Title : Priority areas for conservation of large pelagic fishes in the Eastern Pacific Ocean
Abstract:
The Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) and its highly migratory species are among the most vulnerable marine systems worldwide, facing combined pressures from intense fishing and strong climate variability. Despite the exceptional monitoring conducted by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), current management strategies remain largely static. Previous research has demonstrated the benefits of dynamic ocean management for reducing bycatch and balancing ecological and socio-economic objectives; however, no study has explicitly evaluated how conservation priorities are reorganized under contrasting oceanographic conditions. In this study, we assessed how spatial conservation priorities shift under three environmental scenarios using Zonation to identify priority areas for fourteen species: four target tunas, five billfishes, and five sharks. Overall, high-priority areas corresponded to regions with lower degradation and more suitable habitat conditions. These included the western coast of the Baja California Peninsula, the Gulf of California, offshore waters of Central America, the coast from Colombia to Peru, and equatorial regions encompassing oceanic islands such as Cocos, Malpelo, and the Galápagos. Our results show that conservation priorities for these pelagic species shift substantially across environmental conditions—particularly under warm scenarios. The most vulnerable and dynamic areas were the western Baja California Peninsula, Central American coastal waters, and coastal and equatorial upwelling zones. These findings highlight the urgent need for dynamic, climate-informed management strategies that extend beyond existing protected areas in the EPO, ensuring more effective conservation of highly migratory species under changing ocean conditions.
Keywords: dynamic planning, ecological niche, Zonation, sharks, tuna fishery, Eastern Pacific Ocean.
