ATLANTIC 1 – Gulf of Cadiz - Spain

PILOT LEAD PARTNER:

University of Cadiz

CONTACT PERSON:

Javier García Sanabria UCA

Javier García Sanabria

javier.sanabria@uca.es

KEY FACTS

Located on the Atlantic side of Andalucía, contains hot spots with special planning needs, such as valuable MPAs: wetlands, Ramsar sites, important seagrasses, and nursery areas.  

Includes important protected area, often overlapping in the same area with different authorities, objectives and management measures, making it difficult to achieve a socioecosystem approach.

Key sectors covered: Fishery, Aquaculture, Conservation and Tourism. 

THE OPPORTUNITIES

– To approach the area as a true socio-ecosystem and consider land-sea interactions in planning.  

–  Improve coherence between MSP, MPAs, MSFD and the related governance in the area fostering land-sea integration.

THE CHALLENGES

– No comprehensive marine and coastal planning established – no MSP in Spain approved yet. Current MSP draft for the Gulf of Cadiz is general, with low connection to the important hotspots needs. 

– Connectivity of sensitive species (for instance marine mammals, Tuna migration, seabirds crossing from Africa to Europe).

– Coordination and collaboration among all the responsible authorities of the protected areas within the Cadiz Bay area, allowing to approach the area as a socio-ecosystem).

– Human activities are not sufficiently taking into account the protected areas that are in close proximity, or even overlapping.  

MSP4BIO OBJECTIVES AND IMPACTS

– Improve coherence between MSP, MPAs, MSFD and the related governance fostering land-sea integration.

– Identify needs and propose improvements to the current MPAs in the area considering a holistic integrated approach.

– Demonstrate the social benefits derived from the use of better integration frameworks in MPAs.

– The current TRL estimated to be 1-2 is expected to rise to the TLR 4 in the course of the MSP4BIO.

KEY STAKEHOLDERS

MPA (e.g., Guadalquiver marine fishery Reserve) and park (e.g., Doñana national Park, Bahía de Cadiz protected area) managers; Coastal “Regions” and “Departments” (Andalucía Authonomous Community; Local Administrations); NGOs (e.g., Ecologistas en Acción, Oceana, WWF, Salarte,); National MSP and MSFD Competent Authorities; Fishery Action Groups, IMO.