries Services 1998). No conservation plans for cetaceans have been developed yet in Spain, the Mediterranean Sea or Europe. Therefore, this work represents a challenge in its novelty. In Spain there are ‘Conservation Strategies’ being developed for threatened species such us the Spanish Imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti), the bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) or the brown bear (Ursus arctos) among others. These Conservation Plans aim to contribute to these strategies so that the conservation plans developed become part of a ‘National Conservation Strategy’ for several species of cetaceans.

Arriba

Conservation Plan for bottlenose dolphin in Andalucía and Murcia

The overall aim of the LIFE-Nature project “Conservation of cetaceans and turtles in Murcia and Andalucía” (LIFE02NAT/E/8610) is to contribute to Spain’s commitments to the European Union’s Habitat Directive (C.D. 92/43/EEC) with respect to the conservation of the three marine pelagic species of the Directive’s Annex II, the bottlenose dolphin, the harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) and the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) in the regions of Andalucía and Murcia.

To achieve this aim, the project has been developed at three levels:

Developing diverse cetacean and sea turtle population study techniques in order to establish the most cost efficient tools for the long term MONITORING of trends in the conservation status of these species and their habitats
Developing CONSERVATION Plans for the target species as well as MANAGEMENT Plans for the SAC’s proposed in the region
To create a link between monitoring, conservation and management with the different stakeholders to INVOLVE them in the management process, to ensure that biodiversity conservation targets and economic development are compatible.

Furthermore, under Spanish legislation a Conservation Plan for species catalogued as “vulnerable” in the National Catlogue of Threatened Species (such as the bottlenose dolphin) that applies to the whole region needs to be developed.

For this reason, a Conservation Plan for bottlenose dolphins in Andalucía and Murcia was developped. But the process described for this Conservation Plan is not only valid for this particular species in this particular area. It can be applicable to any species in any area. For example, the same process and structure is being applied to the Conservation Plan for loggerhead turtles within the same LIFE-Nature project. It is also being taken as the model of how conservation efforts should be directed, and how a conservation plan should be developed, within the framework of a project for the conservation of bottlenose dolphins in European waters of the NE Atlantic that is being prepared under the coordination of the University of Cork (Ireland). Furthermore, this Conservation Plan will be used by the Spanish Ministry of Environment as the model for the development of a National Strategy for the conservation of this species in all Spanish waters.

Conservation Plan for loggerhead turtles in Andalucía and Murcia

The particular spatial requirements of marine pelagic species as the loggerhead turtle or the bottlenose dolphin pose a series of important challenges for biodiversity conservation frameworks.

The first of these challenges is certainly our lack of basic knowledge on the loggerhead turtle populations we are dealing with in Europe and the Mediterranean. In the recent history of wildlife conservation, it is precisely with respect to sea turtles that we can observe some of the best examples of why we need to base our management actions on science.

However, obtaining data of these great pelagics at sea is both extremely expensive and logistically difficult, and our biodiversity conservation frameworks require tools that are cost efficient.

Law 4/1989, of March the 27th, for the “Conservation of the Natural Spaces and the Wild Flora and Fauna”, demands the writing of Conservation Plans, and in its case, the protection of the habitat, for species catalogued as "vulnerable".

The development and approval of these plans corresponds to the Autonomous Communities. However, given the characteristics of the species, it is important that regional conservation efforts are carried out under the umbrella of more global frameworks, as the Habitat Directive. The main role of this Loggerhead turtle Conservation Plan is therefore to provide a guide to coordinate actions to achieve a series of common conservation goals.

This coordination is not only intended to link and coordinate regional, national and international biodiversity conservation frameworks, but also to provide a bridge between the diverse relevant authorities that need to intervene in the actions of the conservation plan at each of these levels. It is with this purpose, that the LTCP aims also to contribute to the development of a “National Strategy for the Conservation of the Loggerhead turtle in the Mediterranean”.

The present document outlines the process followed for the development of a Conservation Plan proposal within the context of the LIFE Nature project “Conservation of cetaceans and sea turtles in Murcia and Andalucía”. The process focuses primarily on the establishment of management measures based on a scientific foundation, highlighting the importance of baseline data for the establishment of adequate conservation objectives and monitoring as an essential tool for adjusting actions to achieve these objectives. The result of the process is the establishment of a series of general guidelines as well as concrete actions to be carried out by each of the involved relevant authorities and actors involved.

