The current network of marine protected areas is insufficient to guarantee the protection of seabirds in Spanish waters. The Northern Gannet, Cory's Shearwater and Bulwer's petrel are the seabirds most at risk of encountering the areas identified for the installation of offshore wind farms. Cory's shearwaters, both the Balearic and the Mediterranean subspecies, face the highest risk of bycatch. Gulls, terns, and the European storm petrel are the species most exposed to incidents involving aquaculture installations, especially off the coasts of Pontevedra, the Ebro Delta, Murcia and Alicante.
These are some of the conclusions of the AMPLIAMAR project, led by Jacob González-Solís, professor at the Faculty of Biology and member of the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) at the UB, and coordinated by researcher Diego Vicente (UB-IRBio). It is funded by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, through the Pleamar Programme, co-financed by the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF).
GPS technology to study vulnerable and little-known species
Fisheries, aquaculture, wind-energy projects, mineral and hydrocarbon extraction and maritime traffic are among the human activities with the greatest current or potential impact on seabirds. AMPLIAMAR aims to develop a proposal to expand Spain's Network of Marine Protected Areas (RAMPE, the acronym in Spanish) by identifying Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs, the acronym in English) for seabirds.
"KBAs provide a vital framework for guiding conservation actions and spatial planning; they are based on quantitative criteria and are crucial for mitigating anthropogenic pressures on the natural environment and preserving global biodiversity," says Jacob González-Solís, head of the Seabird Ecology Lab at the UB and honoured by the ICREA Acadèmia 2023 programme.
