The global COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has forced small island states to make rapid changes to the way they manage their marine estates following changes in global shipping practices and access which are essential for the supply of food items and island’s infrastructure. Following the closure of the border of neighbouring French Polynesia, changes had to be made to the Pitcairn Islands’ sole supply vessel route, which resulted in the vessel requiring to set anchor on arrival at the island to conserve fuel. Considering this change and to ensure the continued protection of vulnerable coral habitats the local government has had to make swift decisions to identify anchoring zones that minimise seabed disturbance. Data collected in January 2020, just prior to the pandemic, were assessed using a rapid assessment method and combined with earth observation data to create the first shallow water (<~20 m) habitat map of this island. The results show the distribution of vulnerable coral communities and other habitats, achieving an accuracy of 68% compared with previously collected datasets making the results the best available evidence for management purposes. Although the seabed data were not originally collected for this analysis, having both video and stills imagery aligned with global positioning meant a rapid assessment method could be easily applied to the data. The assessment technique used has resulted in the first reliable habitat distribution maps to be produced in a management critical timeframe, providing managers with the evidence they required to make informed decisions relating to the protection and conservation of Pitcairn’s pristine, marine habitats during these unprecedented times.

中文翻译：

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在 COVID-19 全球大流行期间快速评估皮特凯恩岛周围的海底栖息地以帮助活动管理

2020 年全球 COVID-19 大流行迫使小岛屿国家在全球航运实践和通道发生变化后迅速改变其管理海洋资产的方式，这对于食品供应和岛屿基础设施至关重要。在邻近的法属波利尼西亚边境关闭后，皮特凯恩群岛唯一的补给船航线不得不改变，这导致该船在抵达该岛时需要抛锚以节省燃料。考虑到这一变化并确保对脆弱珊瑚栖息地的持续保护，当地政府不得不迅速做出决定，以确定将海床干扰降至最低的锚定区。2020 年 1 月收集的数据，就在大流行之前，使用快速评估方法进行评估，并结合地球观测数据创建了该岛的第一个浅水（<~20 m）栖息地图。结果显示了脆弱珊瑚群落和其他栖息地的分布，与之前收集的数据集相比，准确度达到了 68%，使结果成为管理目的的最佳可用证据。虽然海底数据最初不是为该分析收集的，但将视频和静止图像与全球定位对齐意味着可以轻松地将快速评估方法应用于数据。所使用的评估技术导致在管理关键时间范围内制作出第一张可靠的栖息地分布图，