Abstract：
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a commonly used management tool to safeguard marine life from anthropogenic impacts, yet their efficacy often remains untested. Evaluating how highly dynamic marine species use static MPAs is challenging but becoming more feasible with the advancement of telemetry data. Here, we focus on southern right whales (Eubalaena australis, SRWs) in the waters off Aotearoa/New Zealand, which declined from 30,000 whales to fewer than 40 mature females due to whaling. Now numbering in the low thousands, the key socializing and nursery areas for this population in the remote subantarctic islands are under the protection of different types of MPAs. However, the effectiveness of these MPAs in encompassing important whale habitat and protecting the whales from vessel traffic has not been investigated. To address this, we analyzed telemetry data from 29 SRWs tagged at the Auckland Islands between 2009 and 2022. We identified two previously unknown and currently unprotected areas that were used by the whales for important behaviors such as foraging, socializing, or resting. Additionally, by combining whale locations and vessel tracking data (2020-2022) during peak breeding period (June to October), we found high spatiotemporal overlap between whales and vessels within several MPAs, suggesting the whales could still be vulnerable to multiple anthropogenic stressors even when within areas designated for protection. Our results identify areas to be prioritized for future monitoring and investigation to support the ongoing recovery of this SRW population, as well as highlight the overarching importance of assessing MPA effectiveness post-implementation, especially in a changing climate.
摘要：
海洋保护区（MPA）是保护海洋生物免受人为影响的常用管理工具，然而，他们的疗效往往仍未测试。评估高度动态的海洋物种如何使用静态MPA具有挑战性，但随着遥测数据的发展变得更加可行。这里,我们关注南方露脊鲸（Eubalaenaaustralis，SRW）在Aotearoa/新西兰附近的水域，由于捕鲸，鲸鱼从30,000头下降到不到40头成年雌性。现在的数字很低，成千上万，在偏远的亚南极群岛中，该人口的主要社交和苗圃区域受到不同类型的海洋保护区的保护。然而,这些海洋保护区在涵盖重要的鲸鱼栖息地和保护鲸鱼免受船只运输方面的有效性尚未得到调查。为了解决这个问题，我们分析了2009年至2022年间在奥克兰群岛标记的29个SRW的遥测数据.我们确定了两个以前未知且目前未受保护的区域，这些区域被鲸鱼用于觅食等重要行为，社会化,或休息。此外,通过结合繁殖高峰期（6月至10月）的鲸鱼位置和船只跟踪数据（2020-2022年），我们在几个海洋保护区内发现了鲸鱼和船只之间的高度时空重叠，这表明，即使在指定的保护区内，鲸鱼仍然容易受到多种人为压力的影响。我们的结果确定了未来监测和调查的优先领域，以支持该SRW种群的持续恢复，以及强调评估实施后MPA有效性的首要重要性，尤其是在不断变化的气候中。
