Read, A.¹, Crowder, L.¹, Halpin, P.², Best, B.², Freeman, S.¹, Hyrenbach, D.¹, Spoerri, C.²

¹ Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC, USA

² Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

The Spatial Ecological Analysis of Marine Megavertebrate Populations

(SEAMAP) initiative, a node of the Ocean Biogeographic

Information System (OBIS), is populating a digital database

of global marine mammal, seabird and sea turtle distribution

and abundance data.  This publicly-available system, designed

to facilitate the analysis of megavertebrate distributions in

conjunction with environmental data, is intended for a broad

audience of educators, students, resource managers and

researchers.  Additionally, supporting web-based mapping

tools, educational materials and explicit meta-data have been

designed to enhance the potential research and educational

applications of this database.

OBIS-SEAMAP addresses the temporal and spatial variation of

marine megavertebrate distributions and their dynamic

habitats, and integrates interdisciplinary research with a

strong public outreach component.  This multi-faceted

approach seeks to enhance the understanding and management of

marine megavertebrates by: (1)  promoting research on the

distribution of marine mammal, bird and turtle populations;

(2) facilitating the mitigation of anthropogenic impacts on

protected species; and (3) supporting modeling efforts to

assess distributional changes in response to environmental

change.  OBIS-SEAMAP provides managers with the ability to

place the habits and habitats of marine megavertebrates in an

oceanographic context, which is essential to design effective

conservation measures.

We showcase the OBIS-SEAMAP system and highlight some

fisheries management applications of this dataset.  In

particular, we illustrate how novel spatial ecology

techniques can be used to integrate the necessary disparate

perspectives (e.g., movement data, vessel-based surveys,

remote sensing information) required to design fisheries

bycatch mitigation measures, such as time-area closures and

marine protected areas.