Comparative study of conservation planning strategies: a case study in theEastern English Channel using MARXAN and ZONATION software

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.

The marine environment of the Eastern English Channel is a significant economic resource that supports a number of human-based activities, such as tourism and recreation, international ports and shipping, and the extraction of both living and non-living resources. In addition to human use, the region supports a number of important marine biological features. Responsible and integrated management aided by information systems and tools capable of assisting decision-making is essential for the construction of policies to ensure the sustainable exploitation of these marine resources. MARXAN and Zonation are two computer programmes that deliver decision support for reserve system design. They find reasonably efficient solutions to the problem ofselecting a system of spatially cohesive sites that meet a suite of biodiversity targets. The aim ofthis study is to develop a tentative conservation plan for the eastern English Channel using both MARXAN/CLUZ and ZONATION. These will be used to identify important sites for conserving biodiversity, whilst using anthropological, economic and legal data to minimise potential opportunity costs. Different scenarios with varying target thresholds will be explored. A comparison between the two programmes will be made, both in terms of ease of use and results obtained