Safeguarding marine life: conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems

Rev Fish Biol Fisheries https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-022-09700-3 POINT-OF-VIEW Safeguarding marine life: conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems Delphi Ward · Jessica Melbourne‑Thomas · Gretta T. Pecl · Karen Evans · Madeline Green · Phillipa C. McCormack · Camilla Novaglio · Rowan Trebilco · Narissa Bax · Madeleine J. Brasier · Emma L. Cavan · Graham Edgar · Heather L. Hunt · Jan Jansen · Russ Jones · Mary‑Anne Lea · Reuben Makomere · Chris Mull · Jayson M. Semmens · Janette Shaw · Dugald Tinch · Tatiana J. van Steveninck · Cayne Layton Received: 30 October 2020 / Accepted: 25 January 2022 © The Author(s) 2022 Abstract Marine ecosystems and their associated biodiversity sustain life on Earth and hold intrinsic value. Critical marine ecosystem services include maintenance of global oxygen and carbon cycles, production of food and energy, and sustenance of human wellbeing. However marine ecosystems are swiftly being degraded due to the unsustainable use of marine environments and a rapidly changing climate. The fundamental challenge for the future is therefore to safeguard marine ecosystem biodiversity, function, and adaptive capacity whilst continuing to provide vital resources for the global population. Here, we use foresighting/hindcasting to consider two plausible futures towards 2030: a business-as-usual trajectory D. Ward (*) · G. T. Pecl · C. Novaglio · N. Bax · M. J. Brasier · G. Edgar · J. Jansen · M.-A. Lea · J. M. Semmens · J. Shaw · C. Layton (*) Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Castray Esplanade, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia e-mail: E. L. Cavan Silwood Park Campus, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK C. Layton e-mail: D. Ward · J. Melbourne‑Thomas · G. T. Pecl · M. Green · P. C. McCormack · C. Novaglio · R. Trebilco · N. Bax · M.-A. Lea · J. Shaw · C. Layton Centre for Marine Socio‑Ecology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia J. Melbourne‑Thomas · K. Evans · M. Green · C. Novaglio · R. Trebilco · T. J. van Steveninck CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Castray Esplanade, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia P. C. McCormack Adelaide Law School, The University of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia N. Bax South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute, Stanley, Falkland Islands H. L. Hunt Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Brunswick, PO Box 5050, Saint John,, New Brunswick E2L 4L5, Canada R. Jones Hereditary Chief, Haida Nation, PO Box 1451, Skidegate, B.C. V0T 1S1, Canada R. Makomere Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia C. Mull Integrated Fisheries Lab, Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada D. Tinch Tasmanian School of Business & Economics, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia T. J. van Steveninck Carmabi, Caribbean Research and Management of Biodiversity, Piscaderabaai z/n, Willemstad, Curaçao Vol.: (0123456789) 13 Rev Fish Biol Fisheries (i.e. continuation of current trends), and a more sustainable but technically achievable future in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We identify key drivers that differentiate these alternative futures and use these to develop an action pathway towards the desirable, more sustainable future. Key to achieving the more sustainable future will be establishing integrative (i.e. across jurisdictions and sectors), adaptive management that supports equitable and sustainable stewardship of marine environments. Conserving marine ecosystems will require recalibrating our social, financial, and industrial relationships with the marine environment. While a sustainable future requires long-term planning and commitment beyond 2030, immediate action is needed to avoid tipping points and avert trajectories of ecosystem decline. By acting now to optimise management and protection of marine ecosystems, building upon existing technologies, and conserving the remaining biodiversity, we can create the best opportunity for a sustainable future in 2030 and beyond. Keywords Ecosystem management · Ecosystem services · Indigenous knowledge · Integrated management · Stewardship · Sustainable Development Goals · Foresighting/hindcasting Introduction The diversity of life in the oceans, marine biodiversity, is declining globally at an alarming rate (Lotze et al. 2019; Worm et al. 2006), driven by multiple interacting anthropogenic stressors, which are degrading marine ecosystem function, shifting species’ distributions, and initiating the formation of novel ecosystems with unknown characteristics and services (e.g. Harborne and Mumby 2011; Pecl et al. 2017). These losses threaten the wellbeing and survival of much (arguably all) of humankind that fundamentally depends on the many services provided by marine biodiversity and ecosystems, including climate regulation, coastal protection, food and medicinal products, recreational activities, and livelihoods (Peterson and Lubchenco 1997; Selig et al. 2018). These ecosystems also possess unique, often intangible, inherent values making them crucial to the health and wellbeing of peoples around the world. As such, safeguarding marine Vol:. (1234567890) 13 biodiversity and ecosystem function into the future is a task of critical importance. The challenge is to conserve existing biodiversity, while increasing the capacity to forecast ecological trajectories and future ecosystem states to inform sustainable management long-term (Cheung 2019). Ecological forecasts are needed for developing adaptation strategies to guide ecosystems towards states that support a high diversity of functions and species. Stemming the rate of biodiversity loss at all levels – including genetic, taxonomic, community, ecosystem, and functional diversity – will leave marine species and ecosystems with a wider breadth of adaptive pathways, thus increasing the likelihood of resilience, rather than extinction, in future seas. Marine ecosystems and biodiversity have undergone rapid and profound changes in the Anthropocene (e.g. Estes et al. 2011; Jackson 2001; Pimiento et al. 2020). Marine and coastal ecosystem changes resulting from human activity have steeply accelerated in the last ~ 150 years (Bindoff et al. 2019; Halpern et al. 2019). Identifying pre-industrial environmental ‘baselines’ to enable the quantification of ecological changes is challenging and often unfeasible, not only because ecosystems continuously change in response to environmental phenomena, but also since in many cases anthropogenic pressures began before Western scientific monitoring commenced (Jackson 1997; Jennings and Blanchard 2004; Roberts 2007). An emerging “mass extinction” event is thought to be underway in the oceans (Lotze et al. 2019; Payne et al. 2016) caused by the combined (and sometimes synergistic) effects of overfishing (Blanchard et al. 2017; FAO 2018), habitat degradation and loss (IPBES 2019), pollution, eutrophication, o (...truncated)