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PROJECT AQUA&AMBI
Support to wetland management in the southwest Iberia coastal zone: interactions between Aquaculture and Environment in the Euroregion Alentejo-Algarve-Andalusia

Carlos A. Sousa1*, Laura Ribeiro1, Ana M. Magalhães2, Patricia Simões3, Cristina Borges4, Laura Mestre5, Jose F. Veiga6 and Maria E. Cunha1
  • 1 Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA), Portugal
  • 2 Portuguese Environment Agency, Portugal
  • 3 Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas (ICNF), Portugal
  • 4 Direção-Geral de Recursos Naturais, Segurança e Serviços Marítimos, Portugal
  • 5 Direcção Regional de Agricultura e Pescas do Algarve, Portugal
  • 6 Direcção Regional de Agricultura e Pescas do Alentejo, Portugal

The coastal zone of southwest Iberia shares a common background in terms of culture and historical use of wetlands, where sea salt harvesting in man-made ponds and mollusc natural banks extraction are two of the major economic activities. These intertidal areas also constitute as strategic zones for biodiversity conservation, including different natural habitats with a high biological productivity, such as salt marshes, coastal lagoons, estuaries, coastal dunes, etc. They are additionally strategic areas for bird nidification and migration routes, at an Iberian, European and even global scale. Recognizing these values, the euroregion coastal zone is protected by several environment conservation instruments, stretching discontinuously from Tarifa in Spain to the Sado estuary in Portugal, and occupying roughly 60% of the total coastline. Natura 2000, RAMSAR convention, Special Protection Areas for wild birds (SPA), Sites of Community Importance (SCI), and National Parks such as Doñana and Ria Formosa all endorse the importance of these wetlands. Human occupation in coastal areas induced widespread modifications in land use, where saltmarsh loss was observed since the Middle Age as a result of artificial reclamation of space for agriculture, livestock grazing, or waste disposal (e.g. Gedan et al., 2009). Sea salt harvesting can be included in this transformation process, further enhanced after the development of industrial techniques of food preservation in sealed cans. In southwest Iberia, mid-20th century economic downturn of agriculture and industry resulted in abandonment of saltmarsh reclaimed areas, giving place to saltmarsh recolonization (e.g. Almeida et al., 2014) and in some cases degradation. Renewed interest in sea salt harvesting in the form of Flor de sal and aquaculture of more profitable species is leading to a growing desire to develop economic activities in coastal wetlands, facing new challenges in terms of environment impacts. In this sense, the project AQUA&AMBI aims to support the decision making process related to the management of southwest Iberia coastal wetlands. This support is envisioned in a first phase as result of the development of a large spatial database, available through a Geographical Information System (GIS), contributing to a better natural resource management. This tool will allow the broader understanding of coastal wetlands land use, and which factors can favour the establishment of new economic activities that better conciliate with ecosystem services. Abandoned or degraded areas can give place to new enterprises that develop their activities with two optimal results: efficient aquaculture production and conservation status preservation. By better coordinating natural resources spatial planning and multisectoral cooperation, namely through licensing and legislation compliance, the project AQUA&AMBI can establish the basic guidelines for the development and expansion of aquaculture activities in sensible environmental areas. Main objectives and expected results are: Objectives Enhance cross-border mechanisms for the protection and recovery of biodiversity and ecosystem services of Algarve-Alentejo-Andalusia Natura 2000 network; Promotion and utilization of ecologic production systems suitable for protected wetlands; Contribute to an efficient management of these areas with a special emphasis in knowledge and technology transfer; Develop a key researchers network from Portugal and Spain, in order to improve production systems in economic and environmental terms. Results Obtain a GIS database that allows a careful and quick selection of intervention areas suitable for aquaculture production in sensitive wetlands; Acquire a comprehensive ecosystem services mapping, by categorizing habitats conservation status; Identify normative criteria for compatibility assessment of aquaculture production and wetland environmental preservation; Produce a technical dossier with a description of current aquaculture production status. Some current results Current project results include a preliminary development of the GIS database. Information regarding administrative boundaries, hydrographic network, infrastructures, water quality, territorial planning instruments, land use, cultural and archaeological sites, and most importantly, salt farm and aquaculture production units are spatially delimited. Interestingly, from a total area of ca. 20km2 of human modified wetlands, 54.4% are active salt farm units, while 12.4% are active fish farms. From the remaining 33.2%, only 8% are identified as inactive units, with 5km2 of modified wetlands abandoned for more than 10 years, thus with great potential for project results application. Also, from the identified 20km2 of total modified areas, only 1.5% are outside any type of environment conservation instruments, further increasing the relevance of project outputs.

Acknowledgements

The AQUA&AMBI project comprises eight organisations from the Euroregion Algarve-Alentejo-Andalusia: IPMA and APA from Portugal, CTAQUA, UCA, IFAPA, SALARTE, AGAPA and CSIC from Spain. We would also like to give special thanks to Administração dos Portos de Sines e Algarve, SA (APS), Águas de Portugal (AdP) and Águas Públicas do Alentejo (AgdA) for sharing spatial data.

References

Almeida D, Neto C, Esteves LS, Costa JC (2014) The impacts of land-use changes on the recovery of saltmarshes in Portugal. Ocean and Coastal Management, 92:40-49

Geda KB, Silliman BR, Bertness MD (2009) Centuries of Human-Driven Change in Salt Marshes Ecosystems. Annual Review of Marine Sciences, 1:117-141

Keywords: Wetland management, Aquaculture, GIS, ecosystem services, Cross-border research

Conference: IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018, Peniche, Portugal, 5 Jul - 6 Jul, 2018.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: Biodiversity, Conservation and Coastal Management

Citation: Sousa CA, Ribeiro L, Magalhães AM, Simões P, Borges C, Mestre L, Veiga JF and Cunha ME (2019). PROJECT AQUA&AMBI
Support to wetland management in the southwest Iberia coastal zone: interactions between Aquaculture and Environment in the Euroregion Alentejo-Algarve-Andalusia
. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018. doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2018.06.00036

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Received: 30 May 2018; Published Online: 07 Jan 2019.

* Correspondence: Mr. Carlos A Sousa, Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA), Lisbon, Algarve, 8700-194, Portugal, carlos.sousa@ipma.pt