First-Ever Classification of World’s Coastal Waters

A new study published in the journal BioScience provides a first-ever natural classification system of the world’s coastal waters that will help improve worldwide conversation and preservation of our marine habitats.

The system divides the planet’s coastal waters of the world into 12 realms (such as the Tropical Atlantic Ocean), 62 provinces (places like the Mediterranean Sea) and 232 eco-regions (smaller and more homogenous units such as the Northern Gulf of Mexico or the Marshall Islands).

According to lead author Mark Spalding, senior marine scientist at The Nature Conservancy: “Creating this system is a tremendous achievement. It not only provides a valuable tool for conservation and natural resources management, but it also shines a bright light onto the tremendous diversity of life in the world’s coastal waters, and on the urgency to act to protect it,” added Spalding.

    * For instance, in the remote Bijagos Archipelago in the Gulf of Guinea West, marine hippos live in mangrove forests.
  * Millions of rare seabirds including albatrosses, shearwaters and penguins crowd together on the volcanic Gough Island in the Southern Atlantic Ocean.
    * More than 3,000 different species of fish swim throughout the Coral Triangle.
    * Penguins swim around mangrove forests and coral reefs in the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador.
    * In Mauritania, traditional fisherman work alongside wild dolphins to make their catch.

The Marine Ecoregions of the World (MEOW) classification system presents scientists, governments and policy-makers with a consistent way to talk about marine habitats and a tool for making more informed decisions, improving collaboration and implementing conservation.

“With growing attention to our threatened oceans and coasts, the need for this type of system is enormous” said lead author Spalding. “To date less than one percent of the world’s oceans have been protected, but nations have agreed to ensure wide scale protection and sustainable use of our marine resources by 2012. This map will make a great contribution to supporting this task and to tracking progress."

The report, titled “Marine Eco-regions of the World: a bio-regionalization of coast and shelf areas” was written by lead authors Spalding and Helen Fox, marine biologist at World Wildlife Fund, along with coauthors from 10 partner organizations.

Story Link

Mark Spalding Nature Conservancy Interview

Comments

[David Connell]

This is great news for the ocean world! Hopefully it will lead to a better understanding and protection of marine ecosystems. You can read a great interview with lead author Mark Spalding at The Nature Conservancy's website. Here's a link:
http://www.nature.org/initiatives/marine/features/art21692.html

David: Thanks! I posted it on the Galaxy. Cool! Best, Casey