But perhaps the most interesting aspect of this process is the result of regular meetings held with relevant authorities and other stakeholders, discussing the concrete aspects of possible management actions to be included in the LTCP. Direct involvement and implication of stakeholders in the process has provided a strong support to the feasibility and efficiency of the LTCP actions.

Conservation Plan for common dolphins in the Mediterranean

The revision of the status of the common dolphin in the Mediterranean has been one of the priorities of ACCOBAMS ever since its first Meeting of the Parties in 2002. Data collected in the Alborán Sea and Gulf of Vera throughout the work of this thesis was part of a first step in this direction through its contribution to the publication of an article focusing on the ecology, status and conservation of Mediterranean common dolphins (Bearzi et al., 2003). This article provided the scientific background for the inclusion of the Mediterranean common dolphin population in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals.

Following a recommendation of the ACCOBAMS Scientific Committee during its first meeting (Tunis, 2002), the ACCOBAMS Secretariat commissioned a small group of scientists expert in the field, including the author of this thesis, to develop a "Mediterranean Common Dolphin Conservation Plan” during 2004 (Bearzi et al. 2004). This Plan, reviewed by the Scientific Committee of ACCOBAMS acknowledges that: ”1) the formulation and recommendation of management measures is made difficult by the present lack of understanding of the cause(s) for common dolphin decline in the region; 2) nevertheless, it can be assumed that most of the factors that are responsible for the decline of common dolphins in the Mediterranean derive from human activities in this marine region that are unsustainable and/or illegal (e.g., overfishing, use of driftnets, pollution); 3) the fate of Mediterranean common dolphins depends on range States having the political will to take responsible and precautionary action to mitigate the known anthropogenic threats; 4) the principal management measures that will benefit common dolphins are already embedded in existing legislation and treaties; 5) if all such measures, invoked by existing international, regional and national legal instruments for the management of the Mediterranean, were to be fully implemented and enforced, the decline of common dolphins would likely cease.”

This Conservation Plan which basically concludes that “honouring existing obligations with regard to the management of fisheries, pollution and other forms of habitat degradation represents the single most important action to stop the decline of Mediterranean common dolphins and facilitate their recovery” focuses on three lines of action:

Firstly, in relation to the existing obligations of member states, the Plan strongly advocates that such obligations be respected and implemented without any further delay.
Secondly the Plan includes a series of management, legislation, research, capacity building, awareness & education actions that “specifically address the problem of common dolphin conservation in the Mediterranean, with special attention to areas that report common dolphins in sizeable numbers and appear to contain important habitat for the species.”
Thirdly, the Plan establishes an initial selection of eight Areas of Conservation Importance (ACIs) where management actions should be undertaken immediately focusing on research to fill in the present knowledge gaps that prevent the identification of effective conservation strategies. The selection of the ACI corresponding to the area of the Alborán Sea and Gulf of Vera was based on the work doen by ALNITAK, mainly the high relative density of common dolphins in this area, due both to large density of groups and to very large group sizes. These results highlighted the special relevance of this area in the context of Mediterranean common dolphin conservation efforts.

The Plan, with an initial implementation phase of five years, establishes a priority for management actions in ACIs. It proposes a more simplified and efficient initial alternative strategy than the establishment of MPAs, based on: “1) the currently incomplete state of knowledge about common dolphin distribution and long-term movements, 2) the inherently dynamic nature and likely large spatial extent of the habitat used by these animals year-round, and 3) the cumbersome institutional and governance issues affecting the design, enforcement and implementation of “traditional” MPAs, which are likely to be improved in the future.”

In addition to the actions for promoting a management approach which is intended to pave the way for the future establishment of networks of MPAs or large MPAs to protect Mediterranean common dolphins, designed on the basis of appropriate information on their ecology, distribution, long-range movements and spatial needs, the Plan also focuses on the need for capacity building and education. The outreach actions of the Plan, respond to the common interest expressed by the contracting parties of ACCOBAMS which consider "diffusing research and monitoring abilities throughout the region a timely challenge and one of the highest priorities as far as cetacean conservation is concerned" (ACCOBAMS, 2002).