A global team of scientists, which includes researchers from the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Coimbra (FCTUC), is led by the Australian National University (ANU) and funded by the United Nations (UN).
The project, titled “MegaMove,” involves around 400 scientists from over 50 countries and highlights areas where specific protections can be implemented for the conservation of marine megafauna.
“Currently, protected marine areas encompass only 08% of the world’s oceans, with the United Nations Treaty for International Waters aiming to increase this protection to 30%,” the FCTUC revealed in a statement sent to Lusa News Agency.
The research concluded that the goals of the current Treaty (signed by 115 countries but not yet ratified), while crucial, are insufficient to cover all critical zones used by threatened marine megafauna species, suggesting that additional measures are necessary to mitigate the threats.
According to the authors, the study aimed to identify the areas used by marine megafauna for essential behaviors such as feeding, resting, and migrations – areas that can only be detected based on tracked movement patterns.
It was discovered “that the areas used by these animals significantly overlap with threats such as fishing, maritime traffic, rising water temperatures, and plastic pollution,” revealed Vítor Paiva, a researcher at the Center for Functional Ecology (CFE) of FCTUC.
The Cory’s shearwater, for example, a seabird that breeds in the Azores, Madeira, and Berlengas archipelagos, annually migrates to the southern coast of Brazil, South Africa, or Mozambique, demonstrating a great ability to explore the marine environment, thus being exposed to various threats in different oceanic basins.
“The goal of protecting 30% of oceans is seen as useful but insufficient to safeguard all important areas, meaning additional mitigation strategies are needed to alleviate pressures outside protected zones,” the specialists considered.
Changes in fishing gear, the use of different lights in nets, and traffic schemes for ships are some of the measures highlighted as essential to alleviate current human pressure on these species.
Marine megafauna includes seabirds, sharks, or whales, which are typically top predators with essential roles in marine food chains but face increasing threats from human environmental impact.
