1. Integrated Management of Marine Ecosystems and the Role of Marine Protected Areas Han Lindeboom

2. The North Sea in 1880 Olsen, Piscatorial Atlas (1883)

3. Oysters Moorlog Mud, silt Sand Stones

4. 18801990 The past = the present=the future

5. The Common Sole formerly plentiful now very scarce, requires immediate attention for its preservation or propagation. (Olsen, 1883) The sole

6. More protection needed

7. Criteria for protection: EU Habitat Directive: Sand banks Reefs, gravel Sub-marine structures, gasseeps Species: sea mammals, fish EU Bird Directive: Species and occurrence of 1% of the population OSPAR Threatened and important species and habitats Ecological importance, High biodiversity, Representatively, vulnerability, naturalness

8. Sand banks Gravel Data: TNO, RWS

9. Benthic fauna Data: Royal. NIOZ

10. Fish Birds Annual mean

11. Proposed areas with special ecological values (Lindeboom et al., 2005)

12. Integrated Management plan North Sea 2015 4 areas nominated Existing use will not change

13. J.Haelters et al. Belgium

14. J.Haelters et al. Westhinder

15. Use of the North Sea

16. Gas- and Oil- platforms

20. June 2005 June 2007 Great cormorant

21. New parks ?

22. Fisheries: bottom trawling

24. Effects beam trawling Killing target and non-target species Food birds Changing: species age habitats Long term effects ?

25. Before After

27. Callianassa Upogebia Quahog Conclusions: Significant difference unfished-fished > shrimps and shelfish > biodiversity Beam trawling causes changes in the fauna, which influences structure, bioturbation and mineralisation. This has large consequences for the functioning of the benthic ecosystem

28. “Old habitat types” Sand bank Gravel Silt “New habitat types” Ploughed habitat Raked habitat Platforms Wind park Habitat types in the North Sea

29. Will protection be effective ? Example: the Quahog

30. Evaluation and targets for the Quahog population Rob Witbaard, IMARES/Royal NIOZ The Frisian Front area has a relatively low abundance of Quahogs (0.06/m2): 20 years ago this was 6 times higher Beam trawl fisheries cause a large additional mortality upon Quahogs Model calculations indicate that the Quahog will basically disappear from the Dutch Shelf in 2017 (Bergman & Sandbrink, 2000) Quahog populations may be genetically different (Holmes, 2003) Climate changes may lead to a change in Quahog distribution To save Quahogs on the Dutch Shelf, fisheries intensities in areas with relative high densities should be strongly reduced What area is most suited to protect Quahogs on the Dutch Shelf ?

32. C. Röckmann et al. (2007) Nat. Res. Modeling 20 (2):223-262

33. Fishing as usual Permanent closure Temporal closure Climate change (salinity decrease)

36. Or real closures ? ?

37. Conclusions: An integrated approach of protection, harvesting and building is needed for a sustainable North Sea Fisheries is at the limit of the carrying capacity of the ecosystem: big changes are needed The human pressure is rapidly increasing In 1880, >20% of the Dutch North Sea bottom was ‘hard’, now almost everywhere sand and mud MPA’s should be created

39. Thank you.