Uncorrected Proofs

227 12 Black Sea Network of Marine Protected Areas: European Approaches and Adaptation to Expansion and Monitoring in Ukraine Boris Alexandrov, Galina Minicheva and Yuvenaliy Zaitsev Institute of Marine Biology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Odessa, Ukraine Introduction because of the edge effect in which physico chemical and biological interactions are This chapter brings together several strands most intense at the interface between land of current research concerning Marine and water. It is no coincidence that most Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Black Sea in protected areas are located near coasts. At general, and in Ukraine in particular. First, it the same time, this zone suffers the highest provides a more accurate assessment of human pressure because of urban expan the total area of MPAs of different status sion, transport and other infrastructure within six Black Sea countries. Second, the development, exploitation of living and non‐ impact of eutrophication on the features and living resources and steady extension of rec the development of MPAs in Ukraine is con reation areas. Around 15 million people live sidered. This is followed, thirdly, by a brief in the 2 km wide coastal zone of the Black overview of the method used for identifying Sea, 6 million of them in Ukraine alone and justifying the designation of new MPAs (Panchenko, 2009). (or expanding existing MPAs) in Ukraine, Conflict between economic activities and based on integrated evaluation of anthropo the need to maintain living resources has led genic impact, aquatic plant morphological to the establishment of MPAs. One of the indicators, and determining the ecological first Black Sea MPAs, the Black Sea value of marine areas. Finally, the opportu Biosphere Reserve, was established in nity of developing public ecological moni Ukraine as early as 14 July 1927 to protect toring for the Black Sea is explored. coastal and marine communities near the Dnieper River delta. It is difficult to determine the precise Overview of MPAs in the extent of the existing Black Sea MPA net Black Sea work. First, almost all the MPAs comprise not only marine waters but also terrestrial It is well known that the reproduction of areas, which are generally larger. Second, most living marine natural resources takes parts of the aquatic area are lagoons or place in the coastal zones (Zaitsev, 2006) closed limans, isolated from the sea, which Management of Marine Protected Areas: A Network Perspective, First Edition. Edited by Paul D. Goriup. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 0002899426.INDD 227 11/28/2016 9:02:00 PM 228 Management of Marine Protected Areas: A Network Perspective cannot be included with the Black Sea by (Figure 12.1), but also to establish some definition. Third, the definition and classifi important quantitative characteristics about cation of protected areas in the Black Sea them. Thus, the area of water‐bodies in the countries differ to a greater or lesser degree MPAs connected with the Black Sea from the IUCN classification (Lausche, amounts to a total of 755 840 ha. The Black 2011). For example, where the IUCN has Sea countries can be ranked by their MPA seven categories of protected area, Bulgaria extent as follows: Ukraine – 82.0%; has five, Romania has 10 (Begun et al., 2012), Romania – 14.7%; Georgia – 2.2%; and Ukraine has 11; moreover their classifi Turkey – 0.7%; Bulgaria – 0.4%; and cation criteria are different. Russia – 0.1%. Another difficulty in determining the total area of MPAs in different countries is that their areas often include sites with mul Ecological Characteristics tiple designations. For example, the trans of the Ukrainian Part national Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve of the Black Sea in Romania and the Danube Biosphere Reserve in Ukraine also include wetlands in Geographic Features the Ramsar list. The Natura 2000 protected area ‘Ropotamo’ (Ropotamo wetland com The Ukrainian part of the Black Sea coast plex) in Bulgaria contains four natural has a length of some 1829 km. It has special reserves (Begun et al., 2012), several Ramsar geographical conditions and associated eco wetlands (Marushevsky, 2003) and the Blato systems that have to be taken into account Alepu nature monument. A recent publica when planning a network of MPAs. The vast, tion on Black Sea MPAs says that there are shallow (15 to 55 m depth) shelf platform in no protected areas in Turkey apart from the north‐western Black Sea (Öztürk et al., Ramsar wetlands in the Kizilirmak River this volume), from the Danube River to Cape delta (Begun et al., 2012). However, we Tarchankut, extends over more than know about two nature reserves (Igneada 55 000 km2. It receives the waters from three Flooded Forest and Sarikum Lake) and a large