Standard Survey Methods for Key Habitats and Key Species in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden 2Nd Edition
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA) Standard Survey Methods for Key Habitats and Key Species in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden 2nd Edition PERSGA Technical Series No. 19 May 2019 i PERSGA is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the conservation of coastal and marine environments and the wise use of the natural resources in the region. The Regional Convention for the Conservation of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Environment (Jeddah Convention) 1982 provides the legal foundation for PERSGA. The Secretariat of the Organization was formally established in Jeddah following the Cairo Declaration of Septem- ber 1995. The PERSGA member states are Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. PERSGA, P.O. Box 53662, Jeddah 21583, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Tel.: +966 12 4238858. Fax: :+966 12 4238875. Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.persga.org ‘The Standard Survey Methods for Key Habitats and Key Species in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden’ (2nd Edition) was updated by Dr. Rebecca Klaus (SEM Project Consultant). Five new chapters has been included to address the current knowledge gap in participatory habitat mapping, fisheries monitoring, socio-economic monitoring, monitoring of MPAs management effectivennes and water quality monitoring. The 13 chapters of the updated manual were reviewed by many authors and experts. The work was carried out through the Strategic Eco- system-Management (SEM) for the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Project, a Global Environment Facility (GEF) project implemented by the World Bank and PERSGA. © 2019 PERSGA All rights reserved. This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit purposes without the permission of the copyright holders provided that acknowledgement of the source is given. PERSGA would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this material as a source. This publication may not be copied, or distributed electronically, for resale or other commercial purposes without prior permission, in writing, from PERSGA. Photographs: Dr. Maher Amer Cetacean illustrations: Alessandro de Maddalena Segrasses illustration and photos: Amgad El Shaffai This publication may be cited as: PERSGA/GEF 2019. Standard Survey Methods for Key Habitats and Key Species in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, 2nd Edition. PERSGA Technical Series No. 19. PERSGA, Jeddah ii FOREWORD The PERSGA Standard Survey Methods (SSMs) manual for Key Habitats and Key Species in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden 1st Edition was developed and tested over a period of 4 years between 2000 and 2004. Each chapter was prepared by a group of specialists in their respective fields following a comprehensive process that was sup- ported by the Strategic Action Programme (SAP) for the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which was the first GEF supported project executed by PERSGA and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environ- ment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank with supplementary funding provided by the Islamic Development Bank. During the past five years (2014-2018) PERSGA took another initiative through the execution of the Strategic Ecosystem-Based Management Project for the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (SEM), also supported by the GEF and implemented by the World Bank. As a post SAP intervention, the SEM Project focused on improving management of marine resources in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden through building on resource pro- tection, incentive approach for communities, harmonization of the knowledge base for management of marine resources in PERSGA member countries, and on-the ground interventions that demonstrate sustainable use of these resources that increase bene- fits to stakeholder communities. Implemented over five years (2014-2018), the SEM Project early stage involved establishing the basis for Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) through evaluating the present status and capacity for monitoring and assess- ing marine environment, especially the project pilot site at selected Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), including all technical, administrative and legislative aspects. These assessments identified gaps in the regional SSMs published earlier by PERSGA, and the needs for revision of the manual to fill these gaps in a second edition. The review of the PERSGA SSM manual that resulted in this second edition included several significant improvements. The style of writing, which was originally orientated at a high-level scientific audience, was thoroughly revised to allow the accessibility of the manual to a broader lay audience. Many of the chapters present a range of methods to collect data that range in technical difficulty and associated costs. Such chapters required to include explanations on how to select the most appropriate method. The majority of the methods presented in the SSMs manual are fully comprehensive, but some refer the reader to other manuals or scientific literature for details on how to collect data for a specific parameter. This shortcoming was also to be revised by the second edition because absence of the details in such Standard regional manual could prove problematic, if the background literature is not immediately accessible to the reader. Also, while the majority of the methods presented include survey forms, others do not and required to be supplemented by standard forms. Finally, the SSMs manual 1st edition had some missing parts and needs to be extended to cover standard methods for monitoring socio-economic, fisheries, MPA management effectiveness, participa- tory mapping and water quality aspects. We are proud to provide our region with this updated SSMs guide. It has been re- iii viewed by experts from all over the world and will be test by regional specialists and national teams. We hope this guide can be further improved upon in the future and will play its part in achieving the goal of monitoring for sustainable development of marine and coastal recourses in the region. This guide will form an important tool to be used by national teams, specialists and managers to help make decisions that will prevent an otherwise irreversible decline in the status of marine habitats and species in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Prof. Ziad Abu Ghararah Secretary General PERSGA iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This updated Standard Survey Methods for Key Habitats and Key Species in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden 2nd edition was prepared by PERSGA through the Strategic Ecosystem Management Project for the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (SEM). Due acknowledgement is accorded to the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the World Bank (WB) for financial and administrative support. Our sincere thanks go to all the authors, illustrators and reviewers who contributed to the preparation of this manual. Several regional and international specialists and reviewers are thanked for the signif- icant contribution they made to the completion of this document. They are: Dr. Dirar Nasr, Dr. ShaikhEldin Al-Amin, Dr. Nahid Osman (Sudan), Prof. Mohamed Kotb, Prof. Mohsen El-Sherbiny, Dr. Amgad El Shaffai, Prof. Mahmoud Hanafy (Egypt), Prof. Ma- rouf Khalaf (Jordan), Dr. Ahmad Al-Mansi, Prof. Mohammed Shobrak (Saudi Arabia), Dr. Anthony Rouphael (Australia), Dr.Anthony Hooten (USA), Dr. Marina Costa (Italy), Dr. Ahmad Khalil (PERSGA), Dr. Zaher Al-Agwan (PERSGA), Dr. Mohammed Ismail (PERSGA) and Eng. Islam Taha (PERSGA). Our thanks are given to Dr. Maher Amer (PERSGA) for reviewing and editing all the chapters and for coordination between the consultant and the reviewers. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 16 1.1 The PERSGA Strategic Ecosystem Management Project .................................... 16 1.2 The PERSGA Standard Survey Methods Manual (2004) .................................... 16 1.3 Purpose of the updated PERSGA Standard Survey Methods Manual (2019) ...... 17 1.4 Guidance on Dive Safety ..................................................................................... 22 1.5 References .......................................................................................................... 24 1.6 Annexes ........................................................................................................ 25 2. Field Survey Methods For Habitat Mapping ...................................................... 38 2.1 Background ......................................................................................................... 38 2.2 Overview ......................................................................................................... 38 2.2.1 General approach ........................................................................................ 38 2.2.2 Target ............................................................................................................ 40 2.2.3 Field personnel .............................................................................................. 41 2.2.4 Training / experience ..................................................................................... 42 2.3 Field Procedure .................................................................................................... 42 2.3.1 Field equipment .............................................................................................. 42 2.3.2 Objective of habitat map ..............................................................................