Abstract The world's oceans are subject to the multiple impacts of human activity and to the consequent threats to the health of many and varied ocean ecosystems. Oceans around South Africa are no exception and, with the need for economic growth in the country, anthropogenic stressors on ocean resources are rapidly increasing. In this study, we investigated 14 different anthropogenic stressors that impacted ocean health between 2003 and 2013, and their cumulative anthropogenic effects on cetaceans in the South African Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and South African Marine Protected Areas (MPA), Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMA), Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas (EBSA) and ecoregions. We determined cetacean species richness in these five area categories using ensemble models, and identified anthropogenic impacts from relevant literature. We calculated and compared the average species richness, the average trend for each anthropogenic stressor and average cumulative impact between 2003 and 2013 in the five areas. Results highlight that climate related stressors (such as sea surface temperature and ocean acidification), together with shipping stressors, are increasing more rapidly than other stressors across the EEZ. Cetacean species richness was highest along the west coast shelf and shelf edge where sea level rise, ocean acidification, shipping, and commercial pelagic fishing with low by-catch were most pronounced. The results of this study will inform marine spatial planners and policy makers in determining priority areas for cetacean conservation and in identifying anthropogenic stressors that need to be addressed to mitigate cumulative anthropogenic impacts on cetaceans.

中文翻译：

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与南非大陆专属经济区人为影响和保护区相关的鲸类物种丰富度

摘要 世界海洋受到人类活动的多重影响以及随之而来的对多种海洋生态系统健康的威胁。南非周围的海洋也不例外，随着该国经济增长的需要，海洋资源的人为压力正在迅速增加。在这项研究中，我们调查了 2003 年至 2013 年间影响海洋健康的 14 种不同的人为压力因素，以及它们对南非专属经济区 (EEZ) 和南非海洋保护区 (MPA)、重要海洋哺乳动物区的鲸类的累积人为影响(IMMA)、生态或生物重要区域 (EBSA) 和生态区。我们使用集合模型确定了这五个区域类别中的鲸类物种丰富度，并从相关文献中确定了人为影响。我们计算并比较了 2003 年至 2013 年五个地区的平均物种丰富度、每个人为压力源的平均趋势和平均累积影响。结果突出显示，与气候相关的压力因素（例如海面温度和海洋酸化）以及航运压力因素在整个专属经济区内的增长速度比其他压力因素要快。西海岸陆架和陆架边缘的鲸类物种丰富度最高，海平面上升、海洋酸化、航运和低副渔获物的商业远洋捕捞最为明显。