Abstract

Marine spatial planning (MSP) can help balance economic, ecological and social objectives by minimizing overlap of incompatible activities, protecting important conservation areas, and ensuring sustainable fisheries. In the data- and capacity-limited situations common on small islands such as Montserrat, synthesizing available data into a format that can be easily integrated into the MSP process can be a challenge. To assist Montserrat’s stakeholder-led MSP process, we used the freely available R package for systematic conservation prioritization, ‘prioritizr’, to integrate diverse data sources to create a map of priority conservation areas. We mapped the distribution of fishing effort around the island by combining spatial data collected through interviews with fishers with the locations of fishing pots. A benthic habitat map was created using point data from reef surveys, drop cameras, and historical data. Finally, we used reef survey data to generate a map of total coral and fish species richness. These three data sources (fishing effort, a habitat map, and species richness) were used as inputs to ‘prioritizr’. Using stakeholder defined objectives of protecting 30% of coastal waters and areas of high coral cover and biodiversity, we set a target of protecting 30% of each habitat type and 50% of summed species richness, while seeking to minimize the overlap of protected areas with areas of high fishing activity. The resulting map of priority conservation areas has been an important input in guiding the MSP process in Montserrat. Lastly, we used the results of a length based fisheries assessment to inform regulations outside of the conservation areas. The scientific methods used here can be replicated in other data-limited MSP situations, and can be easily adjusted to fit the available data and desired targets.

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