decision-makers in the different states as well as to the stakeholders and the society
in general.
Only with a good and proper management at ecosystem scale (e.g., ecosystembased management, marine spatial planning) the Alboran Sea can be preserved in
good health for now and for the future and have an equitable and sustainable future
for all. The existing experiences of international cooperation in the subregion are
time fixed or focus on partial aspects of the marine system, as the FAO-CopeMed
project (http://www.faocopemed.org/) aiming to improve the cooperation, capacity
building, and data sharing to evaluate shares stocks, but not other important aspects
of the environment. In this regard, there is a need for an international framework of
cooperation for the Alboran Sea; this can be extended to scientific research, governance, and capacity building.
The immediate target related to management and governance is to ensure that
10% of this territory is effectively protected, as indicated by the Convention on
Biological Diversity and the EU Strategy of Biodiversity. Thus, there is a need to
build upon a network of MPAs and marine reserves and its corresponding data
collection systems to ensure that ecologically important areas are protected and that
these pristine portions of the Alboran Sea regions serve as reservoirs for marine
biodiversity, heritage, and culture.
Regarding the aims of management actions, this should include regional strategies for (i) implementation of marine spatial planning approaches for management,
(ii) development of sustainable fisheries management plans, (iii) actions to revert the
effect of climate change in the region, (iv) action to reduce the risks of entrance of
new alien species, and (v) action to preserve the marine biodiversity.
As in other oceans and seas worldwide, the governance of the Alboran Sea is
fragmented (fishing, shipping, offshore gas, offshore renewable energy, etc.) as if we
were managing separate entities. This inequality in governance and the cost of
inaction jeopardize the sustainability of ecosystem services in the Alboran Sea,
and therefore, creating an integrated ocean governance framework in the Alboran
Sea is a must.
There is a special urgency in applying the international regulations and measures
to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing as promoted by GFCM and
ICCAT and also to stop the use of flags of convenience by fishing vessels. The
success of international legal instruments (e.g., international conventions), which
contain commitments to reduce the human impact on the ocean and marine ecosystems (e.g., ballast water, oil spills, protected species), depends heavily on the
decision of governments and states bordering the Alboran Sea, including the implementation and continuous use of national systems of control and surveillance; in this
regard, there is a lack of commitment of the states in the Alboran Sea to regulate and
implement such corpus of environmental legislation together.
816
L. Valdés et al.
in general.
Only with a good and proper management at ecosystem scale (e.g., ecosystembased management, marine spatial planning) the Alboran Sea can be preserved in
good health for now and for the future and have an equitable and sustainable future
for all. The existing experiences of international cooperation in the subregion are
time fixed or focus on partial aspects of the marine system, as the FAO-CopeMed
project (http://www.faocopemed.org/) aiming to improve the cooperation, capacity
building, and data sharing to evaluate shares stocks, but not other important aspects
of the environment. In this regard, there is a need for an international framework of
cooperation for the Alboran Sea; this can be extended to scientific research, governance, and capacity building.
The immediate target related to management and governance is to ensure that
10% of this territory is effectively protected, as indicated by the Convention on
Biological Diversity and the EU Strategy of Biodiversity. Thus, there is a need to
build upon a network of MPAs and marine reserves and its corresponding data
collection systems to ensure that ecologically important areas are protected and that
these pristine portions of the Alboran Sea regions serve as reservoirs for marine
biodiversity, heritage, and culture.
Regarding the aims of management actions, this should include regional strategies for (i) implementation of marine spatial planning approaches for management,
(ii) development of sustainable fisheries management plans, (iii) actions to revert the
effect of climate change in the region, (iv) action to reduce the risks of entrance of
new alien species, and (v) action to preserve the marine biodiversity.
As in other oceans and seas worldwide, the governance of the Alboran Sea is
fragmented (fishing, shipping, offshore gas, offshore renewable energy, etc.) as if we
were managing separate entities. This inequality in governance and the cost of
inaction jeopardize the sustainability of ecosystem services in the Alboran Sea,
and therefore, creating an integrated ocean governance framework in the Alboran
Sea is a must.
There is a special urgency in applying the international regulations and measures
to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing as promoted by GFCM and
ICCAT and also to stop the use of flags of convenience by fishing vessels. The
success of international legal instruments (e.g., international conventions), which
contain commitments to reduce the human impact on the ocean and marine ecosystems (e.g., ballast water, oil spills, protected species), depends heavily on the
decision of governments and states bordering the Alboran Sea, including the implementation and continuous use of national systems of control and surveillance; in this
regard, there is a lack of commitment of the states in the Alboran Sea to regulate and
implement such corpus of environmental legislation together.
816
L. Valdés et al.