WCS 3-Sentence Science

Equatorial Guinea: An Overlooked Marine Conservation Hotspot

December 13, 2019

CREDIT: MATTHEW J. WITT

Each year, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists publish more than 300 peer-reviewed studies and papers. “WCS 3-Sentence Science” is a regular tip-sheet — in bite sized helpings — of some of this published work.

Here we present work by WCS staff in the Gulf of Guinea on the impact of human activity on marine species.

1. Researchers present the first local cumulative utilization impact mapping exercise for the Bioko-Corisco-Continental area of Equatorial Guinea’s Exclusive Economic Zone — situated in the Gulf of Guinea, which is one of the most important and least studied marine regions in the Eastern Central Atlantic.
2. The study examines the potential impact of human activities on a suite of key marine species and reveals that the most suitable habitats for these species, located on the continental shelf, are subject to the highest threat scores, yet in some coastal areas, the persistence of highly suitable habitat subject to lower threat scores suggests that there are still several less-impacted areas suitable for protected area expansion.
3. Highlighting both the areas with potentially the highest impact, and those with lower impact levels, as well as particularly damaging activities can inform the direction of future conservation initiatives to protect at least 10% of the world’s oceans within marine protected areas (MPAs) and other effective area-based conservation measures by 2020.

Study and Journal: “Using cumulative impact mapping to prioritise marine conservation efforts in Equatorial Guinea” from Frontiers in Marine Science
WCS Co-Author(s): Hedley Grantham , Conservation Science and Solutions; Christian Barrientos, WCS Equatorial Guinea Program; Tim Collins, WCS Marine Program; Angela Formia, WCS Ocean Giants Program; Richard Parnell, WCS Gabon Program.

For more information, contact: Stephen Sautner, 718–220–3682, ssautner@wcs.org.