Banco de La Concepción: A new Natura 2000 Marine Site off Canary Islands

The main objective of the LIFE+ INDEMARES project is to contribute to the protection and sustainableuse of the biodiversity in the Spanish seas through the identification of valuable areas for the Natura 2000Network. The Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) has been in charge of implementing scientificsurveys to map sensitive habitats of seven of the ten INDEMARES areas, and to determine the fisheriesfootprint over these areas.Banco de La Concepci´on is one of the areas chosen to be depicted in the frame of INDEMARES project.Located at 71 km to the NE of Lanzarote, at the coordinates 29º 55’ Latitude N and 12º 45’ LongitudeW, Banco de la Concepci´on raises from 2,541 m up to its summit at 170 m deep.The biological richness of Banco de la Concepci´on is very influenced by the deep water up-wellingphenomena, which create a high productivity, attracting a multitude of pelagic species, such as cetaceans,turtles, sharks, and tunas looking for food. In its vicinity, fishery resources such as goraz, anglerfish, andhakes, are abundant, and a rich invertebrate fauna cohabits in their bottoms. Banco de la Concepci´on isa traditional fishing area of oceanic pelagic species, and very good to catch demersal fish; it is highlyvisited by Galician and Portuguese drifters and long liners that fish in Mauritania, and mainly by theAndalusian longliners. In general, its main impacts are related to uncontrolled fishing pressure. Theavailable information on the anthropogenic impact of the area was scarce, and its level of research wasvery poor as well, before INDEMARES project.Methodology approach complies with a multidisciplinary perspective, having described the area fromgeological, oceanographic, biological and fisheries points of view. Several surveys have taken place since2009 to 2013 at Banco de La Concepci´on waters. Traps, longlines, beam trawls, benthic dredges and boxcorers have been used to sample benthic fauna. These last two, plus EM 3002 multibeam echosounder,PS 18 parametric sub bottom profiler, EA600 monobeam sounder, Seapath 200 positioning sensor andSV Plus sound velocity calibration sensor were used to make a geophysical study which provides a rangeof environmental factors. CTD was used to depict physical conditions of the water column. Finally,Remote Operated Vehicle Liropus 2000 and different photogrammetric tugged sleds were used to makea great effort of visual sampling.Data from VMS (Vessel Monitoring System) were used, combined with interviews to users (fishers), todescribe the fishery uses in the area.Results from all this field work provide enough information for the administrations to establish a newNatura 2000 area, trying to reconcile protection of biodiversity and artisanal local economic activities.This establishment should take place at the end of a process of public consultation to stakeholders whichis taking place in the present and which will help to shape the future Management Plan which will givedetails about permitted and prohibited uses.