SEAFWA 2018

AUTHORS: Jorge Brenner, Valerie McNulty – The Nature Conservancy

ABSTRACT: Marine species migrate to fulfill essential needs: to find and follow food, reproduce, or occupy more habitable locations. During their migrations, they also provide benefits to humans. The Gulf of Mexico hosts 70% of highly migratory species. The Gulf of Mexico Migratory Species Conservation Project aims to identify these pathways in the Gulf and critical areas for conservation to protect migratory marine species and improve the health of large marine ecosystems. Since 2016, the Conservancy has led this project to help address the knowledge gap of migratory pathways, threats, and opportunities for their conservation. The accompanying online Migratory Species Decision Support Tool (DST) provides support for planners, resource managers, government officials, and the ocean conservation community to understand marine species blueways, threats and obstacles, and key stopovers or resource concentrations. The DST is built from animal satellite tracking data from over 100 researchers and institutions in the United States, Mexico, and Cuba to assess migratory pathways in the Gulf. The tool includes a visualization platform to highlight information about migratory corridors, movement density, occurrence hotspots, and stopovers, along with marine environmental data, and human- and climate-related threats. Another outcome of this project has been the identification of critical areas for conservation in the Gulf, where anthropogenic threats intersect with areas of heavy migration. These areas were identified using Marxan conservation planning software to incorporate tracking data, human threats, and regulatory boundaries for solutions that are environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable.