Equinodermos (Asteroidea; Echinoidea) de la demarcación marina noratlántica española.

In 2021, the second management plan was approved, requesting an extension of the protected area (Ministry of the Presidency, Relations with Parliament and Democratic Memory, 2021). As a result of the obligation to define measures for the conservation and protection of Spanish waters, the LIFE+ INDEMARES project was created in 2009 to carry out the inventory and designation of the Natura 2000 Network in Spanish marine areas. This project is carried out in 10 marine areas within 3 Spanish biogeographical regions: Atlantic Region, where the ACS and BG project are framed; Mediterranean Region and Macaronesian Region (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment, 2009). The results of this project have led to the protection of 10 Site of Community Importance (SCI). ACS and GB are Site of Community Importance (SCI- ESZZ12003 and SCI-ESZZ1200 respectively), while CA is a Marine Protected Area (MPA) within the Natura 2000 Network and recognized as a Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem (VME), where Echinoderms play an important role in these communities and habitats. The actions that began with the LIFE+ INDEMARES project are still active today, as in 2017 the LIFE IP INTEMARES project was awarded and will continue until 2024. Its objective is to complete and improve knowledge for effective marine management of the Natura 2000 Network as well as to ensure the maintenance of protected areas, to know their status, and to monitor the application of current legislation.

Spain is divided into five marine subdivisions: North Atlantic Spanish Marine Sub-Division (NAMD), South Atlantic Spanish Marine Sub-Division (SASD), Strait of Gibaltar and Alborán Sea Spanish Marine Sub-Division (GSMD), Levantine Balearic Spanish Marine Sub-Division (LBMD) and Canary Islands Spanish Marine Sub-Division (CMD). This study is framed within NAMD, which includes the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian waters of the Atlantic Ocean. NAMD is comprised between the coordinates 48° N and 36° N and the western limit is 11° W. NAMD includes the Avilés Canyon System (ACS), the Galician Bank (GB) and Cachucho (CA) (which are part of this thesis). These areas were studied by the projects LIFE + INDEMARES Avilés Canyon System, LIFE + INDEMARES Galician Bank, ECOMARG and SponGES, which were carried out all around the area. These are multidisciplinary projects where geomorphology, hydrology and biodiversity were studied. The importance of these areas resides in their high productivity and the existence of vulnerable habitats. In addition, due to these places being traditional fishing areas with overfishing, regularization is required. ECOMARG began in 2000, and their surveys were carried out throughout the entire demarcation, intensively on Le Danois Bank and adjacent areas in the CA, with exploratory sampling also carried out at stations in the ACS and BG. Its objective was the study of demersal and benthic communities, which led to the identification of vulnerable, threatened, or declining habitats through the identification of deep-sea sponge aggregates, cold water coral reefs, seamount communities, pennatulacean communities and burrowing megafauna (OSPAR, 2003). All these results contributed to the attribution of the status of marine protected area (Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine, 2011).