Marine biodiversity is under extreme pressure from anthropogenic activity globally, leading to calls to protect at least 10% of the world’s oceans within marine protected areas (MPAs) and other effective area-based conservation measures by 2020. Fulfilling such commitments, however, requires a detailed understanding of the distribution of potentially detrimental human activities, and their predicted impacts. One such approach that is being increasingly used to strengthen our understanding of human impacts is cumulative impact mapping; as it can help identify economic sectors with the greatest potential impact on species and ecosystems in order to prioritise conservation management strategies, providing clear direction for intervention. In this paper, we present the first local cumulative utilisation impact mapping exercise for the Bioko-Corisco-Continental area of Equatorial Guinea’s Exclusive Economic Zone – situated in the Gulf of Guinea one of the most important and least studied marine regions in the Eastern Central Atlantic. This study examines the potential impact of ten direct anthropogenic activities on a suite of key marine megafauna species and reveals that the most suitable habitats for these species, located on the continental shelf, are subject to the highest threat scores. However, in some coastal areas, the persistence of highly suitable habitat subject to lower threat scores suggests that there are still several strategic areas that are less impacted by human activity that may be suitable sites for protected area expansion. Highlighting both the areas with potentially the highest impact, and those with lower impact levels, as well as particularly damaging activities can inform the direction of future conservation initiatives in the region.

Methods are presented, in full, in the open access paper: Trew, B T., Grantham, H S., Barrientos, C., Collins, T., Doherty, P D., Formia, A., Godley, B J., Maxwell, S M., Parnell, R J., Pikesley, S.K., Tilley, D., Witt, M J., and Metcalfe, K. (in press). "Using cumulative impact mapping to prioritise marine conservation efforts in Equatorial Guinea", in: Frontiers in Marine Science. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00717

Paper Citation: Trew, B T., Grantham, H S., Barrientos, C., Collins, T., Doherty, P D., Formia, A., Godley, B J., Maxwell, S M., Parnell, R J., Pikesley, S.K., Tilley, D., Witt, M J., and Metcalfe, K. (in press). "Using cumulative impact mapping to prioritise marine conservation efforts in Equatorial Guinea", in: Frontiers in Marine Science. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00717

Date Created: 12 November 2019

Author: Brittany Trew

 

This zip file is compromised of 22 datasets described below:

Relative Habitat Suitability Models.

Habitat suitability models for the Atlantic humpback dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin, Humpback whale, Leatherback turtle, and Olive ridley turtle within the Bioko-Corisco-Continental area of Equatorial Guinea's exclusive economic zone. Relative suitability of habitats is scaled between 0 and 1, where 0.5 represents areas of typical habitat suitability, 0 represents lowest suitability and 1 indicates greatest suitability.

RS_Atlantic_humpback_dolphin.tif 

RS_Bottlenose_dolphin.tif

RS_Humpback_whale.tif

RS_Leatherback_turtle.tif

RS_Olive_ridley_turtle.tif

 

Cumulative Impact Models

Cumulative impact distributions (overall human activity intensity, weighted by the vulnerability of target species to said activity) for the Atlantic humpback dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin, Humpback whale, Leatherback turtle, Olive ridley turtle, combined turtle species listed, combined mammal species listed, and all species listed combined within the Bioko-Corisco-Continental area of Equatorial Guinea's exclusive economic zone.

CI_Atlantic_humpback_dolphin.tif

CI_Bottlenose_dolphin.tif

CI_Humpback_whale.tif

CI_Leatherback_turtle.tif

CI_Olive_ridley_turtle.tif

CI_All_turtles.tif

CI_All_mammals.tif

CI_all_species.tif

 

Cumulative Utilisation Impact Models

Cumulative utilisation impact models (cumulative impact weighted by relative habitat suitability) for the Atlantic humpback dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin, Humpback whale, Leatherback turtle, Olive ridley turtle, combined turtle species listed, combined mammal species listed, and all species listed combined within the Bioko-Corisco-Continental area of Equatorial Guinea's exclusive economic zone.

CUI_Atlantic_humpback_dolphin.tif

CUI_Bottlenose_dolphin.tif

CUI_Humpback_whale.tif

CUI_Leatherback_turtle.tif

CUI_Olive_ridley_turtle.tif

CUI_All_turtles.tif

CUI_All_mammals.tif

CUI_all.tif

 

Human Footprint

The total human activity scaled between 0 and 1 within the Bioko-Corisco-Continental area of Equatorial Guinea's exclusive economic zone.

Human_footprint.tif