Access to data:
The marine spatial planning, Plan de Gestion de l’Espace Maritime (PGEM) of Moorea was established in 2004 and includes scientific surveys of the Marine Protected Areas (MPA) from the shore to the outer slope.
The Service d'Observation added five control areas.
- 5 fully protected MPAs (MPA index 2, see Decision tree.pdf)
- North : Tiahura, Pihaena and Aroa
- West : Taotaha and Tetaiuo
- 3 moderately protected MPAs (MPA index 5, see Decision tree.pdf)
- East : Nuarei, Ahi and Maatea
- North : Entre deux baies (E2B) (between the 2 bays)
- East : Temae and Afareaitu
- West : Haapiti and Gendron
The chosen marine areas span from the shore to 70 meters depth on the outer slopes. Each marine area is divided in three zones: one fringring reef zone, one barrier reef zone and a zone on the outer slope at - 10 meters.
117 surveyed stations
In each marine area, 3 zones are described a) on the border of the fringing reef on the side of the channel or when there is none, at the frontier between fringing and barrier reef, b) on the barrier reef at 200m away from the breaking waves of the reef crest, c) on the outer slope by 10m depth.
13 Marine Areas x 3 zones for each marine area (i.e. 39 zones) x 3 stations per zone (replicates) amounts to 117 stations. Each station is materialised by a non permanent transect (25m straight line).
Literature references
- Horta, Bárbara, Joachim Claudet, Gustavo Franco, Karim Erzini, Anthony Caro, and Emanuel J Gonçalves. 2016. “A regulation-based classification system for Marine Protected Areas ( MPAs ).” Marine Policy 72: 192–198.
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