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Lookup NU author(s): Benjamin Hall, Professor Clare FitzsimmonsORCiD, Dr Fabrice StephensonORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© The Author(s) 2025. Seafloor species play important ecological roles within marine ecosystems, yet many are vulnerable to the impacts of bottom fishing. Despite the known vulnerability of many seafloor taxa, destructive bottom fishing remains prevalent in many parts of the world given demand for wild-caught seafood. Species Distribution Models (SDMs) are increasingly used to estimate the distribution of vulnerable taxa and estimate possible risk of interactions with fishing gears, but most approaches have used a limited number of taxa. In this study, spatial predictions of species distributions for 207 seafloor invertebrate taxa in New Zealand waters were combined with a comprehensive database of functional traits related to bottom trawling to predict areas of high vulnerability. In addition, this study combined functional redundancy and vulnerability scores to identify ‘high combined risk’ areas that covered 182,087 km2 (9.5%) of the study area. The interactions of these areas with current Marine Management Areas (MMAs) and highly fished zones revealed that current MMAs protect 50% of the ‘high combined risk’ areas (91,000 km2), and less than 1% is within fished areas. This leaves a predicted 90,937 km2 (49%) outside current protection, some are close to current MMAs and are potentially of high priority for future marine spatial management. Identifying areas most vulnerable to bottom trawling showcases interactions within previously fished areas (areas that have been fished in the past and could potentially be fished again), as well as highlighting areas for management action. Using different sets of functional traits as a combined approach could also be used to assess other anthropogenic impacts, improving ecosystem-based spatial management by ensuring protection of functions at globally significant scales.
Author(s): Hall B, Bennion M, Lam-Gordillo O, Fitzsimmons C, Stephenson F
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Biodiversity and Conservation
Year: 2025
Volume: 34
Pages: 3481-3510
Print publication date: 01/08/2025
Online publication date: 05/07/2025
Acceptance date: 04/06/2025
Date deposited: 21/07/2025
ISSN (print): 0960-3115
ISSN (electronic): 1572-9710
Publisher: Springer Nature
URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-025-03110-0
DOI: 10.1007/s10531-025-03110-0
Data Access Statement: The atlas of seabed biodiversity for Aotearoa New Zealand is freely available via the open-access Zenodo under https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7083642 (Stephenson and Brough 2023). The New Zealand Trait Database (NZTD) can be freely viewed and downloaded from repository Figshare (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21939647.v2) and NIWA website (https://niwa.co.nz/coasts/nztd-new-zealand-trait-database-marine-benthic-invertebrates). The data generated in this research will be shared on reasonable request to the corresponding author. The R code used in this research is available in the GitHub open repository (https://github.com/b-hall-marine/Traits_SDM_analysis). For access to the fishing effort distribution data, requests should be made to Fisheries New Zealand.
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