Updating the Master Management Plan for El Cachucho MPA (Cantabrian Sea) using a spatial planning approach

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English. Located in the Cantabrian Sea (NE Atlantic), 30 nm off the Asturian coast, “El Cachucho” was the first off-shoreMarine Protected Area (MPA) to be declared in Spain. The area includes Le Danois Bank and its intraslope basin.It joined the OSPAR Network of MPAs in 2009 and, thereafter, was included in the Natura 2000 Network in2011. The main reason for its declaration as MPA was the presence of the 1170 Reefs habitat included in Annex Iof the EU Habitats Directive. In 2018, the MPAs Master Management Plan was under revision and its designcriteria were subjected to evaluation. We used Marxan decision support tool to evaluate the MPA's managementdesign criteria. This tool selects the most important conservation features, while minimizing the socioeconomiccost. First, the 1170 Reefs habitat was defined as the main environmental value. Specifically, we took intoaccount the six large sized target species that are more representative of this habitat in the area: the spongesAsconema setubalense, Geodia cf. barretti and Phakellia robusta, the anthipatarian Leiopathes glaberrima, and thegorgonians Placogorgia sp. and Callogorgia verticillata. A spatial distribution map was produced for each speciesusing Generalized Additive Models (GAM). We also considered the presence of spawning stocks of fish specieswhich are present in the area as an important conservation value. Their spatial distribution was modeled throughMaxent software. Additionally, for the socioeconomic cost, fishing effort of the different fisheries operating inthe area was estimated linking VMS/Logbook data before and after the MPA was declared. The first resultsobtained with the Marxan tool were presented in public consultation, in the context of the LIFE + INTEMARESProject, to help in decision making within the new Management Plan. Thus, to improve the managementmeasures aimed at the conservation of the environmental values of the MPA, an enlargement of the protectedarea to the West was proposed, and a more reasonable use of the buffer area to fishermen than that defined in theformer Management Plan was suggested. Involving all stakeholders in the development of the management planfor this MPA is a decisive step for the creation and consolidation of an important network of MPAs in Spain.

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