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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Fabrice StephensonORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© The Author(s) 2025. Balancing biodiversity conservation with fisheries sustainability is a challenge in marine spatial planning. We identified marine areas supporting commercially important fish species in European seas using spatial prioritisation. Species range maps from the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) and fishery catch data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Sea Around Us Project (SAUP) were combined including 507 finfish, 73 crustacean and 101 mollusc species, to represent both presence-only and catch biomass scenarios. Results were consistent across scenarios, with optimal areas concentrated along the Mediterranean, Black Sea, North-East Atlantic coasts, Macaronesia, Iceland, and continental shelves of the North, Celtic and Irish Seas. Over 80% of species could be protected in 30% of European seas, and 51% in 10% of the area. Conserving commercially fished species would benefit biodiversity and fisheries stock recovery, through refugia for broodstock and juveniles, larger fish and greater genetic diversity and spillover. Our findings support evidence-based marine spatial planning that can enhance sustainable fisheries management in European seas.
Author(s): Abinaya R, Addamo AM, Principe SC, Stephenson F, Sajeevan M, Costello MJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: npj Ocean Sustainability
Year: 2026
Volume: 5
Print publication date: 20/01/2026
Online publication date: 11/12/2025
Acceptance date: 27/11/2025
Date deposited: 02/02/2026
ISSN (electronic): 2731-426X
Publisher: Springer Nature
URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-025-00176-9
DOI: 10.1038/s44183-025-00176-9
Data Access Statement: All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files. Spatial prioritisation maps are available in Zenodo MPA Europe repository: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16901159
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