Mara Schmiing

Bio Consult SH

Underwater noise immissions from construction vessels has been subject to intensive discussions in the planning phase of the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link Project, because of a lack of national or international standards to measure and assess noise from shipping and dredging. The Fehmarnbelt-though one of the busiest waterways in Europe-holds important nu...

Marine ecosystem-based management requires good spatial information on the distribution of marine species and habitats. Often, such information is limited to a few sampled locations, but modelling techniques can be applied to produce predictive distribution maps. A harmonized broad-scale seabed habitat map was recently produced for the archipelagos...

Marine reserves across different eco-regions and habitats have proven to benefit exploited fish populations within their borders. There is also mounting evidence, mostly from continental shelf regions, that such positive effects will depend on the species ecological traits (e.g. mobility) and on the characteristics of the reserves (e.g. design, age...

Fishing experience and skills are not commonly considered in recreational fishery studies. To analyse potential different biological/ecological impacts of three experience levels of spearfishers (novice, intermediate and experienced), access point surveys were conducted over a period of 10 months in São Miguel Island (Azores archipelago). Groups di...

Postsettlement spillover from marine protected areas (MPAs) can support adjacent fished populations and has been subject of many scientific studies. The larval subsidy effect, on the contrary, is more challenging to study and less demonstrated, although it, arguably, provides key benefits for fisheries. We modeled and predicted the spatial distribu...

To understand the impact of the northwestern Azores Current Front (NW-AzC/AzF) system on HCO3--and N2-fixation activities and unicellular diazotrophic cyanobacteria (UCYN) distribution, we combined geochemical and biological approaches from the oligotrophic surface to upper mesopelagic waters. N2-fixation was observed to sustain 45-85% of the HCO3-...

Signs of changing marine ecosystems due to increasing human use of marine resources are recognised worldwide. Legislation and regulations are often at the core of fisheries management and harvesting control. However, these are ineffective without the respective compliance, often requiring an effective surveillance and enforcement in support of cons...

Global efforts to implement Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as a tool for both biodiversity conservation and fisheries management have increased significantly over the last decades (Gell & Roberts 2003, Higgins et al. 2008, Green et al. 2014). Government agencies responsible for the management of marine resources are now obligated to define clear MPA...

Materials and Methods: During the DIAPICNA cruise (25 July-3 August 2011) aboard R.V. "NRP Dom Carlos I", five stations were sampled from 31.5°N-33.0°W to 36.2°N-33.9°W (Station A: 31°29'53''N, 33°00'01''W, 4360 m bottom depth (b.d.); Station B: 32°11'58''N, 33°00'01''W, 3740 m b.d.; Station C: 33°42'01''N, 32°59'57''W, 3324 m b.d.; Station D: 35°0...

Marine spatial management is an important step in regulating the sustainable use of marine resources and preserving habitats and species. The systematic conservation planning software “Marxan” was used to analyse the effect of different conservation objectives and targets on the design of a network of marine protected areas around two islands of th...

The decline of marine biodiversity can negatively affect the ocean's resilience, goods and services. Consequently, the identification and protection of biodiversity hotspots is often a priority in marine spatial planning. Marine protected areas (MPAs) can also be designated as fisheries management tools to promote sustainable fisheries. However, th...

The effectiveness of marine reserves for highly mobile reef fishes such as jacks and trevallies is normally assumed to be small, even though we generally lack the understanding of their long-term movement patterns. In this work, we combined the analysis of multi-year landings and underwater visual census with acoustic telemetry to investigate the l...

Marine protected areas (MPAs) have proven to support and enhance conservation and fisheries anagement worldwide (e.g. Goñi et al. 2008, Claudet et al. 2010, Vandeperre et al. 2011). Since the 1980s, several MPAs have been designated in the Azorean archipelago, following regional, national and international legislation (Abecassis et al. subm.), but...

The success of marine spatial management and, in particular, the zonation of marine protected areas (MPAs), largely depends on the good understanding of species' distribution and habitat preferences. Yet, detailed knowledge of fish abundance is often reduced to a few sampled locations and a reliable prediction of this information across broader geo...

Networks of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are nowadays the most established tool for the emerging ecosystem-based approach to the management of the oceans. MPAs should ideally provide robust protection to core biological populations while acting as subsidiary sources to fishing grounds and the other MPAs within the network. However, designing such...

Biological, oceanographic and geomorphologic data of the Azores were integrated into a Geographical Information System (GIS) in order to determine occurrence and spatial behavior of commercially-exploited coastal fishes in relation to benthic habitats. Essential fish habitats (EFHs) are identified and the information is incorporated into decision m...