Mismatches between the current marine Natura 2000 network and seabird distributions call for enhanced protected areas off metropolitan France

Abstract

Seabirds are among the most threatened vertebrates, under pressure from fisheries bycatch, climate change, overfishing, and human disturbance. In France, demographic studies have highlighted adult survival as a key factor in population trends, which calls for large-scale marine conservation efforts. In this context, the Natura 2000 policy requires the designation of Special Protection Areas (SPAs) to protect seabirds under the Birds Directive. To assess the completeness of the French marine SPA network, data from aerial, boat, and coastal surveys, as well as tracking devices and distribution models, were collected for 57 seabird taxa. This data collection allowed the EU minimum criteria for a coherent SPA network to be spatially implemented, and the most ecologically valuable areas for seabirds around metropolitan France to be identified and prioritised, and overlaid with the current French SPA network and Marine Important Bird Areas (mIBAs) to identify potential inconsistencies. This analysis revealed seabird hotspots outside the existing ecological network, confirming some insufficiencies for coherent seabird conservation. Although data dependent, this analysis highlighted the limitations of using global proportion coverage to assess network coherence when coverage of biodiversity and abundance hotspots was not achieved. Furthermore, these results summarised the main target areas for policy makers to effectively improve seabird conservation around metropolitan France. In a context of increasing demands for marine spatial planning, improvements in this knowledge, the SPA network and conservation actions are required.