nutrient‐rich European rivers: the permanent wildlife reserve in Yesilirmak Danube, Dniester and Dnieper. These condi Delta (Marushevsky, 2003; Öztürk et al., tions result in the shelf being the most bio this volume). logically productive area of the Black Sea To consolidate the existing data about (Zaitsev, 2006), contrasting with the Crimean the actual area of the existing Black Sea Peninsula coast (acknowledged by IUCN as MPAs, they were divided into three groups: one of nine centres of European biological (i) protected areas (reserves) of international diversity) which is less productive but has significance (importance); (ii) Ramsar wet the highest national level of landscape and lands; and (iii) areas of national significance. biological diversity (Yena et al., 2004). Protected areas of local importance were not taken into account. Map measurement Biodiversity was used to determine the areas of the MPAs connected with the Black Sea in cases where According to the Black Sea Transboundary the figures were absent from the available Diagnostic Analysis, Annex 4 (Commission literature (Marushevsky, 2003). on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Analysis of the information collected Pollution, 2007), the Black Sea hosts 44 enabled us not only to map the current distinct habitat types. Of these, 42 are pre distribution of MPAs in the Black Sea sent in the Ukrainian part of the Black Sea, 0002899426.INDD 228 11/28/2016 9:02:00 PM 0002899426.INDD 229 Figure 12.1 The Black Sea MPAs of international and national importance. 11/28/2016 9:02:02 PM 230 Management of Marine Protected Areas: A Network Perspective with 40 in Bulgaria, 35 in Romania, 28 in has shown increases in production of domi Turkey, 25 in Russia and 18 in Georgia. The nant phytoplankton species (by 150%), zoo Red Data Book of Ukraine includes 1368 plankton species (by 280%), macrophytes species. Of these, 10.5% or 88 plant and 57 (by 54%) and zoobenthos (by 112%). Among animal species are Black Sea inhabitants the dominant species, non‐indigenous ones (Black Sea Environment Programme, 2009). generally had the highest levels of produc This confirms the importance, and respon tion (Alexandrov and Zaitsev, 1998). sibility, of Ukraine for conserving marine Four distinct periods of Black Sea shelf biodiversity in the Black Sea. eutrophication have been distinguished At the same time, the very diversity of the using indices derived from morphological Ukrainian Black Sea area, lying on the inter parameters of aquatic vegetation associ section of many wildlife migratory paths and ated with the ecosystem’s trophic status human transportation routes, explains why it (Minicheva et al., 2008; see below): natural also has more non‐indigenous species than state (before the 1970s), intensive eutrophi- any other Black Sea country. Out of the 261 cation (early 1980s), immobility (mid‐1990s) non‐indigenous marine species registered in and a steady trend of de‐eutrophication since the database of the Permanent Secretariat of the turn of the millennium (Figure 12.2). the Black Sea Commission by 2013, some However, the recent steady trend of 148 were recorded in Ukraine, with 94 in de‐eutrophication has sometimes been Turkey, 82 in Romania, 80 in Bulgaria, 51 interrupted by abnormal climatic conditions. in Russia and 34 in Georgia. More than In 2010, for example, the Danube River dis 80% of the species originated from the charge was 45% below its average multi‐ Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea annual level which, combined with unusually (Alexandrov et al., 2013; data available at high summer temperatures, created condi http://www.corpi.ku.lt/databases/index. tions that stimulated primary production php/aquanis). The spread of non‐indigenous processes. As a result, the Ecological Status species common to neighbouring countries Class (ESC) of the Ukrainian Black Sea shelf, follows the counter‐clockwise Black Sea which had been recorded as ‘Good’ during coastal cyclonic current. Thus, the highest the previous decade, had to be revised to percentage of common non‐indigenous ‘Poor’ (Minicheva, 2013). species between neighbouring countries is between Ukraine and Russia (64.0%) and The MPA Network of Ukraine Ukraine and Romania (61.2%), while the low est percentage is between Bulgaria and The formation of an ecological network in Turkey (32%). Ukraine is regulated by national legislation (Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, 2000, 2004). The Eutrophication of the Black Sea main aims of the National Program of Shelf Area Forming a National Ecological Network of Ukraine in 2000–2015 were to determine As mentioned above, the Ukrainian Black the network’s spatial structure in order to Sea shelf is the most biologically productive unite natural

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