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Compliance Monitoring and Reporting in South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Area Gets Boost with New Data Portal
A new data portal has been launched to support marine protection and conservation efforts in the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) Marine Protected Area. The portal brings together comprehensive data on the status and trends of marine biodiversity, ecosystem features, and human activities in the area, providing stakeholders with easy access to long-term monitoring data generated by the NERC Environmental Data Service.
Background
The SGSSI Marine Protected Area, established in 2012, encompasses some of the world’s most biologically rich waters. The region is home to abundant marine mammals and seabirds, diverse benthic habitats and species, as well as important commercial fisheries. To ensure the protection and conservation of this rich marine life, while allowing sustainable fisheries, activities within the MPA are routinely monitored.
New Data Portal
The UK Polar Data Centre, funded by a Darwin Plus grant, developed the South Georgia Marine Protected Area Data Portal in collaboration with the BAS Mapping and Geographic Information Centre. The portal integrates biological data with spatial information to improve understanding of the marine ecosystem in the region. This is critical for managing the MPA and improving knowledge on species distribution and abundance, as well as their responses to potential future environmental change.
Key Features
- Marine Protected Area management zones
- Ecology of higher predators
- Physical environment
- Human activities (fisheries, tourism, debris, interactions with birds and mammals)
- Research and monitoring activities
The data portal includes extensive data and information from various sources, including:
- Government of SGSSI
- Published datasets
- NERC-funded data held within the EDS
Adding New Data
New data can be added to the portal through two pathways:
- By being added to underlying databases
- By users uploading information directly through the PDC website
Impact and Benefits
The data portal and associated research generate knowledge and insight that underpin policy and management decisions in and around SGSSI, enhancing our understanding of biodiversity and habitats in the region and allowing for evidence-based monitoring and assessment of the MPA.
Acknowledgments
The work was supported by:
- UK Darwin Initiative
- Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
- UK Research and Innovation
- The Natural Environment Research Council
- British Antarctic Survey
The South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands MPA Data Portal is available online, with most content open-access but some restricted information on fisheries and unpublished data time series requiring login credentials.