AIM: Marine protected areas can serve to regulate harvesting and conserve biodiversity. Within large multi‐use MPAs, it is often unclear to what degree critical sites of biodiversity are afforded protection against commercial activities. Addressing this issue is a prerequisite if we are to appropriately assess sites against conservation targets. We evaluated whether the management regime of a large MPA conserved sites (Key Biodiversity Areas, KBAs) supporting the global persistence of top marine predators. LOCATION: Southwest Atlantic Ocean. METHOD: We collated population and tracking data (1,418 tracks) from 14 marine predator species (Procellariiformes, Sphenisciformes, Pinnipedia) that breed at South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and identified hotspots for their conservation under the recently developed KBA framework. We then evaluated the spatiotemporal overlap of these sites and the different management regimes of krill, demersal longline and pelagic trawl fisheries operating within a large MPA, which was created with the intention to protect marine predator species. RESULTS: We identified 12 new global marine KBAs that are important for this community of top predators, both within and beyond the focal MPA. Only three species consistently used marine areas at a time when a potentially higher‐risk fishery was allowed to operate in that area, while other interactions between fisheries and our target species were mostly precluded by MPA management plans. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: We show that current fishery management measures within the MPA contribute to protecting top predators considered in this study and that resource harvesting within the MPA does not pose a major threat—under current climate conditions. Unregulated fisheries beyond the MPA, however, pose a likely threat to identified KBAs. Our approach demonstrates the utility of the KBA guidelines and multispecies tracking data to assess the contributing role of well‐designed MPAs in achieving local and internationally agreed conservation targets.

中文翻译：

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评估大型多用途海洋保护区在保护海洋捕食者关键生物多样性区域的有效性

目标：海洋保护区可用于规范捕捞和保护生物多样性。在大型多用途海洋保护区内，通常不清楚生物多样性的关键地点在多大程度上受到商业活动的保护。如果我们要根据保护目标对遗址进行适当评估，那么解决这个问题是一个先决条件。我们评估了大型 MPA 保护区（关键生物多样性区域，KBA）的管理制度是否支持顶级海洋捕食者的全球持久性。地点：西南大西洋。方法：我们整理了来自在南乔治亚岛和南桑威奇群岛繁殖的 14 种海洋捕食者物种（Procellariiformes、Sphenisciformes、Pinnipedia）的种群和跟踪数据（1,418 条轨迹），并在最近开发的 KBA 框架下确定了保护热点。然后，我们评估了这些地点的时空重叠以及大型海洋保护区内磷虾、底层延绳钓和远洋拖网渔业的不同管理制度，该保护区旨在保护海洋捕食者物种。结果：我们确定了 12 个新的全球海洋 KBA，它们对这个顶级捕食者社区很重要，无论是在焦点 MPA 内部还是外部。在允许潜在高风险渔业在该地区作业时，只有三个物种一直使用海洋区域，而渔业与我们的目标物种之间的其他相互作用大多被 MPA 管理计划排除在外。主要结论：我们表明，MPA 内当前的渔业管理措施有助于保护本研究中考虑的顶级捕食者，并且在当前气候条件下，MPA 内的资源采集不会构成重大威胁。然而，MPA 之外的不受管制的渔业可能对已确定的 KBA 构成威胁。我们的方法证明了 KBA 指南和多物种跟踪数据的效用，以评估精心设计的海洋保护区在实现当地和国际商定的保护目标方面的贡献作用。