Coastal marine mapping as an ecosystem based management - The case study of the baixada santista region - São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

Despite the enormous environmental impact occurring in the study area and the relevant scientific studies ongoing, the decision-making processes of management and enforcement activities are still restricted. It happens mainly due to the inexistence of data integration of the available information. The development of integrating maps that summarize the information on geomorphology, biological processes, ecology, biodiversity, sociology and economic data, is therefore strategic. So with this purpose, a multidisciplinary team developed a data bank gathering the previously existing information with documented visits to all the area under study. These included interviews about socio-economic uses, biological occurrences and pollution impacts. The study demonstrated that spite of being important fishes', birds' and invertebrates' matting areas; there are important ecosystems like mangroves and estuaries that suffer many deleterious impacts. The study also determined the number of species present in the area: 216 marine fish species, 77 estuarine fish-, 454 bird-, 174 terrestrial mammal-and 22 marine mammal species. Beaches, rock shores and mangrove areas were also fully mapped. On the long run this study will help to define new areas to be protected and to establish a better policy management. Another aim of this study is to shorten time to analyse and understand the ecosystem, allowing the promotion of new studies in observed gaps.